Alternatives · 2026
OpenRouter alternatives, compared
OpenRouter gives you hundreds of models behind one API key and one bill. It’s not the only way to do it. Here’s how the main options differ, and how to keep the cost per product visible whichever you pick.
The options
| Option | What it is | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter | Hosted router: one key, hundreds of models, one bill (credits) | Trying many models fast; fallbacks between providers | A fee on credit purchases; Stripe agreed to acquire it in August 2026 |
| Cloudflare AI Gateway | A gateway in front of the AI providers: caching, rate limits, retries, logs and cost analytics | Caching and analytics at the edge; the core features are free on all plans | Unified Billing credits carry a 5% fee; logs have plan limits |
| Vercel AI Gateway | One endpoint for many models, paid with Vercel credits or your own provider keys, with no markup on token prices | Budgets per team, project or key, failover and request logs, from any host | Budgets cover only spend billed through Vercel, not your own keys |
| Portkey | A gateway with per-key budgets and routing rules | Teams that need budgets, guardrails and routing policies | From $49/mo; sees only traffic you route through it |
| LiteLLM | An open-source proxy you host | Full control and no middleman | You run and update it yourself |
| Direct provider APIs | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google keys | The lowest list price and the newest features first | Several bills, several consoles |
Whichever you choose, give each product its own API key. That one habit makes cost per product visible anywhere.
Track the cost, whichever you pick
Glow reads OpenRouter (management key, GET-only) and Cloudflare, and shows AI spend by model, key and product next to revenue. No proxy, no SDK, and 30+ days of history on day one. OpenRouter + Glow.
Related
Questions, answered
Is OpenRouter more expensive than going direct?
Per-token prices usually match the provider’s list price; OpenRouter charges a fee when you buy credits. In exchange you get one key, one bill and automatic fallbacks.
What happens to OpenRouter after the Stripe deal?
Stripe announced it agreed to acquire OpenRouter on August 19, 2026. Until anything changes, the API and pricing stay as they are.
Light up your numbers.
Join the beta. Connect Stripe and one AI key, and see every product’s money in, money out and AI bill in about a minute.
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