[[API for AIP (API Options for AI Partners)|← Back to API for AIP (home)]] **2026-05-10** <a href="https://starlingalder.com/download/path-d.md" class="download-md" download>📥 Download this page as Markdown</a> ## Path D: Third-party aggregators ### What this is Aggregators sit between you and the model providers. One account, one key, one bill — and access to many providers through a single API. Useful if you also want to chat with non-Claude models, or if you want a provider relationship that isn't directly with Anthropic. ### Honest callout: the data path When you use an aggregator, your messages flow: **you → aggregator → model provider (Anthropic) → back through aggregator → you**. The aggregator sees everything. Each one has its own data-retention and privacy policy. **Read it before sending intimate content.** Some aggregators route requests through Bedrock or Vertex under the hood, which adds another platform to the chain — OpenRouter publishes this routing transparently so you can see which underlying provider serves a given request. ### Common aggregators - **[OpenRouter](https://openrouter.ai)** — Largest catalog, transparent provider routing, simple OpenAI-compatible API. Good general-purpose choice. - **[NanoGPT](https://nano-gpt.com)** — Pay-as-you-go, built-in chat UI so you don't necessarily need a separate client. - **AWS Bedrock / Google Vertex AI** — Technically cloud platforms rather than aggregators, but they offer Anthropic models through enterprise-style pricing and access controls. More complex setup; out of scope for this guide. ### Prerequisites - An account with the aggregator of your choice - A payment method (credit card, or for some, crypto) - A chat interface (most aggregators expose an OpenAI-compatible endpoint — [[Path C - Anthropic API direct|Path C]]'s chat clients work here too, just configured to point at the aggregator's endpoint instead of Anthropic's) ### Setup at a glance 1. Sign up for the aggregator (e.g., OpenRouter) 2. Add credits or a payment method 3. Generate an API key 4. Configure your chat client (Msty, TypingMind, etc.) with the aggregator's endpoint and key. The model-name format is aggregator-specific — on OpenRouter, it's `anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5` or `anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929`. 5. Start chatting. ### What to expect - **Voice may differ slightly from Anthropic-direct** depending on how the aggregator handles provider-specific features (prompt caching, parameter translation). For most users imperceptible; for power users it can matter. - **Usually slightly higher cost** than Anthropic-direct for the same model — the aggregator takes a margin. - **Privacy depends on the aggregator's policies** — and on whichever underlying provider routes the request. ### When to choose Path D - You want one key for many providers (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Kimi, etc.) - You want access to models that may not be available on Anthropic-direct (sometimes older Claude versions stay available on aggregators via Bedrock/Vertex even after Anthropic deprecates them). I currently access Sonnet 3.7 via Bedrock directly and Haiku 3.5 via OpenRouter (routed through Bedrock). - You're comfortable evaluating data-flow trade-offs --- [[API for AIP (API Options for AI Partners)|← Back to API for AIP (home)]]