Node Tier: Secure vs Spot
A node starts on Secure unless you pick Spot in the Tier field of the Add Node form; you can switch it later. A Secure node earns rental income plus idle pay: pay from the shared pool while it is rented and while it waits for a rental. A Secure node takes a penalty if you interrupt a rental.
A Spot node earns rental income. It gets idle pay only while it is not rented and a Lium Default Job runs on it (see Idle pay on Spot). It takes no penalty if you interrupt a rental. Renters see a Spot badge on it.
Idle pay goes only to accounts that hold their own keys. An account that signed up with e-mail or Google (not released yet) earns rental income on either tier and no idle pay. It can still switch tiers: a Secure node still takes the penalty if you interrupt a rental, and a Spot node does not. Its Change Tier dialog shows no idle pay.
You can switch any node that is not rented to Spot:
| Secure (default) | Spot | |
|---|---|---|
| Rental income | yes | yes |
| Idle pay | yes | only while a Lium Default Job runs, capped at the Secure rate |
| Penalty on rental interruption | yes | no |
| "Spot" badge shown to renters | no | yes |
Requirements
- The node must not be currently rented
Changing the tier
- Open the node details page in the Provider Portal.
- Click Change Tier in the top toolbar (between Add Notice Period and Remove).
- Select Secure or Spot and confirm.
When an account that holds its own key selects Spot on a Secure node, the dialog shows the idle pay this node earned in the last 30 days, rented time included. On Spot the node keeps only the idle pay described in Idle pay on Spot, so it can earn less than that figure. If that number is not available yet, the dialog says so.
The current tier is shown in the General section as the TIER badge.
Renters see a Spot badge on these nodes in the rental UI and are aware the pod may be interrupted without compensation.
Idle pay on Spot
Every Spot node you set to Spot yourself gets idle pay. It is paid while it is not rented and a Lium Default Job runs on it. Lium sets the Spot rate per GPU-hour for each GPU model and GPU count, and it changes daily. It is never above the idle rate a Secure node with the same GPUs would be listed at.
This pay comes from the part of the emission that would otherwise be burned (see Subnet emission). If that part is too small in a cycle, Spot idle pay is scaled down, and it is 0 when nothing is left.
A Spot node earns no idle pay:
- while it is rented, or while some of its GPUs are rented;
- while no Lium Default Job runs on it, for example when your own Default Job holds it;
- while Lium has no Spot rate for its GPU model and count yet;
- while Lium has set it to Spot for another reason: a banned hotkey, hardware pinned by Lium, or an open self-rent or untrusted-renter rental. It earns 0 there;
- when a Secure node with the same GPUs would have no idle rate, for example a GPU count with no priced tier;
- while it fails validation, new rentals are paused, it runs an outdated executor image, or your Discord is not connected, the same as on Secure.
The node's incentive history names the reason for each cycle that paid nothing (see Monitoring).
Automatic move to Spot (switched off)
Until 15 October 2026, every node of an account whose penalty coverage rose above 20% was listed as Spot, whatever its setting said. That automatic move is switched off for now, and every node it had moved is back on the tier you set. Renters see the tier you set, and the portal shows that tier. A rental that started while the account was on Spot keeps the tier it started under until it ends.