OpenRouter alternatives
At 12M tokens a month on its top model, OpenRouter costs $211 a month. 2 LLM APIs cost less, from $40 (Gemini API). The closest match, Gemini API, covers 70% of what OpenRouter does. Each one shows how much of it it covers, capability by capability, next to the price.
What OpenRouter does
Core: Multi-lab model catalog, OpenAI-compatible endpoint, Cross-provider failover.
Important: Frontier-grade models, Open-weight models (partly), Image and PDF input, 1M-token context, Hosted agent tools, Prompt caching discounts, Ongoing free tier, No-training, zero retention.
Also has: Ultra-fast inference (partly), Voice and realtime audio (partly), Image and video generation (partly), Embeddings and reranking, Batch and flex pricing (partly).
Alternatives to OpenRouter at 12M tokens a month on its top model, best match first
- Gemini API: $40/mo Rises to $80/mo on Dec 1, 2026 (announced) (Pay-as-you-go Standard paid tier, text only, list prices as of 2026-10-17). It covers 70% of OpenRouter; missing or partial: Multi-lab model catalog, OpenAI-compatible endpoint (partly), Cross-provider failover, No-training, zero retention (partly), Embeddings and reranking (partly). Free plan: Free of charge on most models, but content is used to improve Google's products; Gemini 4 Argon and 3.1 Pro Preview have no free tier.. Last price hike: Sep 2026.
- OpenAI API: $200/mo Top = flagship proxy; LMArena rank not checked (Pay-as-you-go per token, GPT-6 Astra at standard rates (flagship proxy)). It covers 65% of OpenRouter; missing or partial: Multi-lab model catalog, Cross-provider failover, Ongoing free tier, No-training, zero retention (partly), Ultra-fast inference. Free plan: none. Last price hike: May 2026.
- Anthropic API: $200/mo Ref: Fable 5.1 (LMArena rank not checked) (Fable 5.1 pay-as-you-go at standard rates: 10M input and 2M output tokens a month.). It covers 45% of OpenRouter; missing or partial: Multi-lab model catalog, OpenAI-compatible endpoint (partly), Cross-provider failover, Open-weight models, Ongoing free tier. Free plan: none.
Other kinds of products that cover part of OpenRouter
- Hugging Face (GPU cloud & model hosting): covers 58% of OpenRouter; missing or partial: Frontier-grade models (partly), Image and PDF input (partly), 1M-token context (partly), Hosted agent tools, Prompt caching discounts
- Perplexity (AI assistants): covers 48% of OpenRouter; missing or partial: OpenAI-compatible endpoint (partly), Cross-provider failover (partly), Image and PDF input, 1M-token context (partly), Prompt caching discounts
Prices at every size
- OpenRouter: 12M tokens a month on its top model $211/mo, 12M tokens a month on its cheapest model $0.22/mo, 12M tokens a month of gpt-oss-120b $0.63/mo (Top = Claude Fable 5, LMArena unverified; incl. 5.5% fee)
- Gemini API: 12M tokens a month on its top model $40/mo, 12M tokens a month on its cheapest model $5.50/mo, 12M tokens a month of gpt-oss-120b not offered (Rises to $80/mo on Dec 1, 2026 (announced))
- OpenAI API: 12M tokens a month on its top model $200/mo, 12M tokens a month on its cheapest model $2/mo, 12M tokens a month of gpt-oss-120b not offered (Top = flagship proxy; LMArena rank not checked)
- Anthropic API: 12M tokens a month on its top model $200/mo, 12M tokens a month on its cheapest model $2/mo, 12M tokens a month of gpt-oss-120b not offered (Ref: Fable 5.1 (LMArena rank not checked))
Monthly USD cost of one reference workload: 10,000 requests a month, totaling 10M input and 2M output tokens, at standard pay-as-you-go rates with no caching or batch discounts. Top model is the product's highest-ranked model on the LMArena Text leaderboard. Cheapest model is its lowest-cost model with tool calling and a 128K context. gpt-oss-120b compares hosts on the same open model.
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Everything about OpenRouter's own prices and price hikes: OpenRouter.