OpenRouter
Universal API gateway for routing across hundreds of language models with automatic provider failover
- Also known as
- openrouter
Available worldwide
What is 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.
OpenRouter pricing
Plans, per-tier features and add-ons, dated and linked to live pricing. Pricing changes often; always verify at source before you rely on it.
Free tier with 50 requests/day, or pay-as-you-go at 5.5% markup
Free
Free- models
- 25+
- providers
- 4
- requests_per_day
- 50
- Chat and API access
- 25+ free models
- 4 free providers
- 50 requests/day rate limit
- Community support
Standard
- Pay-as-you-go usage billing
- 500+ models
- 80+ providers
- Email support
- Budgets and spend controls
- Activity logs and export
- Auto-routing and vendor selection
Business
Contact sales- Fee discounts available
- 500+ models
- 80+ providers
- Custom rate limits
- Invoicing options
Enterprise
Contact sales- Custom pricing
- 500+ models
- 80+ providers
- Dedicated support team
- Contractual SLAs
- SSO/SAML
- Custom rate limits
What OpenRouter does
The capabilities that matter for llm gateways, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Openai compatible API
- ✓
- Automatic failover
- ✓
- Routing strategy
- Cost based
- Caching
- Exact
- Virtual key management
- ✓
- Budget spend controls
- ✓
- Rate limiting
- ✓
- Guardrails moderation
- -
- Request cost observability
- ✓
- Streaming support
- ✓
- Deployment model
- Managed SaaS
- Open source
- ✓
- Pricing model
- Usage based saas
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- CLI
- Web
- Cloud / SaaS
Integrations (11)
Independently observed- Vercel AI SDK
- Claude Code
- Cursor
- OpenAI SDK
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Meta
- Mistral
- Model Context Protocol (MCP)
- Terraform
OpenRouter FAQ
Common questions about OpenRouter, answered from independent, dated evidence.
What is OpenRouter?
OpenRouter aggregates 500+ language models from 80+ providers through a single, OpenAI-compatible API interface. It offers automatic fallback routing, cost control, usage analytics, and data policy management for teams deploying AI applications at scale. It is indexed under Llm Gateways.
Source: https://openrouter.ai
Is OpenRouter free?
OpenRouter offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans are also available: Free, Pay-as-you-go and Enterprise. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.
Source: https://openrouter.ai/pricing
What platforms does OpenRouter support?
OpenRouter supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.
Source: https://openrouter.ai
Can OpenRouter be self-hosted?
We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for OpenRouter, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.
Source: https://openrouter.ai
What does OpenRouter integrate with?
We have confirmed 10 integrations for OpenRouter, including Vercel AI SDK, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI SDK, Anthropic, Google, Meta and Mistral, plus 2 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.
Source: https://openrouter.ai
What security certifications does OpenRouter have?
We have independently confirmed GDPR for OpenRouter. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as OpenRouter not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.
Source: https://openrouter.ai/privacy
OpenRouter alternatives
Other llm gateways we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- UnifyAI agents that improve their performance through continuous learning from real-world production workmedium · 73%
- Cloudflare AI GatewayRoute AI model requests through Cloudflare for monitoring, caching, cost control, and data protectionlow · 35%
- TrueFoundry AI GatewayA unified AI gateway that connects multiple models with intelligent routing, cost controls, and built-in observabilityhigh · 76%
- Keywords AIA comprehensive platform for engineering with large language modelsmedium · 68%
- Eden AIUnified API to access and route between hundreds of AI models from multiple providersmedium · 60%
- Not DiamondIntelligent model routing that automatically selects optimal AI models to reduce inference costs while maintaining qualitymedium · 60%
Compare OpenRouter
Side by side against other llm gateways, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.
The vioscaleAI score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for OpenRouter, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | 80 | 0.05 | 4.3 | ✓ |
| Capabilities | 100 | 0.04 | 3.8 | ✓ |
| Price level | 80 | 0.04 | 3.3 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 55 | 0.04 | 2.4 | ✓ |
| Reliability | 0 | 0.07 | 0.0 | - |
| Security posture | 5 | 0.12 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Content
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Faq | 6 items | mediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 62% |
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Caching: exact · Open source: Yes · Pricing model: usage-based-saas · Rate limiting: Yes · Deployment model: managed-SaaS · Routing strategy: cost-based | mediumsource · 2026-10-02 · 60% |
Integrations
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 80 | mediumsource · 2026-09-06 · 60% |
Market
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | PrimaryMarkets: … · AvailabilityScope: global · AvailableCountries: … · NotAvailableCountries: … | mediumsource · 2026-10-02 · 50% |
Pricing
Security
Is OpenRouter the right choice for you?
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