What is OpenRouter?
OpenRouter is an API aggregator that provides unified access to 100+ LLM models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, DeepSeek, Mistral, and dozens of other providers through a single API. It handles provider routing, rate limiting, and fallback automatically. OpenRouter adds approximately 10% on top of base provider costs but simplifies multi-provider integrations.
OpenRouter vs Direct API
OpenRouter is approximately 10% more expensive than going directly to each provider, but saves significant engineering time for multi-model applications. For teams using 5+ models, the operational simplicity typically outweighs the 10% cost premium. OpenRouter also provides unified logging, spend tracking, and automatic model routing.
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