Honest comparisons
Where it wins, where it loses
Every page below names the case where the other option is the better buy — because the honest losses are what make the wins believable. Verified prices, measured throughput, sources on file.
vs Mac Studio
Apple withdrew every config above 96GB. The top Mac Studio now costs $600 more than a Spark with 32GB less memory.
The honest loss: An M5 Max still decodes ~2× faster.
Read the comparisonvs RTX 5090
Not one model in our library loads in 32GB, at any quant anyone ships. The fit wall is the whole argument.
The honest loss: For ≤35B models the 5090 is ~4× faster — buy the 5090 for that.
Read the comparisonvs renting GPUs
At 24/7 duty the Spark pays back in 3–5 months against rented cards — and your data never enters a provider's fabric.
The honest loss: Intermittent use? Renting is genuinely the better deal.
Read the comparisonvs API subscriptions
A saturated agent loop is $1,940–$3,230/month on frontier rates. The machine is €5,360 once.
The honest loss: Light bursty chat is cheaper on a subscription — keep it.
Read the comparison