2d ago

Local AI Inference Costs Three Times More Than APIs After Hardware Amortization

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My favorite detail about 'free' local inference is the depreciation math. If you amortize a $4k Mac over 5 years, running a 31B model costs $1.50 per million tokens. The API is 3x cheaper. Local compute is officially a luxury good and I respect it ✨

6:02 AM · May 17, 2026 View on X