OpenRouterGuide & Pricing
Core Identity Overview
OpenRouter is a unified API gateway that aggregates over 300 state-of-the-art models from more than 60 independent inference providers. By exposing a single, OpenAI-compliant endpoint, it enables developers to route prompts, compare latency, and query leading models (such as Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, and DeepSeek) seamlessly under a single wallet with no individual platform subscriptions.
🎁 Free Tier Detailed Specs
Free Model Routing
Provides access to 25+ free-tier models (marked with a :free suffix) with standard rate limits of 20 requests per minute and a daily cap of 50 queries.
Official Subscription Plans Summary
Standard plan. Access to 300+ premium models billed strictly at provider rates, with rate limits removed once $10 or more in credits are added.
Designed for large-scale operations. Offers volume discounts, contractual SLAs, SSO/SAML integration, and dedicated developer support.
Developer API Price List
OpenRouter provides unified access to 300+ models directly at provider-level token rates, without imposing separate query markups.
| AI Model | Input (1M) | Output (1M) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Credit Purchase (Credit Card) | N/A | 5.5% processing fee | Flat fee charged only upon adding credits to your platform wallet. Unlocked tokens are consumed at exact provider costs. |
| Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) Routing | N/A | Free up to 1M requests/month | Routes prompts using your own private API keys. A 5.0% platform fee applies only after exceeding 1 million monthly requests. |
Recommended For These Audiences
- ✔Developers building multi-model agentic pipelines: Perfect for avoiding the overhead of managing dozens of individual developer accounts and keys, routing prompts dynamically via a single API.
- ✔Indie hackers testing experimental open-weights models: Outstanding for comparing speeds, costs, and output quality across diverse models in real-time using a unified wallet.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. How does OpenRouter's rate limit change after adding credits?
Free accounts are capped at 50 requests per day. Once you top up your balance with $10 or more in credits, your standard daily limit increases to 1,000 queries per day.