Resell API access: what OpenAI, Anthropic and Google allow

What is the difference between reselling an API and building on it?

Reselling means selling access to the provider's service itself: handing out keys or accounts, or a thin proxy customers use as if it were the provider. Building on it means your product calls the API and your customers buy your product. Provider terms usually allow the second and restrict the first.

The terms below were read on November 10, 2026. They are summaries, not legal advice. Read the agreement that applies to your account.

What do provider terms allow?

All three hold you responsible for what your users do. OpenAI makes the customer responsible for all activity under its account, including end users of its applications. Anthropic makes the customer responsible for all activity under its account.

Google Maps also limits the data. You may not store, index or rehost Maps content outside the services, or show Places content on a non-Google map. Google sells through authorized resellers under separate agreements.

How do I price API usage I resell inside my product?

Price each call at cost plus a markup. A percentage keeps margin in line with cost; a flat amount per call protects margin on very cheap calls. The examples use Locus Pro catalog base prices with a 25% markup plus $0.002 per call. Prices checked November 10, 2026.

The flat $0.002 is 39% of Hunter's base price and under 7% of Brave's. When base prices differ this much, set flat markup per endpoint.

What risks do you take on when you resell API access?

Selling another company’s service inside your product moves some of its risks onto you.

• Account risk: if one customer breaks the provider's rules, the provider can suspend your access, which stops every customer.
• Price risk: providers change prices, and your markup absorbs the change until you reprice.
• Data rules: limits on storing, caching and displaying results pass through to your product.
• Payment risk: if customers pay after use, you carry unpaid usage. Prepaid balances remove it.
• Support: customers bring provider outages and errors to you.

How does Locus Pro handle resale billing?

Locus Pro Enterprise is built for platforms that give their customers paid APIs. Your server calls catalog endpoints with your Locus key, and customers never receive a provider key. Each customer has a credit balance, each call names them with X-Locus-End-User, and they pay the catalog base price plus your markup. You can set markup for the whole workspace, one provider or one endpoint.

Customers can top up by card through Locus-hosted checkout, and your markup on those credits accrues as earnings paid out after a 30-day holdback. Or you collect payment yourself and allocate credits from your pool, and the markup returns to your pool as they spend. The ledger and customer analytics show charges and margin per customer.

Enterprise also supports your own provider keys through Custom APIs. Calls for your own workspace are billed by the provider to your saved credential, while calls for a customer charge your configured cost plus markup.

Locus Pro does not change what a provider allows you to do with its data. Check the storage and display rules for each API you put in front of customers.

• Locus Pro for platforms
• Tool catalog and base prices
• API key management and BYOK

Should I resell through a platform or sign with each provider?

Decide by how many providers you need and how much volume each one gets.

• One or two providers at high volume: contract directly. If customers will see the provider's service as such, ask the provider about a reseller or partner agreement.
• Google Maps Platform: its standard terms bar resale, and Google sells through authorized resellers under separate agreements.
• Many providers with low or uneven volume each: a platform such as Locus Pro saves an account, a contract and an invoice per provider.
• You only need the data inside your own features: build on the API under its normal terms, with no resale arrangement.