Cost engine
Buy a rig, or rent the cloud?
Compare buying hardware plus electricity with renting a cloud GPU. Set your model, actual purchase price and daily usage to see when buying pays for itself.
Your usage and costs
Local rigs are sized at the model's default quantization and 4K context.
Cost controls require JavaScript. Estimates use default inputs until the controls are ready.
Llama 3.1 8B · Llama · Llama 3.1 Community
Newest introductions first; undated rigs last. Default: lowest-priced fitting rig.
Intel Arc B580 (12GB) · $289
Results use $289 for the hardware purchase.
Default is a typical street price — edit to match what you see. check current price → This link opens the default rig shown above. This is an affiliate link; we may earn a commission if you buy. This price covers the GPU only; a host PC costs extra.
Results use $0.19/kWh.
Buy it
$289 once
+ ~$6/mo electricity (270 W · 4 h/day)
Default selection: Llama 3.1 8B with Intel Arc B580 (12GB). Shared URL selections apply when the controls are ready.
Search Amazon for Intel Arc B580 (12GB) ↗Confirm the exact chip, memory, condition and current price before buying. GPU purchase only; the rest of the PC costs extra.
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission if you buy.
Rent the cloud
~$60/mo
at ~$0.5/hr for a GPU that runs Llama 3.1 8B
View GPU rental options ↓Representative GPU rental estimate; provider prices and additional charges vary.
GPU rental options for Llama 3.1 8B
Example GPU class and broad price range: 1× 24–32 GB GPU (RTX 4090 / 5090 / L4) · about $0.30–0.80/hr
The calculator uses ~$0.5/hr for its comparison, separately from the example range above. This is a representative GPU rental assumption, not a live provider quote. These links open general provider pages; confirm GPU memory, runtime support, availability, region and storage or bandwidth charges before renting.
RunPod
GPU pods — choose hardware, storage and a runtime for your model.
View RunPod GPU options ↗Referral link
Vast.ai
GPU marketplace — compare host offers, reliability and additional costs.
View Vast.ai GPU options ↗Referral link
Vultr
Cloud GPU infrastructure — check current plans, regions and access.
View Vultr GPU options ↗Referral link
Links marked “Referral” may earn us a commission or credits if you sign up. Affiliate relationships do not change these estimates or the provider order.
Cost comparison
Buying the Intel Arc B580 (12GB) pays for itself in about 5 months vs renting, at 4 h/day — then it's ~$54/mo cheaper.
Scroll sideways for the full comparison. Keyboard: focus the table, then use the arrow keys.
| After | Buy | Rent | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 mo | $363 | $720 | Buy |
| 24 mo | $437 | $1,440 | Buy |
| 36 mo | $511 | $2,160 | Buy |
Estimates. Hardware prices are catalog street defaults, mostly August 2026 with newer hardware sourced in late September — edit the price field above to match what you actually see. Power draw, electricity rates, and cloud prices vary; cloud rates are a representative on-demand figure for the model's size class. Excludes the cost of the rest of a PC for GPU rigs.
Not sure which machine? See what to buy →