Local AI vs API vs subscription: what is actually cheaper?

Local AI can compete with API and subscription pricing, but it is not free. This tool includes hardware amortization, electricity, idle power, and admin time so you compare the real monthly cost. Prices updated live.

Local wins when

The workload is steady, the model fits your hardware, and privacy or latency matters enough to justify owning the machine.

APIs win when

You need frontier quality, burst scaling, many model choices, or production reliability without maintaining GPUs.

Subscriptions win when

One person uses a provider app heavily and wants a simple flat monthly budget instead of token math.

Usage

Requests / day

API baseline model

Input tokens / request

Output tokens / request

Local hardware assumptions

Hardware price ($)

Amortization months

Electricity $ / kWh

Active hours / day

Active watts

Idle watts

Subscription and admin assumptions

Subscription baseline

Admin hours / month

Admin hourly value ($)