OpenRouterAPI Pricing

OpenRouter Pricing: What You Actually Pay

OpenRouter charges a 5% markup on top of each provider's per-token cost. That sounds small, but at scale it adds up - especially when cheaper routing alternatives exist.

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Credit-based pay-per-use with token-settled billing. No monthly subscription. Paid credits never expire.

Replace multiple AI subscriptions with one wallet that includes routing, failover, and optimization.

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Step 01Sign up in 10 secondsGet 20 free credits Step 02Open your dashboardCreate API key Step 03Send first requestRun a sample

Why teams start here first

No monthly subscription

Pay-as-you-go credits

Start with trial credits, then buy only what you consume.

Failover safety

Production-ready routing

Auto fallback across providers when latency, quality, or reliability changes.

Data control

Your policy, your choice

BYOK and zero-retention mode keep training and storage scope explicit.

Single API experience

One key, multi-provider access

Use Chat/Compare/Blend/Judge/Failover from one dashboard.

OpenRouter API pricing (reference)

Kept as reference for model evaluation. LLMWise pricing shown below uses credit reserves plus token-settled billing.

Tier	Input / 1M tokens	Output / 1M tokens	Context	Note
GPT-5.2 via OpenRouter	$3.15	$12.60	256K tokens	OpenAI's flagship model accessed through OpenRouter. 5% markup over direct OpenAI pricing ($3.00/$12.00).
Claude Sonnet 4.5 via OpenRouter	$3.15	$15.75	200K tokens	Anthropic's mid-tier model via OpenRouter. 5% markup over direct Anthropic pricing ($3.00/$15.00).
Gemini 3 Flash via OpenRouter	$0.16	$0.63	1M tokens	Google's fast model via OpenRouter. 5% markup over direct pricing ($0.15/$0.60). The markup is barely noticeable on cheaper models.
Free models on OpenRouter	Free	Free	Varies	OpenRouter offers free variants of some models (e.g., Llama, Mistral) with lower rate limits and potentially slower inference. Good for prototyping.

User-facing pricing uses credit reserves + token settlement

Evidence snapshot

OpenRouter pricing analysis

Current OpenRouter billing context: compare providers, then run the same workload on LLMWise for request-based credits.

LLMWise usage

Reserve by mode: Chat 1, Compare 2, Blend 4, Judge 5, Failover 1

minimum reserve credits by mode

Pricing tiers

provider options for this model family

LLMWise scenario cost

$551.25/mo with LLMWise auto-routing - redirects 60% of simple queries to Gemini 3 Flash or Claude Haiku

100,000 API calls per month across GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4.5, and Gemini 3 Flash (even split).

Savings result

25% savings - $2,205/year saved through intelligent routing. Additional savings available with BYOK (skip credit charges entirely)

based on workload mix and routing auto-mode

Usage starts-to-finish

Example: Product support workload

If your team sends 20 support messages a day in Chat mode, the minimum reserve is around 600 credits each month (starts at 1 reserve credit/request). Final usage settles by model and token volume.

Workflow

20 req/day

Chat mode / starts at 1 reserve credit

Monthly estimate

~600+ credits

reserve floor before settlement

What you get

Predictable

same behavior, single model switch

Try this scenario in your dashboard

Why people use LLMWise

Pricing model

Credit-based pricing with reserve-and-settle. Actual cost depends on tokens used, not a fixed markup percentage

See OpenRouter comparison

5% markup on all provider token costs - no fixed plans, no volume discounts

Cost optimization

Auto-router picks the cheapest model per query. Saves 25-40% by routing simple queries to cheaper models automatically

See OpenRouter comparison

Manual model selection - you choose which model to call, OpenRouter does not optimize for you

Multi-model orchestration

Five modes: Chat, Compare (side-by-side), Blend (synthesize outputs), Judge (model evaluates model), Mesh (failover chain)

See OpenRouter comparison

Chat only - one model per request. No compare, blend, or judge modes

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)

Full BYOK support - use your own provider API keys, skip LLMWise credit charges, still get routing and failover

See OpenRouter comparison

Not supported - all requests go through OpenRouter's billing at the 5% markup

Failover

Intelligent failover with provider health monitoring - consecutive failures trigger automatic rerouting to the next healthy model

See OpenRouter comparison

Basic auto-retry. No configurable fallback chains or provider health tracking

Cost example

100,000 API calls per month across GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4.5, and Gemini 3 Flash (even split).

LLMWise total

$551.25/mo with LLMWise auto-routing - redirects 60% of simple queries to Gemini 3 Flash or Claude Haiku

You save

25% savings - $2,205/year saved through intelligent routing. Additional savings available with BYOK (skip credit charges entirely)

Optional: reference direct API cost

$735.00/mo via OpenRouter with 5% markup ($367.50 GPT + $315.00 Claude + $52.50 Gemini, each +5%)

OpenRouter is the simplest on-ramp to multi-model access - one API key, 300+ models, minimal setup. But the 5% markup eats into margins at scale, and you get no routing optimization, no intelligent failover, and no multi-model orchestration. LLMWise costs less per request through smart routing, adds automatic provider health monitoring with failover, and gives you Compare/Blend/Judge modes that OpenRouter does not offer. If you are currently on OpenRouter and your monthly spend exceeds $200, switching to LLMWise will likely pay for itself immediately.

Common questions

How much does OpenRouter charge per token?

OpenRouter adds a 5% markup to each provider's base token price. For GPT-5.2, that means $3.15 per million input tokens (vs $3.00 direct from OpenAI) and $12.60 per million output tokens (vs $12.00 direct). The markup applies to all models across all providers.

Is OpenRouter free?

OpenRouter offers free variants of some open-source models like Llama and Mistral. These free models have lower rate limits and may have slower inference. For production usage with frontier models like GPT-5.2 or Claude, you pay the provider's token price plus OpenRouter's 5% markup.

How does OpenRouter pricing compare to calling providers directly?

You always pay more on OpenRouter than calling a provider directly - the 5% markup is the cost of convenience. On a $1,000/month API bill, that is $50/month going to OpenRouter's margin. Whether the convenience is worth $600/year depends on how many providers you use and your tolerance for managing multiple integrations.

Is LLMWise cheaper than OpenRouter?

With BYOK, yes - you bring your own API keys, pay the provider directly at list price, and LLMWise charges zero markup. You still get routing, failover, and analytics. Without BYOK, LLMWise's auto-router typically saves 25-40% by directing simple queries to cheaper models, which more than offsets the per-request credit cost. On a $1,000/month bill, OpenRouter's 5% takes $50; LLMWise's routing saves $250-400.

One wallet, enterprise AI controls built in

Credit-based pay-per-use with token-settled billing. No monthly subscription. Paid credits never expire.

Replace multiple AI subscriptions with one wallet that includes routing, failover, and optimization.

Chat, Compare, Blend, Judge, MeshPolicy routing + replay labFailover without extra subscriptions

Start free with 20 credits See pricing examples

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