GuideAI · 6 min
How do we pick an AI model provider for our product?
Test the models with your tasks, then compare what you'll pay per use at your volume, what happens to your data, and where it runs. Each provider answers alike.
The Clectiv team ·
Don't pick a model from a leaderboard. Pick it from your own task, priced at your own volume. Three comparisons decide it: how the pricing's built, what the data terms say, and where the model runs.
How is model pricing structured?#
Model pricing starts with a per-use charge, by the amount of text. The unit is the token, a small chunk of text, roughly a word or part of one. Your product pays for the text it sends in and for the text that comes back.
| Charge | What you're counting | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| Input | What your product sends to the model | How much can it take in one request? |
| Output | What the model writes back | Is it priced apart from input, and can you cap it? |
| Batch work | Jobs that can wait and run in bulk | What's the discount, and how long can a job take? |
| Repeated prompts | The same opening text sent again and again | Does the provider remember it, and does that cost less? |
Models from the same provider carry different rates. A price per use only means something next to a task. Compare the cost of the whole job, retries and long answers included, and ignore the rate card.
Test first, then price. Run a sample of your real tasks through each model and judge the answers yourself. Price the ones that pass.
Before you call anyone#
Your task, your volume and your data go into Clectiv AI before anyone sends you a price sheet. From there Clectiv AI runs the process, bidding it out to the providers that fit so they compete, and you choose the one you like. Take a price sheet first and you're comparing rate cards that don't match.
What do the data terms say about our prompts and outputs?#
Your prompts and your customers' data go to the provider, so read what it does with them. Four questions come first:
- Training. Are your prompts and outputs used to train its models?
- Retention. How long are they kept, and can you delete them?
- Access. Can the provider's staff read them, and when?
- Ownership. Who owns what the model writes?
The plan asks the rest, from audit reports to what happens when you leave.
Terms can differ by plan. A free or trial plan can carry different terms from a business plan, so get the answers into the contract.
The plan tells each provider what kinds of data your product handles. Personal, health and payment data can need terms a standard plan doesn't include.
Write your data rules down with Clectiv AI before the comparison. Which data is sensitive, which is customer data, and what has to stay out. Then each provider answers the same questions.
Where does the model run, and does that matter?#
It matters if your data has to stay in a country, or your users are waiting on an answer. The region is where your requests are processed and stored. Law, contracts or customers may name it. Distance adds delay too, and delay shows when a person's waiting on a reply.
Not every model is offered in every region. Check the region for the model you tested, not for the provider in general.
There's a second question: who runs it. Some routes go straight to a model's maker. Others go through a cloud you already use, so billing, region and contract sit with that cloud.
AWS runs in regions around the world and sells access to many models through one service.
If you're building AI agents into your product, Kore.ai sells a platform for building them on top of models. The plan says whether you need one.
They're among the AI providers we work with, and Clectiv AI runs the process with them on your behalf: start a project.
The work's been done before. Clectiv AI runs the process we've used before, so you start where other buyers left off. The best pricing, terms and contract we can get come from taking the plan straight to these providers.
Some jobs call for a custom build. When no ready-made product fits, a provider can build the AI around your data and your systems, and that build gets priced like any other proposal.
Plan for switching later. Keep your prompts and your test cases in a form you can move, and the choice you make now stays reversible.
Common questions#
How is AI model pricing structured?#
Do model providers train on our prompts?#
Does the region a model runs in matter?#
Is the cheapest price per use the cheapest model to run?#
Can we switch model providers later?#
How does Clectiv AI get this done?#
Clectiv AI is step one. Tell it what your product does with AI, your volume and where your data lives. It scopes the project with you and writes your plan: the task, the volume, your data rules and the region.
Then the Clectiv team takes your plan to the AI providers that fit, all at once, through our partner network of 620+ providers. They compete for your business with real bids, the team pushes on terms, and you choose.
Companies like yours did this before you. Clectiv AI runs the process other companies used, so you start where they finished. With the plan straight in front of the providers that fit, you get the best pricing, terms and contract we can.
All of this is free to you, and it's days, not months. The rest of what we source in AI is on the AI page.
Got a pilot that's stuck before it ships? Read how to get an AI pilot into production.
Sources and method. No prices appear in this guide. AWS and Kore.ai are examples of who plays here, from Clectiv's provider directory and each provider's own product list, not a ranking.