What does running AI on your own GPU cost?
Electricity cost per million tokens on your graphics card, and how it compares with an API price.
Your result
€1.11 of electricity per million tokens. Enter an API price to compare.
How it works
- Measure your speed
Run your model and read tokens per second from your tool. Throughput drives the cost far more than model size.
- Estimate power
We take the card’s board power × the load you set, plus 60 W for the rest of the PC, divided by power supply efficiency.
- Cost per million
Hours to generate a million tokens × power × your price per kWh.
Tips
- Quantised models (for example 4-bit) are faster on the same card, which lowers cost per token.
- Batching several requests raises throughput a lot if your tool supports it.
- Lowering the GPU power limit often costs little speed during generation, because it is limited by memory bandwidth.
Questions people ask
Is running AI locally cheaper than using an API?
On electricity alone it often is for small, fast models, and often is not for large, slow ones. The hardware itself is usually the bigger cost, and API prices keep falling, so compare honestly for your own volume.
Why does my GPU draw less than its rated power while generating text?
Generating tokens is mostly limited by memory bandwidth, not raw compute, so the card often runs below its power limit. Prompt processing and image generation can push it higher.
Where do I find tokens per second?
Most local AI tools print it after each response, including llama.cpp, Ollama (with verbose output) and LM Studio.
Related tools
- How much does undervolting your GPU save?Pick a power limit and see the money saved per year and the performance you keep.
- What does leaving your PC on cost?Idle, sleep or shut down: see the yearly cost of each when your PC is not in use.
- Does a new graphics card pay for itself?See how much electricity a more efficient card saves and how long the upgrade takes to pay back.
Popular graphics cards
- GeForce RTX 5070
- GeForce RTX 5080
- Radeon RX 9070 XT
- GeForce RTX 4070 Super
- GeForce RTX 4090
- GeForce RTX 3080
- All graphics cards
Prices: Eurostat, nrg_pc_204, EIA, Ofgem, ElCom. Updated 31 October 2026. How we calculate.