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PAGAI Tools
#3 in LLM APIs & inferenceUsage-based

OpenRouter

One API key for many models and providers.

OpenRouter is a model router. One API speaks an OpenAI-compatible shape and can send a request to models from many labs. There is a free tier with a small set of models and a paid credit balance for the rest.

Official site

Why this rank

For a builder who wants to switch models without rewriting the client, OpenRouter is the practical third API after the two big labs.

Best for

Trying many models behind one client.

Pricing

Free tier with 25+ free models and a 50 request/day limit. Standard pay-as-you-go adds a 5.5% fee when you buy credits. Business is an 8% fee. The model price itself is separate and is deducted from the credit balance.

Pricing checked November 7, 2026. Confirm it on the official site.

Before you commit

  • The fee is on credit purchases, and the model price is on top of that.
  • The free tier's daily cap is small. Do not plan a product on it.

Also look at

  • OpenAI API — The default API for GPT models and OpenAI tools.
  • Groq — Fast inference for the open models Groq hosts.
  • Gemini API — Google's Gemini models, with a free tier in AI Studio.