"Cheapest" only means something once you've fixed what quality bar you're running at. A 70B model at Q2 quantization technically runs on far less memory than the same model at full precision — but it's not really the same model anymore. Here's the actual memory math, then what each hosting option costs against it.
What Llama 3.3 70B weighs, by quantization
These are the published GGUF file sizes for Llama 3.3 70B Instruct — the weights on disk, which is also roughly what has to fit in unified memory before you add any headroom for context:
| Quantization | Quality | Size |
|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full / reference precision | 141.1 GB |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 75.0 GB |
| Q6_K | Very close to Q8 | 57.9 GB |
| Q5_K_M | Very good, common upper-mid choice | 50.0 GB |
| Q4_K_M | Most common "sweet spot" | 42.5 GB |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 34.3 GB |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded, rarely recommended | 26.4 GB |
In practice, most people treat Q4_K_M as the realistic floor for a model you'd actually rely on, and Q5_K_M–Q8_0 as the range worth paying for if you can afford the memory. That puts the real working range at roughly 50–90GB once you include context overhead — not the bare 42.5GB weight figure.
Four ways to actually run it
1. Buy a Mac Studio outright
Apple sells the Mac Studio configured-to-order with unified memory options that scale well past what a 70B model needs — high-memory configurations have historically landed in the low five figures for Apple's top-memory Mac Studio builds, and pricing varies by chip and memory tier. You own the hardware outright with no monthly fee, but you're also responsible for power, cooling, physical security, and network setup, and the upfront cost is the highest of any option here. Check Apple's own configurator for current pricing before deciding.
2. Rent from MacStadium
MacStadium's largest Mac Studio plan (S2.L) offers 128GB on an M2 Ultra chip for $449/mo — enough room for Q4_K_M through Q8_0 with reasonable context headroom, on a chip that's a few generations old. Their 64GB plans (S1.M at $249/mo, S2.M at $369/mo) are too tight for a comfortable 70B setup once context overhead is included.
3. Rent an AWS EC2 Mac instance
AWS's largest Mac instance (mac2-m2pro.metal) tops out at 32GB — below even the bare Q4_K_M weight size of 42.5GB. Run continuously at $1.56/hr, it costs roughly $1,123/month for hardware that cannot load the model at any quantization level worth using. This is the one option on this list that's ruled out on memory alone, not price.
4. Reserve a maccloud Mac Studio
maccloud's 256GB plan ($1,200/mo, M5 Ultra) has enough headroom to run Llama 70B at FP16 full precision (141.1GB) with well over 100GB left over for context and other workloads, or to run several quantized models side by side. It's single-tenant, so nothing else on the machine competes for that memory or bandwidth.
Side-by-side
| Option | Memory | Monthly cost | Can run Llama 70B at Q4_K_M? | Can run it at FP16? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS EC2 Mac (mac2-m2pro.metal) | 32GB | ~$1,123/mo | No | No |
| MacStadium S1.M / S2.M | 64GB | $249–369/mo | Tight, little headroom | No |
| MacStadium S2.L | 128GB | $449/mo | Yes, comfortably | No |
| maccloud 256GB | 256GB | $1,200/mo | Yes, with large context headroom | Yes |
| maccloud 512GB | 512GB | $1,800/mo | Yes, plus room for other models | Yes, with headroom to spare |
If Q4_K_M–Q8_0 quality is good enough for your use case and 128GB is plenty of headroom, MacStadium's S2.L at $449/mo is genuinely the cheapest dedicated path that works today. maccloud costs more, and earns it with a newer chip, room to run at full precision, and enough memory left over to add models rather than replace them. Which one is "cheapest" depends on whether you're optimizing for this month's bill or for not having to re-shop the moment you want more than one model loaded.