Self-Host an LLM on a Rented GPU or Pay per Token? A Break-Even Calculator (2026)
When does renting a GPU beat a per-token API? The break-even formula, a Qwen3 32B example on a 32 GB card, utilisation and a script.
When does renting a GPU beat a per-token API? The break-even formula, a Qwen3 32B example on a 32 GB card, utilisation and a script.
KV cache memory for any context length: the formula, per-token sizes for Qwen3, Llama 3 and Mistral from config.json, and what fits on 24–80 GB.
