How do you decide between Bedrock, JumpStart and self-hosted models for a generative AI feature?

Updated Aug 1, 2026

Short answer

Start with Bedrock for speed and zero idle cost, move to JumpStart or self-hosting when you need weights in your VPC, a model Bedrock lacks, custom inference code, or when sustained volume makes dedicated capacity cheaper than per-token pricing.

Deep explanation

This is a decision-framework question, and the strongest answers reason about constraints in order rather than expressing a preference.

The decision sequence

Is there a hard constraint? Data residency requiring weights in your VPC, a model Bedrock does not offer, or custom decoding/quantisation. If yes, self-host and the rest is moot.
What is the volume profile? Bursty or uncertain → Bedrock's per-token pricing with zero idle cost. Sustained and high → model the crossover against a saturated endpoint.

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