When Does Self-Hosting an LLM Actually Beat the API? The Break-Even Math
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Every team I've worked with hits the same argument about three months after shipping something on top of an LLM: "Should we still be paying per token, or should we just self-host?" And it's always argued on vibes. Someone read a blog post. Someone else got burned by a GPU bill once. Nobody's actually done the math. So here's the math — or at least the shape of it. The API wins right up until it doesn't Paying an API has one killer advantage that people forget to give it credit for: you pay for…
1Key Takeaways
- Every team I've worked with hits the same argument about three months after shipping something on top of an LLM: "Should we still be paying per token, or should we just self-host?" And it's always argued on vibes.
- Someone else got burned by a GPU bill once.
- So here's the math — or at least the shape of it.
- The API wins right up until it doesn't Paying an API has one killer advantage that people forget to give it credit for: you pay for….
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3Why it matters
Coding AI shifts how fast software ships and how much human review each change needs. DEV — ML reports that every team I've worked with hits the same argument about three months after shipping something on top of an LLM: "Should we still be paying per token, or should we just self-host?" And it's always argued on vibes.
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