What is the difference between using Amazon Bedrock and calling an API from a model provider directly (like using OpenAI's or AI21's API)?

Amazon Bedrock and directly calling a model provider’s API (like OpenAI or AI21) differ primarily in how they abstract infrastructure, manage model access, and integrate with cloud services. Bedrock acts as a unified layer that lets you access multiple third-party models through a single AWS-managed service, while direct API calls require you to handle each provider’s endpoints, authentication, and billing separately. For example, Bedrock allows switching between models like Anthropic’s Claude or AI21’s Jurassic-2 without rewriting integration code, whereas using OpenAI’s API directly locks you into their models unless you build separate connectors.

Infrastructure management is another key difference. Bedrock handles scaling, security, and compliance as part of AWS, leveraging features like IAM roles, encryption, and VPC isolation. This simplifies tasks like rate limiting or audit logging, which you’d need to implement manually when using direct APIs. For instance, if your app requires strict access controls, Bedrock integrates with AWS CloudTrail for auditing, while OpenAI’s API would require custom logging. However, direct APIs often provide faster access to the latest models—OpenAI’s GPT-4 might be available via their API months before Bedrock supports it.

Flexibility and customization also vary. Direct APIs often expose more granular parameters and real-time features (like streaming) that Bedrock may abstract or delay supporting. For example, AI21’s API offers fine-tuning options for their Jurassic models, while Bedrock might limit configuration to predefined settings. Conversely, Bedrock simplifies multi-model workflows: a developer could use one SDK to invoke Claude for summarization and Stable Diffusion for image generation, whereas direct APIs would require separate codebases. Choosing between them depends on whether your priority is ease of integration (Bedrock) or granular control (direct APIs).