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OpenRouter

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The unified interface for every model

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Conditional

OpenRouter is the de-facto standard LLM gateway: one OpenAI-compatible API exposing 500+ models across 80+ providers, with unified billing, automatic failover, and no lock-in. It's an excellent default for model comparison and multi-provider routing. The conditions: a ~5.5% platform fee makes direct provider access cheaper at single-model scale, and Stripe agreed to acquire OpenRouter on August 19, 2026 (agreed, not closed, no price disclosed), leaving routing neutrality an on-record pledge rather than a structural guarantee. Best for developers and startups who value flexibility over the lowest per-token price.

AI-Powered

Stateless per-request relay router — each call is routed fresh to a model and returned memory-less; no carried-context agent loop.

Is it right for you?

Good for

  • Accessing 500+ models across 80+ providers through one OpenAI-compatible API without per-provider integrations
  • Comparing, benchmarking, and A/B switching models mid-project with zero application-code changes (no vendor lock-in)
  • Automatic provider failover and uptime optimization when an upstream provider degrades
  • Prototyping multi-model and agentic workflows where model flexibility outranks raw per-token cost

Not good for

  • High-volume single-model workloads — direct provider pricing undercuts the ~5.5% platform fee
  • Buyers who need a guaranteed-neutral routing layer — Stripe's ownership of the router is an open question
  • Strict data-residency and governance use cases better served by a self-hosted or governed enterprise gateway

Our experience

We haven't tested OpenRouter ourselves. This profile is based on public documentation, user reviews, and community feedback.

Pricing

Freemium
Free$0
  • 25+ free models
  • 4 free providers
  • 50 requests/day rate limit
  • Community support
Pay-as-you-goNo minimum spend
  • 500+ models, 80+ providers
  • 5.5% platform fee
  • Prepaid credits (credit card or crypto)
  • High global rate limits
  • Email support
EnterpriseCustom
  • SSO/SAML
  • Contractual SLAs
  • Managed policy enforcement
  • Support SLA + shared Slack
  • Platform-fee discounts
View full pricing

Verdict history

Sep 4, 2026
conditional -> conditional — Stripe and OpenRouter both confirmed the acquisition agreement on 2026-08-19 on their own domains, replacing the August 16 secondary report. The rating holds; the standing verdict now rests on a confirmed, not-yet-closed ownership agreement and an on-record neutrality pledge rather than a rumour.

Sources

Verification log

  • Status— Updated

    Automated agent

    status acquired -> active (CORRECTION of our own field, not a vendor change). Re-read the Stripe primary: it says Stripe 'has agreed to acquire OpenRouter', with no price and no expected closing date; openrouter.ai carries no statement of a completed deal or Stripe ownership. The deal is still AGREED, NOT CLOSED as of 2026-09-07, so the stored status 'acquired' overstated the evidence and contradicted the entity's own verdict_summary ('agreed, not closed'). Set back to active; it moves to acquired only on close. Rating held at conditional and NO verdict moved. Also refreshed a stale metric: description said 10M+ users routing '200T+ monthly tokens'; the live homepage advertises 400T+. This resolves the watchlist's 200T-vs-300T comparison inconsistency by fetch rather than by picking a stored side: neither figure was current. 500+ models, 80+ providers, 10M+ users all re-verified unchanged.

  • Status— Updated

    Automated agent

    status active → acquired. Stripe's own newsroom officially announced on 2026-08-19 that it has AGREED to acquire OpenRouter, upgrading the prior Bloomberg/TechCrunch secondary reporting to a primary-confirmed fact. Deal is agreed, NOT closed; Stripe disclosed no price and made no commitment on OpenRouter's independence or routing neutrality. Description rewritten to state the primary confirmation and the pending-close nuance. Pricing unchanged (5.5% platform fee, 500+ models / 80+ providers re-verified on openrouter.ai today). Rating stays conditional; verdict_summary rewrite staged for the announcing post's publish step.

How we evaluate

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