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Gateway pricingOpenRouter Pricing Explained
What OpenRouter really costs, from its own pricing page, and what that means for your LLM bill.
Provider list prices with no markup, plus a 5.5% platform fee on credit purchases on its Standard plan. Bring-your-own-key usage is free up to $25,000 of list-price inference a month, then 5%.
What OpenRouter charges
Provider list prices with no markup, plus a 5.5% platform fee on credit purchases on its Standard plan. Bring-your-own-key usage is free up to $25,000 of list-price inference a month, then 5%.
A model marketplace and router: one API key for 600+ models.
What OpenRouter costs at your spend
| Monthly LLM spend | OpenRouter fee (5.5% on credit purchases) | apicuts: guaranteed lower cost |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $550 | $2,000 or more |
| $50,000 | $2,750 | $10,000 or more |
| $100,000 | $5,500 | $20,000 or more |
The OpenRouter column assumes all spend goes through the fee. apicuts guarantees your all-in cost falls at least 20% after its 10% fee, or you pay nothing.
What the price doesn't include
- The tokens themselves, at your providers' prices.
- The engineering time to set up caching, routing, batching and limits, and to keep them working.
- Any guarantee that your total bill goes down.
OpenRouter vs apicuts on cost
OpenRouter is priced for developers who want fast access to many models. apicuts is priced on results: 10% of the savings we verify, and if your all-in bill isn't at least 20% lower after that fee, you pay nothing. See apicuts pricing or APIcuts vs OpenRouter.
Frequently asked questions
How much does OpenRouter cost?
Provider list prices with no markup, plus a 5.5% platform fee on credit purchases on its Standard plan. Bring-your-own-key usage is free up to $25,000 of list-price inference a month, then 5%.
Does OpenRouter mark up model prices?
No. According to its pricing page, model prices are passed through at provider list prices; the fee applies when you buy credits.
Sources: OpenRouter's pricing page. Checked October 30, 2026.
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