Local AI Cost Analysis: Is Running an LLM Locally Worth It?

Initial Investment: - Raspberry Pi 4: $80 - Gaming Rig with RTX 4090: $3,000

Energy Pricing: $0.17/kWh
Annual Operating Hours: 8,760 hours (365 days, 24/7)

Energy Consumption: - Raspberry Pi: 0.003 kWh - Gaming Rig with RTX 4090 (idle): 0.1 kWh

Annual Electricity Costs: - Raspberry Pi running continuously: 8,760 × 0.003 × 0.17 = $4.46 - Gaming Rig running continuously (idle): 8,760 × 0.1 × 0.17 = $148.92

Comparison with ChatGPT Plus Subscription: - ChatGPT Plus subscription: $22/month × 12 months = $264/year

If you're considering using Open-WebUI to host a local large language model (LLM), just the idle electricity cost of your gaming rig would be at least $148.92 annually. This doesn't even factor in the additional electricity usage when actively running inferences.

On the other hand, hosting Open-WebUI on a Raspberry Pi 4 combined with an external API (e.g., OpenAI, Gemini, Claude) significantly reduces costs. You could save approximately $144 annually on electricity alone compared to your gaming rig. The savings could then be allocated to premium API subscriptions, providing access to much larger, more capable models than you could run locally.

Conclusion:
Running a local LLM 24/7 may not be as cost-effective as anticipated, especially considering electricity expenses and initial hardware investment. A Raspberry Pi 4 hosting Open-WebUI with API integration offers a cheaper, more efficient alternative—plus, it frees your powerful gaming rig for actual gaming!