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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Free preview, Starter for the Auto lane, Teams for manual GPT, Claude, and Gemini Pro access. Add-on credits kick in after included plan tokens are used.

Start on cheap auto-routed models first, then move up only when your workload truly needs premium manual control.

First success in 60 seconds
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Why teams start here first
Free preview
5 messages to try it
No card required to see how Auto routing feels before you commit.
Starter
Auto lane only
Curated cheap model pool with no manual premium-model selection.
Teams
Premium when you need it
Manual GPT, Claude, and Gemini Pro access starts here.
Billing
Plan tokens first
Add-on credits only extend usage after included plan tokens are exhausted.
OpenRouter API pricing (reference)

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

TierInput / 1M tokensOutput / 1M tokensContextNote
GPT-5.2 via OpenRouter$3.15$12.60256K tokensOpenAI's flagship model accessed through OpenRouter. 5% markup over direct OpenAI pricing ($3.00/$12.00).
Claude Sonnet 4.5 via OpenRouter$3.15$15.75200K tokensAnthropic's mid-tier model via OpenRouter. 5% markup over direct Anthropic pricing ($3.00/$15.00).
Gemini 3 Flash via OpenRouter$0.16$0.631M tokensGoogle'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 OpenRouterFreeFreeVariesOpenRouter 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
4
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.

Start on Auto, move up only when you need it

Free preview, Starter for the Auto lane, Teams for manual GPT, Claude, and Gemini Pro access. Add-on credits kick in after included plan tokens are used.

Start on cheap auto-routed models first, then move up only when your workload truly needs premium manual control.

Starter Auto laneTeams premium manual accessPlan tokens + add-ons
Start freeSee pricing examples
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GPT-5.2 PricingClaude Sonnet 4.5 PricingGPT-5.2 PricingClaude Sonnet 4.5 PricingGemini 3 Flash PricingFree AI API Key: Access Every Major Model Without a Credit Card