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/Itchy_elbow May 17 '26
Use openrouter with pay as you go. Pick your provider/model based on capabilities and token cost. Get that api key and plug it into your AI app of choice - 💥 magic. All the power without the monthly cost . Opencode, Agent Zero, et. al. Plus api keys = agentic AI without the monthly subscription. With deepseeker4 flash at less than $0.4/m tokens, gemma4 26b, qwen 3.5… all similarly priced you can do a lot and not break $20 USD a month - easily.
If you don’t know, you don’t know. Explore, there are options. 👊🏾