AI Automation
Self-Hosted LLM vs API Break-Even: Tokens per Day by Model (Live GPU Prices)
Renting a GPU for an open model looks cheaper than paying per token until you price the same model on the cheapest API. We did it for four open models, from Llama 3.1 8B to Llama 3.3 70B, with live GPU rates from our own tracker and list prices read on 2 October 2026. Against the same model's API, one rented GPU almost never wins. Against a frontier model, it wins from about 2 to 6 million tokens a day.
Tensor · 2h ago · 12 min