PLAN YOUR SPENDING

Own the hardware. Or rent the power?

Put the numbers side by side. See what your own AI computer and a rented cloud GPU could cost over the same period.

Example scenario, not a provider quote. All prices are editable and in GBP. This compares buying hardware with renting a GPU, not AI subscriptions or token-priced APIs. Match model, performance and usage before comparing.

Your assumptions

Hardware cost (£)Use 0 for equipment you already own.Expected resale value (£)An assumption, not guaranteed.Comparison period (months)Whole months, up to 10 years.Local usage (hours / month)Include time the computer is working.Computer power at the wall (W)Whole computer, not just GPU rating.Electricity (£ / kWh)Enter your own tariff.Other local costs (£ / month)Backups, idle power or maintenance.Cloud GPU rate (£ / hour)Convert any dollar quote to pounds first.Other cloud costs (£ / month)Storage, transfer and recurring charges.Cloud hours per local hour1 = equal time; 0.5 = half as many hours.

YOUR COST COMPARISON

Over 36 months

Local ownership, including net hardware cost

£1,362.00

Cloud rental, including monthly extras

£1,476.00

Local average per month: £37.83
Cloud average per month: £41.00
Local running cost per month: £4.50

Local ownership costs £114.00 less over this period.

Estimated local break-even: 33 months, using the assumed resale value. Resale is normally recovered only when you sell.

Know what is inside the estimate

Hardware + electricity

Local total = purchase minus resale, plus months × (hours × watts ÷ 1,000 × electricity rate + monthly extras).

Rental + extras

Cloud total = months × (local hours × cloud-time ratio × hourly rate + monthly extras). Stopped servers can still incur storage charges.

Equal work, not equal GPUs

One hour on your computer may not equal one rented GPU hour. Adjust the ratio from measured performance. Taxes and currency conversion must be included in your inputs.

Price references: Runpod pricing and DigitalOcean pricing. These are sources to check, not live feeds or recommendations.

This is a planning comparison. It excludes financing, downtime and the value of your time unless you include them in monthly extras. A lower total does not establish memory fit or model quality. Check model memory first.