A growing market for trading surplus AI compute credits has emerged, with brokers buying unused tokens from startups and reselling them at reduced rates.

Founders have reported receiving frequent offers to purchase or sell off‑market inference credits, a practice that builds on an existing trend of credit swapping among early‑stage companies.

Websites such as AI Credits and AICreditMart list credits from major cloud providers and inference services, while other platforms like CheapCredits market bulk‑priced discounts. Listings typically show discounts ranging from 30 % to 80 % off list price.

CheapCredits advertises a flat 40 % discount and provides a data processing agreement to support GDPR compliance. The site describes itself as a router that aggregates bulk purchases, and similar services such as Tokvana and Neokens have been identified in the same space.

A broker contacted by the author offered $100,000 of spend per day. The broker acts as an intermediary, supplying access to a pool of provider keys rather than the keys themselves.

Discussions occur on Telegram channels dedicated to AI credits, as well as on public forums including Reddit’s r/saasforsale and r/indiehackers, where posts reference discounted API credits from YC Startup School and other sources.

The author estimates that tens of millions of credits are currently offered across these channels. While the liquidity enables trading, the market also presents potential for abuse, and increased awareness of cost pressures may prompt regulatory or platform crackdowns.

Whether the market will expand further or face restrictions as cost concerns grow remains to be seen.