Rent a GPU or pay per token — see which wins at your volume, and where they cross.
Self-hosting wins only when you keep the GPU busy enough to beat the per-token rate. Model the raw GPU bill on the GPU cloud cost calculator and the true per-token rate you would hit on the GPU inference cost calculator.
Free self-host vs API calculator — compare renting a GPU to run an open model against per-token API pricing, and find the monthly volume where self-hosting wins.
Only at high, steady volume. A rented GPU is a fixed 24/7 cost, so it pays off once your token throughput fills it. Below the break-even volume the per-token API is cheaper because you pay only for what you use; above it, a well-utilised GPU beats the metered price.
Utilisation is the big one — a GPU billed around the clock but used 30% of the time triples your effective cost per token. On top of that come engineering time, autoscaling for spikes, model quality gaps versus frontier APIs, and reliability. Factor those before switching for the sticker saving.