I Wish I Ran the Numbers on Open Source AI APIs Sooner

Short summary

A solo developer shares a detailed cost analysis showing that open-source AI APIs (DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM) are dramatically cheaper than self-hosting once you factor in GPU rental, DevOps time, monitoring, and maintenance. At $0.01-$0.57 per million output tokens, API-based open-weight models eliminate $900-4,900/month in hidden infrastructure overhead. The break-even math favors APIs for most small shops unless token volume is extremely high.

• •Open-source AI APIs cost $0.01-$0.57/M output tokens vs $900-4,900/mo hidden self-hosting costs
• •Hidden self-hosting costs include DevOps time, monitoring, load balancers, and model updates
• •API route wins for most solo/small shops; self-hosting only pays off at very high token volumes

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.