I made this investment in 2024, and I was already using local models in a way that justified the cost. But during 2025, the quality of local models has become amazingly competitive. When I compare translations or information extraction, the differences compared to paid APIs are indistinguishable.
24GB of VRAM is a strategic threshold for self-hosting. It comfortably accommodates a 7B parameter model alongside a dedicated embedding model, allowing for a fully local RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipeline.
It also forces a deeper discipline in DevOps. You are pushed to optimize workflows—managing quantization, context windows, and memory allocation—while evaluating outputs.
This rigor ensures that you only outsource to a paid API when the task truly demands massive reasoning capabilities, keeping the bulk of your humanitarian data processing private and sovereign.