AI Gateway tool profile
OpenRouter
A hosted AI gateway that puts 500+ models from 80+ providers behind one OpenAI-compatible API, with pay-per-token pricing via prepaid USD credits, automatic fallback routing, and caching.
Independent research from official sources · Sources · How we review
- Best for
- Developers and teams who want one API key for many models with hosted reliability, without running or maintaining any gateway infrastructure.
- Starting point
- Pay-as-you-go with prepaid credits; model prices pass through at list price.
- Free plan
- Yes — Free tier includes 25+ free models across 4 providers with 50 requests/day.
- Key limitation
- Hosted: requests and metadata pass through OpenRouter's infrastructure
Choose it if
Strongest for
Built for
Avoid it if
- Credit top-ups carry a 5.5% platform fee
- Free-tier rate limits are account-wide
Free-plan suitability
Free tier includes 25+ free models across 4 providers with 50 requests/day; limits scale with lifetime credits (under $10: 20 RPM/50 RPD; at or over $10: 20 RPM/1000 RPD).
Pricing
Pay-as-you-go with prepaid credits; model prices pass through at list price. Free: 25+ free models from 4 providers, 50 requests/day. Standard: 500+ models from 80+ providers, 5.5% platform fee, provider passthrough rate limits. Business: 8% platform fee, adds EU/US in-region routing and up to 1,000 workspaces. BYOK is fee-free up to $25,000/month of list-price inference, then 5%. Enterprise: custom, SSO/SAML and SLAs.
Verify the current plan, credits, output limits, and commercial terms before purchasing.
What OpenRouter does
- One OpenAI-compatible endpoint (openrouter.ai/api/v1) to 500+ models from 80+ providers
- Pay-per-token with prepaid credits; no inference markup, 5.5% platform fee on top-ups
- Automatic fallback routing and caching
- Remote MCP server at mcp.openrouter.ai/mcp
- Metadata-only logging by default; opt-in prompt logging for a 1% cost discount
- Audio models: ElevenLabs joined on Oct 7, 2026 with 9 text-to-speech and 2 speech-to-text models, passed through without markup, and OpenRouter lists 50% off its list price for every ElevenLabs model until Oct 19, 2026, 8am PT (OpenRouter blog, checked Oct 13, 2026)
Is it legit?
Who is behind OpenRouter, where it is based, and what is publicly known about its funding. Company details change — verify on the official site before committing.
- Founded
- 2023
- Headquarters
- United States
Evaluation guide
Step-by-step evaluation guides for OpenRouter — workflow fit, pricing, rights, and a same-input test before paying.
Compare OpenRouter with alternatives
Side-by-side pages that weigh OpenRouter against overlapping tools on the same five fields.
Where OpenRouter appears
Best-of lists and roundups that include OpenRouter.
Official sources
These links are retained beside the catalog record so changing details can be rechecked.