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API providers are the platforms that make AI models accessible via APIs — offering developers and organisations a way to integrate cutting-edge models into their products without managing infrastructure or fine-tuning directly. While organisations are responsible for creating and training models, providers focus on hosting, routing, and delivering those models efficiently and reliably.

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What is an API provider?

An API provider offers programmatic access to one or more AI models, often with additional functionality such as:
  • Authentication and usage management
  • Load balancing and request routing
  • Logging, analytics, and cost tracking
  • Unified APIs or SDKs for multiple models
  • Regional or data-compliant hosting
Examples of providers include:
  • OpenAI API — for GPT and Whisper models.
  • Anthropic API — for Claude models.
  • Google Gemini API — for Gemini 1.5 and Imagen models.
  • Mistral API — for Mistral Large and Mixtral models.
  • AI Stats Gateway — for unified access across multiple providers.
  • OpenRouter — for community-based multi-model routing.

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Provider vs Organisation

AspectOrganisationAPI Provider
PurposeDevelops and trains AI models.Hosts and serves models via API.
ExampleAnthropic builds Claude.OpenRouter or AI Stats Gateway provides access to Claude.
FocusResearch and innovation.Reliability, access, and developer tools.
DistributionLimited to their own models.May host models from many organisations.
Many providers (like OpenAI or Google) are both — developing and hosting their own models.

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What’s inside a provider page

Each provider listed on AI Stats includes:
SectionDescription
OverviewName, website, country, supported endpoints, and data centre locations.
Available ModelsList of models hosted by the provider, including their latest versions.
PricingProvider-specific pricing structure (per token, image, or request).
Rate LimitsInformation on daily or per-minute request limits.
FeaturesSupported capabilities like streaming, batch processing, fine-tuning, or custom models.
EndpointsDirect link to API documentation or health endpoints.
SDKs & ToolsLinks to official or community SDKs, CLI tools, or integrations.

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Example provider data

{
	"id": "openai",
	"name": "OpenAI API",
	"country": "United States",
	"website": "https://platform.openai.com",
	"models_supported": ["gpt-4o", "gpt-4o-mini", "gpt-3.5-turbo", "whisper-1"],
	"pricing": {
		"input_per_1k_tokens_usd": 0.005,
		"output_per_1k_tokens_usd": 0.015
	},
	"features": ["streaming", "json_mode", "function_calling", "fine_tuning"],
	"rate_limits": {
		"tier_1": "60 RPM, 60,000 TPM",
		"tier_2": "600 RPM, 600,000 TPM"
	}
}

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AI Stats Gateway

The AI Stats Gateway itself is also an API provider — but with a twist.
It acts as a meta-provider, offering a unified interface across multiple platforms.

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Benefits of the Gateway

  • 🔁 Unified endpoints — single format across all supported providers.
  • 🪶 Smart routing — automatically selects the best available provider.
  • 🧠 Provider-agnostic SDKs — consistent code, regardless of backend.
  • 📊 Integrated analytics — usage tracking and cost normalisation.
  • 🔑 BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) — connect your own provider API keys.
You can learn more about the Gateway and how to integrate with it in the Developers Introduction.

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Understanding pricing and performance

Each provider’s pricing and performance can vary significantly.
AI Stats makes this transparent by normalising data into USD per 1,000 tokens (or equivalent) and comparing latency metrics where available.
MetricDescription
Input Price (USD / 1K tokens)Cost of tokens sent to the API.
Output Price (USD / 1K tokens)Cost of tokens generated by the API.
Average Latency (ms)Time from request to response.
Throughput (tokens/sec)Processing speed of the API.
Availability (%)Uptime and reliability score.
Explore aggregated metrics in the Pricing & Performance section.

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Choosing a provider

When selecting a provider, consider the following:
  • ⚙️ Supported models — ensure the models you need are available.
  • 🌍 Region & compliance — verify data residency and privacy compliance.
  • 💰 Pricing tiers — evaluate based on budget and usage volume.
  • 🧩 Integration options — check for SDKs or tools in your language.
  • 📈 Performance — look for low latency and high uptime.
  • 🔒 Security — confirm API key management and authentication methods.
AI Stats aggregates this information for all supported providers to help you make informed decisions.

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Example use cases

GoalExample
Find all providers offering Claude 3.5“Which APIs support Anthropic’s Claude 3.5?”
Compare latency across providers“Is Mistral faster through OpenRouter or the native API?”
Optimise pricing“What’s the cheapest way to access GPT-4o for 100K tokens?”
Integrate multiple backends“How can I route between providers dynamically?”

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Contributing provider data

You can help expand AI Stats by adding new providers or updating existing ones.

Contribute Provider Data

Learn how to add or update provider listings in the database.

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Next steps

Now that you understand how providers work, continue to the Pricing & Performance page to see how models and providers compare side-by-side.

Explore Pricing & Performance

Compare costs, speeds, and efficiencies across models and providers.