vioscaleAI
Comparison

Higress vs OpenRouter

No leader: the top candidate OpenRouter has only 0.34 confidence (low), below the 0.35 needed to declare a winner. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Higress full profile →OpenRouter full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Higress58
OpenRouter67
Score
vioscaleAI score
Higress58 / 100medium · 55%
OpenRouter67 / 100low · 34%
Pricing
Free tier
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Model
Higressfreemium
OpenRouterfreemium
Price level
Higresslow
OpenRouterlow
Transparent
Higress✗
OpenRouter✓
Integrations
Count
Higress8
OpenRouter80
Security
Gdpr
Higress–
OpenRouter✓
Trust center
Higress–
OpenRouterhttps://openrouter.ai/privacy
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Sla pct
Higress99.95
OpenRouter–
Adoption
Dependent repos
Higress4
OpenRouter–
Github stars
Higress9,567
OpenRouter–
Activity
Commits last 30d
Higress93
OpenRouter–
Release
Cadence days
Higress28
OpenRouter–
History
Higress20 items
OpenRouter–
License
Spdx
HigressApache-2.0
OpenRouter–
Language
Primary
HigressGo
OpenRouter–
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Higress7 items
OpenRouter6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for llm gateways. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capabilities
Openai compatible API
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Automatic failover
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Routing strategy
HigressLoad based
OpenRouterCost based
Caching
HigressSemantic
OpenRouterExact
Virtual key management
Higress-
OpenRouter✓
Budget spend controls
Higress-
OpenRouter✓
Rate limiting
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Guardrails moderation
Higress-
OpenRouter-
Request cost observability
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Streaming support
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Deployment model
HigressSelf hosted
OpenRouterManaged SaaS
Open source
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Pricing model
HigressOpen source self host
OpenRouterUsage based saas

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Higress

Higress is an open-source API gateway designed to manage AI workloads, language model integrations, and tool services. It supports both self-hosted deployment and commercial cloud offerings, with production-grade reliability including 99.95% SLA for enterprise deployments.

Independently observed

OpenRouter

OpenRouter provides a unified, OpenAI-compatible API that consolidates access to over 500 language models from 80+ providers. It features automatic failover for reliability, cost-optimized routing, transparent provider pricing with modest platform fees, and support for multiple deployment and authentication methods.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Higress

HybridFree tier

Free open source self-hosted, plus commercial cloud offering

  • Open SourceFree
  • Cloud CommercialContact sales
as of verify ↗

OpenRouter

HybridFree tier

Free tier with 50 requests/day, or pay-as-you-go at 5.5% markup

  • FreeFree
    • Chat and API access
    • 25+ free models
    • 4 free providers
    • 50 requests/day rate limit
    • Community support
  • Standard5.5% platform fee on provider pricing
    • Pay-as-you-go usage billing
    • 500+ models
    • 80+ providers
    • Email support
    • Budgets and spend controls
    • +2 more
  • BusinessContact sales
    • Fee discounts available
    • 500+ models
    • 80+ providers
    • Custom rate limits
    • Invoicing options
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Custom pricing
    • 500+ models
    • 80+ providers
    • Dedicated support team
    • Contractual SLAs
    • +2 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Linux
Higress✓
OpenRouter✗
CLI
Higress✗
OpenRouter✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Higress✓
OpenRouter✓
Self-hosted
Higress✓
OpenRouter✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (1)
  • OpenAI

Higress

16 total - 15 not shared
  • Claude
  • DeepSeek
  • Azure OpenAI
  • Aliyun Dashscope
  • Aliyun DashVector
  • Doubao
  • Kubernetes
  • Istio
  • Nginx Ingress
  • Let's Encrypt
  • Tongyiqianwen
  • Doubaoquantum
  • Envoy
  • NGINX
  • Sealos
Independently observed

OpenRouter

11 total - 10 not shared
  • Vercel AI SDK
  • Claude Code
  • Cursor
  • OpenAI SDK
  • Anthropic
  • Google
  • Meta
  • Mistral
  • Model Context Protocol (MCP)
  • Terraform
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Higress or OpenRouter: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.