should you buy a rig instead of paying for an API or subscription?

Mostly this is a cost question, and the API often wins. But not only: running local keeps your code and prompts on your own machine, never in a provider's API logs.

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Today I pay▾and I▾and I can spend▾for a rig

Can my device run these?▾ I already own it

More columns I use the API, not subscriptions

Modelcan it code? · rig	Speedtokens/sec	Rigapprox	Powerwatts	API price$/MTok	Cost to run/mo · rig÷3yr + power	vs APIits own API	vs GPT$20 sub	vs Claude$20 sub	vs GPT$100 sub	vs Claude$100 sub	Verdict

assumptionsmid-2026 estimates; edit your reality

coding API $/MTok $ input:output :1 electricity $/kWh amortization mo

High-memory M3 Ultra rows are used-market estimates: Apple currently sells M3 Ultra Mac Studio at 96GB, while 256GB/512GB configurations are not normal new-buy options. The $5/MTok default is a coding-model blend, not a flagship-only Opus/GPT-5.5 anchor.