What an AI model of your own really costs

The hardware. The model runs on your own company network, so it needs a device. IonKon does not supply one and only makes recommendations; you procure it yourself, because market prices and availability fluctuate. As a reference point, take the NVIDIA DGX Spark with 128 gigabytes of shared memory. On 12 August 2026 the lowest listed price was 5,799 euros including VAT, that is 4,874 euros net. A device of this class carries both model sizes. Fitting a server card into an existing machine costs more: an NVIDIA L40S with 48 gigabytes sits at around 6,500 euros net, an RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell with 96 gigabytes at around 10,800 euros net, in each case without the machine around it.

Electricity. For the DGX Spark the manufacturer specifies a 240 watt power supply, with the processor itself rated at 140 watts. The calculation below assumes 150 watts on average, around the clock, which is 1,314 kilowatt hours per year. Businesses consuming between 20,000 and 500,000 kilowatt hours a year paid an average of 26.18 cents per kilowatt hour excluding VAT in the second half of 2025. That comes to 344 euros per year and 1,032 euros over three years.

Operating effort. Someone sets the device up, backs it up, applies updates and looks into it when something goes wrong. The calculation assumes four hours per month. In 2025 an hour of labour in the information and communication sector cost 58.50 euros on average. That is 2,808 euros per year and 8,424 euros over three years.

All amounts net, rounded. In year four another 3,150 euros or so fall due for electricity and operation; model and hardware are paid for.

No item in the table grows with the number of users. Tier M costs 39,330 euros over three years, around 1,090 euros a month. For ten people that is around 109 euros per person and month, for fifty around 22 euros, for a hundred around 11 euros. Tier L costs around 2,060 euros a month, per person around 206 euros at ten users, around 41 euros at fifty and around 21 euros at a hundred.

The numbers are here so you can hold them against your own needs; how much work the model takes on in your company is something nobody can put a figure on from outside.

For some organisations the calculation above misses the decision entirely. Anyone processing client, patient or personnel files falls under section 203 of the German Criminal Code, which names among others doctors, dentists, pharmacists, professional psychologists, lawyers, notaries, auditors and tax advisers. Add to that design documents, draft contracts and anything covered by a non-disclosure agreement.

For those documents no service that transfers them to a third party on an ongoing basis is an option. What remains is a model that runs in your own building, or doing without.

The route via a service provider is not closed, but it is work. Section 203(3) permits disclosure to contributing persons only as far as it is necessary for their work, and subsection 4 makes the person bound by professional secrecy liable if they fail to impose the duty of confidentiality (section 203 StGB).

For lawyers, section 43e of the Federal Lawyers' Act spells it out: careful selection, an obligation to confidentiality in text form with instruction on the criminal consequences, and for services performed abroad only where the protection of secrets there is comparable to protection at home (section 43e BRAO). That check falls due again with every change of provider and appears on no price list.

With a model of your own that review happens once: the documents are processed on instruction and under a contract pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR and deleted after fine-tuning. In day-to-day operation no document leaves the building at all.

Two points belong in the decision but cannot be expressed cleanly in euros per month.

The first is fiscal. A purchased model is an acquired intangible asset and is in principle capable of being capitalised and depreciated; what you recognise are the acquisition costs. For hardware, the German Federal Ministry of Finance has permitted a useful life of one year since its letter of 22 February 2022, whereas the official depreciation table AfA-Tabelle AV states three years for workstations and personal computers. Which route suits you is a matter for your tax adviser.

The second is residual value. After three years the device and the model are still there and still usable, including without the supplier. The model does not age; as your body of knowledge grows, the additions come in through a further training.

IonKon sells precisely what this calculation describes: a model fine-tuned on your documents, paid for once, with no licence server. On full payment the model weights pass into your ownership. You procure the hardware yourself; we recommend devices but tie you to no supplier and no price.

Anyone transferring the figures to their own company needs two inputs: the number of people who will work with the model, and the period over which the calculation runs. Since no item grows with the number of users, the price per workplace falls with every additional person.