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OpenRoutervsRouterPlus

OpenRouter vs RouterPlus: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence

Full comparison of OpenRouter and RouterPlus — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.

OpenRouter

One API for every major LLM — 300+ models, route to the cheapest or fastest provider automatically

OpenRouter is a unified LLM API that routes requests to the cheapest or fastest available provider for any given model. With a single API key you can access GPT-5.6 Sol, Claude 5, Llama 4, Gemini 3.x, DeepSeek V4 Pro, and 300+ other models, with automatic fallback and cost optimisation. The catalog has grown significantly in 2026 with the addition of Chinese frontier models.

Multi-model applicationsCost optimisationProvider fallbackPrototypingModel comparison
Open-weight hostHosts open weights

RouterPlus

API router / marketplace — 117 text models with per-route pricing

RouterPlus is an API router and marketplace offering access to 117+ text models. Prices shown are the published base catalog rates — actual price depends on the selected route and context, and is not a guaranteed bill. RouterPlus provides per-route pricing transparency with 27 models having numerically different route prices.

Multi-model accessRoute-level cost transparencyModel comparisonPrototyping
Open-weight hostHosts open weights

Key metric comparison

OpenRouter
RouterPlus
Cheapest input ($/1M)

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Cheapest output ($/1M)

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Peak throughput

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Best latency (TTFT)

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Intelligence score

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Context window

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Live token pricing

Strengths and weaknesses

OpenRouter

Single API for 300+ models across all major providers
Automatic routing to cheapest or fastest provider
Fallback and load balancing built in
OpenAI-compatible API
Free tier with rate-limited access to many models
Access to Chinese frontier models (Kimi, GLM, MiniMax, Qwen)
Adds a small latency overhead vs direct provider APIs
Pricing is slightly above direct provider rates (routing fee)
Less control over which specific provider handles your request

RouterPlus

Wide catalog: 117 text models including Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, Mistral, and more
Per-route pricing transparency — see actual route prices, not just a blended rate
OpenAI-compatible API at api.routerplus.com/v1
Includes open-weight models (Llama, Gemma, Qwen, Nemotron)
Catalog rate is not a guaranteed bill — actual price depends on selected route and context
API router/marketplace — not a direct compute provider
27 models have numerically different route prices; check route details before production use

Key differentiators

OpenRouter

A unified API for accessing major LLMs — including Chinese frontier models — with a single key and automatic routing to the cheapest or fastest available provider.

RouterPlus

An API router with 117 text models and per-route pricing transparency — the catalog rate is a published base rate, not a guaranteed bill; actual price depends on selected route and context.

Frequently asked questions

OpenRouter FAQs

How does OpenRouter pricing work?

OpenRouter charges the underlying provider rate plus a small routing fee (typically a few percent). For many models, the effective price is very close to or equal to the direct provider rate. Some models are available for free with rate limits.

What models are available on OpenRouter?

OpenRouter provides access to 300+ models including GPT-5.6 Sol, Claude 5 Sonnet, Llama 4, Gemini 3.x, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Kimi K3, GLM-5.3, MiniMax M3, Qwen3, Mistral Large 3, and many others.

Can I use OpenRouter with the OpenAI SDK?

Yes. OpenRouter is fully OpenAI-compatible. Point the OpenAI SDK at the OpenRouter endpoint and use your OpenRouter API key — no other code changes needed.

RouterPlus FAQs

Are RouterPlus prices guaranteed?

No. RouterPlus prices shown are published base catalog rates. Actual price depends on the selected route and context. 27 models have numerically different route prices. Check route details before production use.

What models does RouterPlus offer?

RouterPlus offers 117 text models including Claude 5 (Fable 5.1, Opus 5-5, Sonnet 5-5, Haiku 5-5), GPT-6 Astra, Gemini 3.x, Grok 4.x, Kimi K3, GLM-5.3, Qwen 3.8 Max, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Mistral Large 4, and many more. See the model table for current rates.

What is the RouterPlus API base URL?

The RouterPlus API base is https://api.routerplus.com/v1 with OpenAI-compatible endpoints. See https://app.routerplus.com/docs/models for full documentation.

Provider resources

OpenRouter

Provider page
Website
PricingDocs

RouterPlus

Provider page
Website
PricingDocs

OpenRouter — One API for every major LLM — 300+ models, route to the cheapest or fastest provider automatically

OpenRouter is a unified LLM API that routes requests to the cheapest or fastest available provider for any given model. With a single API key you can access GPT-5.6 Sol, Claude 5, Llama 4, Gemini 3.x, DeepSeek V4 Pro, and 300+ other models, with automatic fallback and cost optimisation. The catalog has grown significantly in 2026 with the addition of Chinese frontier models.

A unified API for accessing major LLMs — including Chinese frontier models — with a single key and automatic routing to the cheapest or fastest available provider.

RouterPlus — API router / marketplace — 117 text models with per-route pricing

RouterPlus is an API router and marketplace offering access to 117+ text models. Prices shown are the published base catalog rates — actual price depends on the selected route and context, and is not a guaranteed bill. RouterPlus provides per-route pricing transparency with 27 models having numerically different route prices.

An API router with 117 text models and per-route pricing transparency — the catalog rate is a published base rate, not a guaranteed bill; actual price depends on selected route and context.

Key strengths compared

OpenRouter

  • Single API for 300+ models across all major providers
  • Automatic routing to cheapest or fastest provider
  • Fallback and load balancing built in
  • Adds a small latency overhead vs direct provider APIs
  • Pricing is slightly above direct provider rates (routing fee)

RouterPlus

  • Wide catalog: 117 text models including Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, Mistral, and more
  • Per-route pricing transparency — see actual route prices, not just a blended rate
  • OpenAI-compatible API at api.routerplus.com/v1
  • Catalog rate is not a guaranteed bill — actual price depends on selected route and context
  • API router/marketplace — not a direct compute provider

Key weaknesses compared

OpenRouter

  • Adds a small latency overhead vs direct provider APIs
  • Pricing is slightly above direct provider rates (routing fee)
  • Less control over which specific provider handles your request

RouterPlus

  • Catalog rate is not a guaranteed bill — actual price depends on selected route and context
  • API router/marketplace — not a direct compute provider
  • 27 models have numerically different route prices; check route details before production use

Provider category context

OpenRouter is a inference api, founded in 2023. RouterPlus is a inference api. Both are inference api providers — the comparison is primarily about pricing, model selection, and feature differentiation within the same tier.

How to choose between them

Both OpenRouter and RouterPlus host open-weight models. The key differentiators are latency, throughput, and which specific model versions each provider offers. Check the speed metrics above — inference API providers often differ significantly on tokens-per-second for the same model. Pricing is typically competitive between them; availability of specific model versions (e.g., Llama 3.1 405B, DeepSeek V3) may be the deciding factor.