Cloud AI or Own Server – Which is Cheaper?

Two Different Cost Models

Cloud: Billing based on processed text volume. No base costs, no investment. If you use nothing, you pay nothing.

Own Server: Purchase or rental, electricity, maintenance, personnel. These costs are incurred whether the system is used or not.

The Honest Calculation

The costs of an own server include not only hardware and electricity:

• Setup and commissioning
• Ongoing updates of model and operating system
• Monitoring and troubleshooting
• Replacement after a few years
• Labor – the largest and most frequently forgotten item

A comparison that only weighs electricity costs against provider prices consistently favors the own server and is reliably incorrect.

When Switching Makes Sense

Not at the beginning. The usual and reasonable approach:

1. Start with a provider and measure the actual need.
2. Evaluate the actual costs and volumes after three months.
3. Only then decide – with numbers instead of assumptions.

When Price Is Not the Deciding Factor

For health data, personnel files, or documents with confidentiality obligations, the question may be: Is processing by the provider even permissible? In that case, the own server is not a cost decision, but a prerequisite for the project to take place.