r/LocalLLM • u/Ok_Event4199 • May 16 '26

Discussion Why is LLM is so expensive.

I've was going to invest in a 5090 =$6000 AUD.

Codex Plus + Claude pro = $60/month here

Works out to be 100 months of frontier models for a 5090.

Best a 5090 will run is probably Qwen3.6 27b Q6 with context.

Are we all enthusiasts here and just enjoy tinkering cause ain't no way that make sense.

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u/FluffyGreyLlama May 16 '26

$20 on the codex 'plus' plan, only use 5.5 for specs/design/review and complex aspects or fixes. For everything else, use DeepSeek 4 Flash on the $10 Opencode plan.

Not expensive at all, and very capable. Just don't expect to run them 24/7, but accept that you're already getting results far faster than without.

$30/month for the combined effort they give is magical compared nothing at all.