# Superluminal vs GarageFarm

> GarageFarm came second overall, and Superluminal still had the shorter render pipeline in every scene. Classroom: 90.5 against 163.6 seconds.

- Canonical HTML: https://superlumin.al/compare/superluminal-vs-garagefarm
- Markdown endpoint: https://superlumin.al/compare/superluminal-vs-garagefarm.md
- Structured page data: https://superlumin.al/compare/superluminal-vs-garagefarm.json
- Published: 2026-08-04
- Last updated: 2026-08-07
- Author: Superluminal Engineering

## Quick answer

GarageFarm High completed all four scenes. The comparison covers local output, charges, compressed upload, reported capacity, and delivery time.

## Data access

- [This page as structured JSON](https://superlumin.al/compare/superluminal-vs-garagefarm.json)

- Every chart below includes a full-resolution PNG and its underlying values as a Markdown table.

- Every screenshot below is embedded with its alt text, caption, and full-resolution URL.

## Related documentation

- [Manage jobs and download output](https://superlumin.al/docs/blender-addon/manage-and-download): Refresh and inspect project jobs in Blender, open the web detail view, and reliably download completed frames.

## Complete report

Across all four scenes, Superluminal put the complete output on disk first. It also recorded a shorter render pipeline than GarageFarm in every scene.

![Superluminal and GarageFarm selected on the 2026 render farm score scatterplot](https://superlumin.al/seo/charts/superluminal-vs-garagefarm-ranking-2026.png "Superluminal and GarageFarm in the benchmark ranking")

*[Open the full-resolution PNG](https://superlumin.al/seo/charts/superluminal-vs-garagefarm-ranking-2026.png).*

#### Underlying data: Superluminal and GarageFarm in the benchmark ranking

Scores are frozen against the 2026 benchmark. 100 is the reference on both axes.

| Initial state | Rank | Render farm | Time Score | Price Score | Combined score | Coverage |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| selected | 1 | Superluminal | 179.1 | 187.8 | 182.0 | all 4 scenes |
| selected | 2 | GarageFarm | 138.2 | 102.2 | 126.2 | all 4 scenes |
| muted | 3 | RenderJuice | 93.7 | 176.2 | 121.2 | all 4 scenes |
| muted | 4 | RebusFarm | 102.0 | 59.9 | 88.0 | all 4 scenes |
| muted | 5 | RenderStreet | 68.8 | 121.7 | 86.5 | all 4 scenes |
| muted | 6 | Fox Renderfarm | 67.5 | 115.3 | 83.5 | all 4 scenes |
| muted | 7 | iRender | 51.4 | 66.4 | 56.4 | all 4 scenes |
| muted | 8 | Render Network | 49.7 | 37.7 | 45.7 | 1 of 4 scenes with both metrics; no coverage penalty |
| muted | 9 | Blendergrid | 22.9 | 80.6 | 42.1 | 3 of 4 scenes with both metrics; no coverage penalty |

[Open the complete benchmark dataset](https://superlumin.al/seo/evidence/render-farm-benchmarks-2026-08.json)

GarageFarm ranked second overall at 126.2. Its Time Score was 138.2, and its Price Score was 102.2. The [benchmark method](/compare/blender-render-farms) scores render-pipeline time and price across the completed scenes.

## Render pipeline by scene

| Scene | Fastest Superluminal render pipeline | GarageFarm render pipeline | GarageFarm charge |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| ![](/seo/benchmarks/thumb-classroom.jpg) [Classroom](/seo/evidence/runs/garagefarm-high-classroom-2026-08-02.json) | 90.5 s | 163.6 s | $7.55 |
| ![](/seo/benchmarks/thumb-junkshop.jpg) Junk Shop | 64.5 s | 127.3 s | $3.92 |
| ![](/seo/benchmarks/thumb-monster.jpg) Monster Under the Bed | 59.9 s | 88.6 s | $2.73 |
| ![](/seo/benchmarks/thumb-fox.jpg) Fox (EEVEE) | 66.5 s, 10 nodes | 114.0 s | $1.12 |

![Superluminal submission terminal confirming the queued job after packaging and upload](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/superluminal-submission-terminal.png)

*Submission ends in the add-on's terminal: the job is packaged, uploaded, and queued before any browser opens.*

![Superluminal Classroom job starting active rendering on 30 nodes](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/superluminal-live-progress-classroom.webp)

*Active rendering started after the upload and queue phases in the same recording.*

![Superluminal Classroom job after all 145 frames completed](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/superluminal-completed-classroom.webp)

*Provider completion showed all 145 Classroom frames finished.*

![Superluminal Classroom job after all 145 frames reached local disk](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/superluminal-downloaded-classroom.webp)

*The final boundary confirms the complete local frame set 106.7 seconds after upload began.*

![GarageFarm WebManager job settings for Classroom](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/garagefarm-job-settings.webp)

*The operator configures and starts the uploaded job in WebManager.*

![GarageFarm job page showing active nodes](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/garagefarm-active-nodes.webp)

*WebManager shows active nodes while work runs.*

![Completed GarageFarm Classroom job with cost](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/garagefarm-completed-classroom.webp)

*The completed page reports progress and dollar spend.*

![GarageFarm renderBeamer delivering completed output](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/garagefarm-renderbeamer-delivery.webp)

*renderBeamer continues retrieving originals after provider completion.*

![GarageFarm completed benchmark jobs with average time per frame for each worker group](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/garagefarm-completed-frame-timings-2026.webp)

*Done Frames reports average frame time, worker time, node type, and cost for each group.*

![GarageFarm process results separating pre-render time from render duration for a five-frame worker group](https://superlumin.al/seo/interfaces/garagefarm-pre-render-and-render-times-2026.webp)

*Process Results separates seven seconds of pre-render work from two minutes and 33 seconds of rendering.*

## Upload, capacity, and billing

GarageFarm's desktop client compressed each package before transfer. Package size divided by transfer time produced an effective rate of 8.2 MB/s. Compression reduced the bytes sent, so this is not a raw network speed.

Submission and monitoring live in different places. The desktop client uploads, then hands off to a separate web manager for watching the job. On Junk Shop the manager's Done status lagged behind the last completed frame, so the job looked unfinished after it was not.

The client's background downloader also fell behind the farm. Classroom frames were still arriving on local disk while the next scene was already rendering, which is where GarageFarm's 16.2-to-301.3-second retrieval tails come from. One more quirk cost us a run setup: the client's test-job mode produces an auxiliary job, and the Fox (EEVEE) scene had to be resubmitted in full-job mode.

Superluminal keeps the whole loop in the tool you submitted from. The add-on uploads, the same add-on [streams finished frames back](/live-previews) while later frames render, and the web job page mirrors everything live. There is nothing to hand off and no second program to check.

The client submitted each job at High priority. GarageFarm advertised a 60-node cap, while the interface showed a peak of 29 active nodes.

GarageFarm charged a prepaid balance at $0.012 per OctaneBench-hour. The interface showed the final dollar charge after each job, so the price of a run is something you learn when it ends.

Superluminal shows the rate before you submit and the accruing charge while frames finish. Each job settles as an exact dollar amount, and the [pricing page](/pricing) publishes the same rates the capacity control uses.

GarageFarm completed every scene without a defect and still finished behind in every scene. That is what the [engineering gap](/how-superluminal-is-so-fast) looks like when hardware is not the problem.

## Sources

| # | Source | Type | Checked | URL |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Render farm benchmark dataset, July to August 2026 | First-party benchmark evidence | 2026-08-04 | https://superlumin.al/seo/evidence/render-farm-benchmarks-2026-08.json |