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Posted on • Originally published at github.com

How I Built a White-Label AI API Reselling Business (and You Can Too)

#ai #api #saas #tutorial

The $0 to AI API Business Pipeline

Everyone wants a piece of the AI gold rush, but training models costs millions and building infrastructure takes months. What if you could skip all that and start selling AI APIs today?

That's exactly what I built with the AI API Gateway — a white-label API layer that lets you resell access to GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, and Gemini 2.0 with your own branding and a 30-50% markup.

The Architecture (in Plain English) 

Your Customer → Your Branded API → AI API Gateway → OpenAI/Anthropic/Google
                      ↑
              You keep the markup
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Three lines. That's the whole business model:

  1. Customers call your API — it looks and feels like your product
  2. Gateway routes to the real AI provider — transparent forwarding
  3. You pocket the difference — 30-50% on every token sold

Setting It Up in 5 Minutes 

# Clone the gateway
git clone https://github.com/ulnit/ai-api-gateway
cd ai-api-gateway

# Configure your providers
cp .env.example .env
# Add your OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google API keys

# Start the server
docker-compose up -d
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Your API is now live at http://localhost:8080/v1 — fully OpenAI-compatible, meaning any library that works with OpenAI's SDK works with your gateway.

The Numbers That Matter

Here's the math on a single customer using $100/month of GPT-4o tokens:

Tier Markup Your Revenue Annual per Customer
Starter 30% $30/mo $360
Pro 40% $40/mo $480
Enterprise 50% $50/mo $600

With just 10 customers, you're looking at $3,600-$6,000/year — passive income from infrastructure you set up once.

Why White-Label Matters

Your customers never see:

  • OpenAI branding
  • Anthropic pricing pages
  • Any indication you're reselling

They see your brand, your dashboard, your pricing. This is the same model AWS, Azure, and every cloud provider uses.

Built for Developers, by Developers

  • OpenAI-compatible — drop-in replacement for any OpenAI SDK
  • Multi-model routing — GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 2.0 in one endpoint
  • Rate limiting & quotas — protect your margins with per-customer controls
  • Usage analytics — know exactly who's using what
  • Docker deploy — one command to production

Get Started Today

The entire project is open-source and free to deploy:

👉 github.com/ulnit/ai-api-gateway

Want more AI products to monetize? Check out the Agent Store — 16 AI-powered digital products ready to deploy:

🛒 agent-store

What AI API would you resell first? Drop a comment below — I'll help you set it up.

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