OpenRouter
ActiveThe unified interface for every model
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.
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
Pricing
Freemium- 25+ free models
- 4 free providers
- 50 requests/day rate limit
- 5 workspaces
- Community support
- 500+ models, 80+ providers
- Prepaid credits (credit card, crypto and more)
- Rate limits passed through from the provider
- BYOK: $25,000/month of list-price inference with no fee, 5% after
- Email support
- 500+ models, 80+ providers
- EU and US in-region routing
- Up to 1,000 workspaces
- BYOK: $25,000/month of list-price inference with no fee, 5% after
- Email support
- Platform-fee discounts
- SSO/SAML
- Contractual SLAs
- Managed policy enforcement
- Custom workspace limit
- BYOK: $200,000/month with no fee, 5% after
- Dedicated support team
Verdict history
Sources
- Stripe newsroom: Stripe agrees to acquire OpenRouter (Aug 19, 2026)Oct 2026
- Bloomberg — Stripe Nears Deal to Buy AI Firm OpenRouter for Over $7 Billion (Aug 16 2026)Aug 2026
- OpenRouter pricing pageOct 2026
- OpenRouter blog: OpenRouter is Joining Stripe (agreed, not closed; no close announced)Oct 2026
- TechCrunch — Stripe will reportedly acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for $7B+ (Aug 16 2026)Aug 2026
- OpenRouter about page (500T+ monthly tokens, 10M+ global users)Oct 2026
- OpenRouter homepageSep 2026
Verification log
- Pricing· No changes
Automated agent
- Status· No changes
Automated agent
- Profile· Updated
Automated agent
Description said the announcement made no commitment about independence or neutrality; OpenRouter's own post pledges to operate as it is, keep neutrality, and expects to close in the coming weeks. Description and sources corrected. No close primary found, so status stays active and the rating stays conditional. Pricing tiers (Free/Standard 5.5%/Business 8%/Enterprise) match the pricing page.
- Status· No changes
Automated agent
Status stays active. Stripe newsroom (19 Aug 2026) re-read 2026-09-14: 'has agreed to acquire OpenRouter', no close date, no price, no update note; no close announcement. openrouter.ai/pricing re-read: Free 25+ free models, 4 free providers, 50 requests/day; Pay-as-you-go 5.5% platform fee, 500+ models, 80+ providers; Enterprise fee discounts. All match stored tiers. Unresolved, not written: the pricing summary also mentioned a 'Business plan' with an '8%' platform fee that is not in stored tiers; the reading was ambiguous (plan vs fee line) and needs a direct re-read before any tier is added. entity_id reused from prior log rows for this slug (all-zero value, likely a placeholder).
- 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.
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