What makes AirGPU a great Shadow PC alternative

Shadow is an established cloud gaming service available in North America and Europe that offers full access to your own virtual PC for a monthly fee. Shadow offers two tiers: a base tier with a GTX 1080 equivalent for $32.99 per month and a power upgrade with an RTX 3070 equivalent for $49.99 per month.

AirGPU is a new cloud gaming service founded in 2021 that offers full access to your own virtual PC from 22 data centers around the globe. There are multiple configurations available providing up to RTX 3080-level performance. AirGPU requires no subscription. Instead, you purchase credit that gets used when you use your virtual PC.

Here’s why using AirGPU can be a great alternative to buying a Shadow PC subscription:

Worldwide availability

Shadow is available in most countries in North America and Europe where they offer virtual PCs out of 8 data centers. However, if you don’t happen to live in one of the supported countries you will not be able to buy a Shadow PC subscription.

AirGPU offers virtual PCs from 22 data centers around the globe and does not restrict signups based on your country of residence. That means you can create a virtual PC from anywhere in the world and enjoy gaming with low latencies. Even better: If you’re traveling a lot, you can create additional virtual PCs in different data centers so you always have a gaming PC available close to you.

Cheaper for casual gamers

Shadow offers two subscription tiers: a base tier with a GTX 1080 equivalent for $32.99 per month and a power upgrade with an RTX 3070 equivalent for $49.99 per month. If you play games for many hours daily both can be a great deal for you.

If you’re more of a casual gamer however and only play games for a few hours per week or just play through one or two games per year, $32.99 per month is a lot of money to spend for what you’re getting out of it. Additionally, Shadow has recently introduced a $9.99 activation fee for new subscriptions that also applies if you cancel your subscription and decide to resubscribe after a while.

With AirGPU you’ll purchase credit upfront which then gets used over time as you use your virtual PC. There are multiple PC configurations available starting from $0.65 per hour and ranging up to RTX 3080-level performance for 4K gaming with Raytracing at ultra settings. Here’s an example of how much AirGPU would cost you in the cheapest configuration when playing 20 hours per month:

20 * $0.65 + $7 (for 100 GB storage) = $20 excl. VAT.

In that scenario, AirGPU comes out significantly cheaper than Shadow’s base subscription while also offering superior performance. Another advantage of the pay-per-use model is that if you’re not planning to use your machine for a while, for example, while on vacation, you can just delete it and won’t be billed at all during that period.

Superior performance

Shadow’s base tier generally still runs most modern games at 1080p with medium settings. The CPU is quite dated though, so games that require fast clock speeds like Elden Ring or Anno 1800 won’t run well. Raytracing and DLSS are also not supported. Their power upgrade with the RTX 3070 equivalent provides sufficient performance for playing most games at 1440p with high settings.

AirGPU’s cheapest configuration at $0.65 per hour is similar in performance to Shadow’s base tier but comes with faster AMD Epyc CPUs and supports both Raytracing and DLSS which can give you better visuals and a significant FPS boost in games that support it. AirGPU’s highest tier offers RTX 3080-level performance which is sufficient to play even the most demanding games at 4K with Raytracing.

Conclusion

AirGPU can be a great alternative to Shadow PC if you don’t live in any of the countries supported by Shadow or if you need virtual PCs in multiple locations. It can also be significantly cheaper for you to use AirGPU over Shadow, especially if you’re more of a casual gamer. If you want the fastest virtual PC that can run all your games at 4K with Raytracing enabled, AirGPU’s RTX 3080-level configuration is also your best bet.