Compare the 12-month total cost of self-hosting open-source models vs. using vendor APIs. Answer 4 simple questions and get a clear cost comparison.
GPU hardware/rental, setup & configuration, monthly electricity & maintenance, ML engineer time for operations, model updates & monitoring.
Per-call pricing (input + output tokens), built-in uptime guarantees, automatic model updates, no infrastructure management needed.
Based on your inputs, here's what matters for your decision.
AI costs are dropping ~30% per year. GPU prices, API pricing, and open-source model quality all shift rapidly. Any projection beyond 12 months is unreliable — plan to re-evaluate in 6–12 months regardless of what you choose today.