Week 3: how to access models

You now know what an LLM is, how it works, and what models exist. Now comes the practical question: how do I access one? You can’t ring up Anthropic and ask them to activate Claude. You need an intermediary — and that’s a provider.

What is a provider?

A provider is a company or service that gives you access to an AI model. It’s the intermediary between you and the model.

Think of a simple analogy: the model is a film. The provider is the platform where you watch it — Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime. The same film can be available on several platforms, with different prices and conditions. LLMs work exactly the same way.

Direct providers vs inference providers

Direct providers

These are the companies that create the model and sell it to you directly. OpenAI sells access to GPT. Anthropic sells access to Claude. Google offers Gemini.

With a direct provider, you’re guaranteed to be using the “official” model with the latest updates. It’s usually the most expensive option.

Inference providers

These are companies that don’t create models, but run them on their servers and offer them to you. They take open models (LLaMA, Mistral, Qwen) and make them available to everyone.

Groq is known for its brutal speed. Together AI offers a wide variety of open models. NVIDIA NIM provides access with a free tier. OpenRouter is an aggregator — a single access point to dozens of models.

The advantage of inference providers is price and variety. The downside is they don’t always have the latest models.

Why does the price vary?

Hardware: Each provider uses different hardware. Scale: A large provider can offer lower prices. Margin: Each provider decides their margin. Optimisations: Some apply quantization that can slightly affect quality.

The complete chain

You → Agent (OpenClaw) → Provider (API) → Model (LLM) → Response

How to choose a provider?

Cost: If budget is zero, look for free tiers (NVIDIA NIM, Google AI Studio, Groq free).

Speed (latency): If you need fast responses, Groq is king.

Model quality: If you need the best model possible, go to the direct provider.

Reliability: Large providers have robust infrastructure. Free tiers may have outages.

Key concepts today

  • Provider: A company or service that gives you access to an AI model
  • Direct provider: The model creator who sells it to you (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google)
  • Inference provider: A company running open models on their servers (Groq, Together, NVIDIA NIM)
  • OpenRouter: An aggregator giving access to multiple models and providers from a single point
  • The chain: You → Agent → Provider (API) → Model → Response

Next lesson: What is an API? — The gateway to LLMs.