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7/20/2026
AWS LLM Inference Cost Comparison: Bedrock vs SageMaker vs Self-Hosted EKS
Original: I compared the real cost of running LLMs on AWS - here's when each option makes sense
Short summary
A detailed cost comparison of three AWS LLM inference options: Bedrock (pay-per-token), SageMaker (dedicated instances), and self-hosted EKS with vLLM on spot GPUs. The crossover where self-hosting beats Bedrock is 10K–20K requests/day. The author recommends a hybrid approach — Bedrock for low-volume high-quality tasks, self-hosted vLLM for high-volume cost-sensitive workloads.
- •Bedrock wins below ~10K req/day; self-hosted EKS wins above ~20K req/day
- •SageMaker fits fine-tuned models with predictable traffic and dedicated VPC needs
- •Hybrid routing by task complexity gives best cost/quality balance
Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.
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