OpenRouter
LLM Gateways & APIs · Free + paid
Unified interface for frontier AI models
At a glance
- Made by
- OpenRouter, Inc
- Korean
- None (English and a few others only)
- API
- Yes
- Available on
- API, Web
What is OpenRouter?
OpenRouter provides more than 500 models from over 80 providers through a single API endpoint. If one provider goes down, it automatically falls back to another, and for each request it picks the more cost-efficient option. You can buy credits and use them with any model or provider, and it is fully compatible with OpenAI. Fine-grained data policies let you ensure prompts go only to models and providers you trust.
- 500+ models and 80+ providers in a single API
- Automatic fallback when a provider has an outage
- Fully OpenAI-compatible
- Custom data policy routing
- Budget and spend controls
- Prompt caching
- BYOK (bring your own key)
- Chat interface included
Who uses OpenRouter and for what
- App developers calling multiple models through one API
- Teams and companies manage model usage with data policies and budgets
Pricing
What you get for free — Yes (Free: 25+ free models, 4 free providers, 50 requests per day)
| Plan | Price | Main limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 25+ free models, 4 free providers, 50 requests/day |
| Standard (Pay-as-you-go) | Contact sales | 5.5% platform fee, 500+ models |
| Business (Pay-as-you-go) | Contact sales | 8% platform fee, 1,000 workspaces, EU·US regional routing |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Fee discounts, SSO/SAML, contractual SLA |
| Gemini 4 Argon (example model) | $2 | $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens |
Checked on the official pages on 2026-10-14. Prices and features can change, so check the official site again before paying. · Official pricing page
Combos that work well with OpenRouter
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
ChatGPT routes between low-cost and high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. In the LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo, the gateway consistently applies key management, call logs, and fallback model policies. Sample evaluations, error rates, and costs are compared to adjust routing rules periodically.
Cost: API pay-as-you-go + subscription (ChatGPT) / open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
Claude routes between low-cost and high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. In the LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo, the gateway consistently applies key management, call logs, and fallback model policies. Routing rules are adjusted periodically by comparing sample evaluations, error rates, and cost.
Cost: Freemium (free + paid subscription) + API pay-as-you-go / open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
Gemini routes between low-cost and high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. In the LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo, the gateway applies key management, call logs, and fallback model policies consistently. Routing rules are adjusted periodically by comparing sample evaluations, error rates, and costs.
Cost: Freemium (free + paid subscription) + API pay-as-you-go / open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
DeepSeek routes between low-cost and high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. In the LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo, the gateway applies key management, call logs, and fallback model policies consistently. Routing rules are adjusted periodically by comparing sample evaluations, error rates, and costs.
Cost: Open source (free) + API pay-as-you-go / open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
Perplexity routes between low-cost and high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. In the LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo, the gateway applies key management, call logs, and fallback model policies consistently. Sample evaluations, error rates, and costs are compared to adjust the routing rules periodically.
Cost: Freemium (free + paid subscription) / open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
Grok-2 routes between low-cost and high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. The LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo has the gateway apply key management, call logs, and fallback model policies consistently. Sample evaluations, error rates, and costs are compared to adjust routing rules periodically.
Cost: Subscription (including X subscription) + API pay-as-you-go / Open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
Llama routes tasks to low-cost or high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. In the LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo, the gateway consistently applies key management, call logging, and fallback model policies. Routing rules are adjusted periodically by comparing sample evaluations, error rates, and cost.
Cost: Open source (free, license conditions apply) / Open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
Per-model cost, quality, and incident response
Mistral routes tasks to low-cost or high-performance models based on task difficulty and expected tokens. In the LiteLLM + OpenRouter + PortKey combo, the gateway consistently applies key management, call logging, and fallback model policies. Routing rules are adjusted periodically by comparing sample evaluations, error rates, and cost.
Cost: Open source (free) + API pay-as-you-go / open source + mixed pay-as-you-go/subscription
AI tools similar to OpenRouter (alternatives)
OpenRouter vs. alternatives at a glance
| AI | Pricing | Combos on the map | Connected tools | Free | Cheapest monthly | Korean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter | Free + paid | 10 | 5 | Yes | — | No |
| Cloudflare AI Gateway | Free + paid | 0 | 5 | Yes | — | Yes |
| LiteLLM | Free | 10 | 5 | No | — | No |
| PortKey | Free + paid | 10 | 5 | Yes | $49/mo | No |
| Vercel AI Gateway | Free + paid | 10 | 5 | Yes | $5/mo | No |
4 of these 5 tools have a free plan. Cheapest paid plan: Vercel AI Gateway ($5/mo).
Combo and connection counts are based on the relationships recorded on AI Galaxy Map (2026-10-26); they are not a quality ranking.
OpenRouter on AI Galaxy Map
- One of 14 AI tools in the LLM Gateways & APIs field.
- Connected to 5 other tools — #6 in its field.
- Part of 10 work combos recorded on the map.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use OpenRouter for free?
Yes (Free: 25+ free models, 4 free providers, 50 requests per day). Prices can change, so check the official site before paying.
What works well with OpenRouter?
Based on the combos on the map, there is a workflow such as "Per-model cost, quality, and incident response" that uses it together with GPT, LiteLLM, PortKey.
What AI can I use instead of OpenRouter?
Tools that do the same job, such as Cloudflare AI Gateway, LiteLLM, PortKey, Vercel AI Gateway, are connected to it on the map.
Can I use OpenRouter in Korean?
None (English and a few others only)
Sources (official pages)
- https://openrouter.ai
- https://openrouter.ai/docs/quickstart
- https://openrouter.ai/pricing/
- https://openrouter.ai/models?order=pricing-low-to-high/
Checked on the official pages on 2026-10-14. Prices and features can change, so check the official site again before paying.