Self-hosting an LLM breaks even only above about 12% GPU load
Overview
OpenRouter says a self-hosted Qwen3.8 27B on a rented RTX 3090 breaks even with API pricing at about 12% GPU load.
The break-even divides the hourly GPU rent by the API cost of the tokens that GPU serves in the same hour. For DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on four rented H200s, OpenRouter says self-hosting never beats the cheapest zero-data-retention endpoint.
OpenRouter adds that its provider.zdr setting and its EU and US domains cover most privacy needs without self-hosting.
Written by AI from the articles below · updated Nov 11, 7:33 PM ET
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- OpenRouter BlogOfficialSelf-hosting an LLM pays off only above about 12% GPU load
AIOpenRouter says a self-hosted model on a rented RTX 3090 breaks even with the API at about 12% load for Qwen3.8 27B, but a DeepSeek V4.1 Flash setup on four rented H200s never beats the cheapest zero-data-retention endpoint. The break-even divides GPU rent per hour by the API cost of the tokens that GPU serves in the same hour. OpenRouter adds that provider.zdr and its EU and US domains cover most privacy needs without self-hosting.
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