Hosted routers and marketplaces - verified
OpenRouter
OpenRouter is listed under hosted routers and marketplaces. Its first listed fee, in its own words: 5.5%, platform fee on credit purchases (Standard plan). It states OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic-compatible requests. Routing stated: fallbacks, load balancing and automatic model routing. Read from the vendor's own pages on October 18, 2026.
Read from openrouter.ai. Docs - Pricing - Compare every gateway
Status
- Status, as we read it
GA (self-serve, publicly available)inferred
Our reading: The page implies this status without labelling it.
“Standard and Business have no minimums and no lock-in.”
openrouter.ai
How OpenRouter charges
Every fee line OpenRouter states, in its own words and units, with the quote. Nothing is converted.
| Product | Fee, in the vendor's words | Applies to | Quote and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter | 5.5% | platform fee on credit purchases (Standard plan) | “OpenRouter's fee is charged when you buy credits, 5.5% on Standard and 8% on Business, never on individual requests.” |
| 8% | platform fee on credit purchases (Business plan) | “The 8% Business platform fee applies to credit purchases.” | |
| $0.80 minimum | minimum fee per credit purchase | “OpenRouter charges a 5.5% ($0.80 minimum) fee when you purchase credits.” | |
| 5% | fee on crypto payments | “Crypto payments are charged a fee of 5%.” | |
| no markup | inference (provider list price passed through) | “Inference is billed at the provider's list price on every plan.” | |
| Fee discounts available | Enterprise platform fee | “Fee discounts available” |
Access and keys
- Free tier
Free plan: 25+ free models; free models capped at 20 requests/minute and 50/day
“Free models are capped at 20 requests per minute and 50 per day”
openrouter.ai - Bring your own key
yes
“OpenRouter supports both OpenRouter credits and the option to bring your own provider keys (BYOK).”
openrouter.ai - BYOK fee
no OpenRouter fee on the first $25,000/month of list-price inference (Standard and Business); 5% of list price above that allowance
“Above the allowance, OpenRouter charges 5% of what the same request would cost at list price on OpenRouter, deducted from your credits.”
openrouter.ai
API formats
- OpenAI-compatible
yes
“OpenRouter is a drop-in replacement for OpenAI.”
openrouter.ai - Anthropic-compatible
yes (Anthropic Messages API input)
“OpenRouter exposes an input that is compatible with the Anthropic Messages API.”
openrouter.ai - OpenAI base URL
https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
“base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"”
openrouter.ai - Anthropic base URL
https://openrouter.ai/api
“Use the full OpenRouter API URL, including the scheme: https://openrouter.ai/api”
openrouter.ai
Routing
- Fallbacks
yes (provider fallbacks on by default; model fallbacks supported)
“Whether to allow backup providers when the primary is unavailable.”
openrouter.ai - Load balancing
yes (price-based load balancing across providers by default)
“By default, requests are load balanced across the top providers to maximize uptime.”
openrouter.ai - Automatic model routing
yes (Auto Router, openrouter/auto)
“The Auto Router automatically selects the best model for your prompt.”
openrouter.ai
Caching
- Exact-match cache
- Not stated
No gateway response cache found in the checked pages. The pricing page lists "Prompt Caching" (Standard and above), which refers to provider prompt caching.
- Semantic cache
- Not stated
Not stated in the checked pages.
- Caching, as listed
Prompt Caching listed as a plan feature (Standard, Business, Enterprise)
“Prompt Caching”
openrouter.ai
Controls and observability
- Spend controls
yes (spending limits, per-key credit caps)
“Within a workspace, each API key can carry its own credit cap.”
openrouter.ai - Rate limits
no plan-based limits on paid models; provider limits pass through
“OpenRouter sets no plan-based rate limit on paid models.”
openrouter.ai - Guardrails
- Not stated
Not stated in the checked pages.
- Observability
activity logs and export on all plans
“Activity logs & export”
openrouter.ai - Telemetry and log export
- Not stated
Export is listed with activity logs; no trace/telemetry export statement found in the checked pages.
Data, deployment and license
- Data logging and retention
prompts/completions not logged by default; ZDR routing on every plan
“We do zero logging of your prompts/completions, even if an error occurs, unless you opt-in to logging them.”
openrouter.ai - Data retention, more
Zero Data Retention routing available on every plan
“Zero Data Retention routing is available on every plan.”
openrouter.ai - Regions
EU and US in-region routing (Business and Enterprise)
“Send requests to eu.openrouter.ai to keep inference with providers in the EU, or to us.openrouter.ai to keep it in the US.”
openrouter.ai - Self-hosting
- Not stated
Hosted service only; no self-hosted option found in the checked pages.
- License
- Not stated
Hosted proprietary service; no open-source license stated.
Vendor-stated counts
Model and provider counts as OpenRouter states them, dated. When two pages disagree, both are shown.
500+ models (Standard plan column) (vendor-stated, Oct 18 2026)
“500+ models”
openrouter.ai 80+ providers (Standard plan column) (vendor-stated, Oct 18 2026)
“80+ providers”
openrouter.ai
Research notes
Fees are charged on credit purchases, not per request. BYOK allowance and fee are plan-dependent; Enterprise is custom.
FAQ
How much does OpenRouter cost?
In OpenRouter's own terms: 5.5% (platform fee on credit purchases (Standard plan)); 8% (platform fee on credit purchases (Business plan)); $0.80 minimum (minimum fee per credit purchase); 5% (fee on crypto payments); no markup (inference (provider list price passed through)); Fee discounts available (Enterprise platform fee). As of October 18, 2026; fees are not converted.
Does OpenRouter support bring your own key?
Yes, per the vendor: "OpenRouter supports both OpenRouter credits and the option to bring your own provider keys (BYOK).". BYOK fee: no OpenRouter fee on the first $25,000/month of list-price inference (Standard and Business); 5% of list price above that allowance
Is OpenRouter OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible?
OpenAI: yes, base URL https://openrouter.ai/api/v1. Anthropic: yes (Anthropic Messages API input), base URL https://openrouter.ai/api.
Sources
- Source: openrouter.ai/docs/quickstart
- Source: openrouter.ai/pricing
- Source: openrouter.ai/docs/faq
- Source: openrouter.ai/docs/guides/overview/auth/byok
- Source: openrouter.ai/docs/cookbook/coding-agents/claude-code-integration.md
- Source: openrouter.ai/docs/guides/routing/provider-selection
- Source: openrouter.ai/docs/guides/routing/routers/auto-router
Last verified from each vendor's own docs, pricing pages, READMEs and license files; every quote was string-matched against the page that day. Fees are shown in the vendor's own words and change without notice, so check the linked source before you commit.
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