Is local AI worth it?
The honest math on buying hardware vs. paying for the cloud. Plug in what you'd actually run. Most rigs take years to pay off, and some never do.
Price
$
Speed
t/s
Power
W
4h
casual (1h)24/7
Cloud rate
$/M
Electricity
$/kWh
Cloud plan
$/mo
Verdict
The cloud wins
At this usage it likely never pays off. Consumer hardware tends to wear out within ~5 years, before it ever breaks even.
Tokens / month
17.7M
Cloud value / mo
$35
Electricity / mo
$14
Years to break even
13.6 yr
The math, in one line
$3,500 for 41 t/s at 4h/day = 17.7M tokens/mo = $35 of cloud value. Break even: 13.6 yr.
Or vs a flat $200/mo plan you'd pay anyway: you break even in 1.6 years.
Estimates only. "Cloud value" is what the tokens you generate would cost at the metered token rate; it assumes you'd actually use them all. Local hardware can still be the right call for privacy, control, and offline use even when the math says cloud.