Buy or rent

Local vs cloud, by monthly budget

Tell us your monthly budget and use case. We show what you could own outright (one-time capex, with ROI payback vs that budget) and what you could rent from the cloud within it - so you can decide whether to buy or rent.

$100/mo · 1 seat · Coding

Cloud column keyed on Qwen3.6 35B A3B - the highest-momentum coding model. Each local build is scored on the best model it can actually run for coding.

Own it - buy once, pay back vs your $100/mo

Local hardware you buy outright, ranked by fastest payback

Jetson AGX Orin 64GB fast
runs Ornith-1.5-35B-A3B Q8_0 Runs comfortably estimated
36 tok/s
$899
CAPEX
pays back in 9.0 months
Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB fast
runs Ornith-1.5-35B-A3B Q8_0 Runs comfortably estimated
52 tok/s
$1,799
CAPEX
pays back in 18.0 months
Mac Studio M4 Max 96GB fast
runs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next EXL3_2BPW Runs comfortably estimated
157 tok/s
$2,999
CAPEX
pays back in 30.0 months
DGX Spark 128GB fast
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-Q2_K_XL Runs comfortably estimated
24 tok/s
$4,699
CAPEX
pays back in 47.0 months
Mac Studio M4 Ultra 192GB fast
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-IQ1_S Runs comfortably estimated
125 tok/s
$4,999
CAPEX
pays back in 50.0 months
4x RTX 4090 fast
runs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next EXL3_2BPW Runs comfortably estimated
1060 tok/s
$6,396
CAPEX
pays back in 64.0 months
1x RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell fast
runs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next EXL3_2BPW Runs comfortably estimated
471 tok/s
$8,565
CAPEX
pays back in 85.7 months
Mac Studio M4 Ultra 512GB fast
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-Q4_K_XL Runs comfortably estimated
58 tok/s
$9,999
CAPEX
pays back in 100.0 months
2x Mac Studio M4 Ultra 192GB 2 nodes Thunderbolt 5 link slow
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-Q4_K_XL Runs comfortably distributed - link bound
0.3 tok/s
$9,998
CAPEX
pays back in 100.0 months
2x DGX Spark 128GB 2 nodes 100GbE link slow
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-Q4_K_XL Runs comfortably distributed - link bound
0.43 tok/s
$9,998
CAPEX (+$600 fabric)
pays back in 100.0 months
2x RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell fast
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-IQ3_XXS Runs comfortably estimated
292 tok/s
$17,130
CAPEX
pays back in 171.3 months
4x DGX Spark 128GB 4 nodes 200GbE link slow
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-Q4_K_XL Runs comfortably distributed - link bound
0.61 tok/s
$19,796
CAPEX (+$1,000 fabric)
pays back in 198.0 months
4x Mac Studio M4 Ultra 192GB 4 nodes Thunderbolt 5 link slow
runs GLM-5.3-Flash UD-Q4_K_XL Runs comfortably distributed - link bound
0.21 tok/s
$19,996
CAPEX
pays back in 200.0 months

Payback is capex-only (one-time hardware cost divided by your monthly budget). It excludes running costs - electricity, depreciation, and the gap between MSRP and street price - so real payback is longer. Throughput is estimated, not measured.

Rent it - cloud within $100/mo

Hosted inference and subscriptions for Qwen3.6 35B A3B - over-budget plans dimmed

Run Qwen3.6 35B A3B in the cloud

Darkbloom per-token
$0.31
/MONTH
AkashML per-token
$0.44
/MONTH
DeepInfra per-token
$0.46
/MONTH
Venice per-token
$0.48
/MONTH
Reka per-token
$0.48
/MONTH
Parasail per-token
$0.54
/MONTH
AtlasCloud per-token
$0.62
/MONTH
Phala per-token
$0.7
/MONTH
CoreWeave per-token
$0.75
/MONTH
SiliconFlow per-token
$0.94
/MONTH

Coding alternatives

Hosted coding assistants for comparison - per seat

Cursor Hobby
AI-first code editor. Uses frontier models (GPT-4, Claude). $20/user Business...
$0.0
/MONTH
GitHub Copilot Individual
AI coding assistant by GitHub. GPT-4o and Claude-based completions. $19/seat ...
$10.0
/MONTH
GitHub Copilot Business
AI coding assistant by GitHub. GPT-4o and Claude-based completions. $19/seat ...
$19.0
/MONTH
Cursor Pro
AI-first code editor. Uses frontier models (GPT-4, Claude). $20/user Business...
$20.0
/MONTH
GitHub Copilot Enterprise
AI coding assistant by GitHub. GPT-4o and Claude-based completions. $19/seat ...
$39.0
/MONTH
Cursor Business
AI-first code editor. Uses frontier models (GPT-4, Claude). $20/user Business...
$40.0
/MONTH

Per-token monthly figures are estimates at typical usage. Prices verified periodically - always confirm current pricing on the provider's website.

Match models to a specific rig → Not sure how many tokens you use? Count them first → Don't want to run the box? Managed private AI →

FAQ

Is local AI cheaper than cloud?

It depends on your monthly cloud spend and how hard you push the hardware. The own-it section shows payback in months - one-time capex divided by your monthly cloud budget. Past that break-even, local hardware is effectively free to run, aside from electricity.

What's the break-even for a Mac Studio?

A Mac Studio running an open-weight coding model typically pays back against a per-token API or seat subscription in the months shown on its row - capex divided by your monthly budget. Heavier daily usage means a shorter payback.

When does renting GPUs beat buying?

Renting wins when your usage is spiky or occasional, you need a model too large to fit any single rig, or your monthly cloud spend is well below the capex of a workstation. The rent-it section lists cloud options within your budget for direct comparison.