Reselling AI: How to Set Your Markup
Wrapping an AI provider's API and charging for the result is a common business model, but the provider's price is your cost of goods. Your markup has to cover that plus overhead, support and price risk.
Mark up on true cost
Base your markup on the full cost to serve — tokens, retries, failed calls and any tool fees — not just the headline token rate. A markup that only covers happy-path tokens leaves you exposed on messy real traffic.
Build in price-change headroom
Provider prices move, usually down but not always. Leave enough margin that a rate change does not instantly make you unprofitable, and revisit your pricing when the underlying cost shifts.
Calculators for this topic
Frequently asked questions
How much should I mark up an AI API?+
Enough to cover full cost-to-serve, overhead and risk while staying competitive — model it on your real per-request cost.
What if the provider changes prices?+
Keep margin headroom and re-check your pricing whenever the underlying token cost moves.