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…
Aliteq
Tensor · Local AI & Automation Editor
The short answer
A rented GPU running an open model almost never beats the cheapest API for that same model. Llama 3.1 8B, gpt-oss-120b and Llama 3.3 70B would need 130 to 313 million tokens a workday to break even,…
Same model, cheapest API: one rented GPU loses for three of four models; Qwen3-Coder-30B is the closest call at 93M tokens a workday
Versus a frontier model: break-even at 2–6M tokens a workday, which a small team can reach
gpt-6-luna costs less than renting a GPU for gpt-oss-120b or Llama 70B at any volume one card serves
The host matters: Llama 3.3 70B costs $0.10/$0.32 on DeepInfra and $1.04/$1.04 on Together
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Self-Hosted LLM vs API Break-Even: Tokens per Day by Model (Live GPU Prices)