Machine Learning · pricing
OpenRouter pricing
OpenRouter publishes 3 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
As of 29 August 2026, OpenRouter pricing is free across 3 published tiers. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Usage-based
- Tiers
- 3
- Free tier
- Yes
OpenRouter plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
| Pay-as-you-go | On request | 7 | Priced on request |
| Enterprise | On request | 6 | Priced on request |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
Free
FreeThe entry tier. It covers 50 requests per day, access to 25+ free models across 4 providers, community support.
Pay-as-you-go
On requestOver Free, this tier adds:
- 5.5% platform fee on inference costs
- Access to 500+ models across 80+ providers
- Email support
- Budgets and spend controls
- Prompt caching
- Activity logs
- Policy-based routing
Enterprise
On requestOver Pay-as-you-go, this tier adds:
- Negotiable platform fees
- 200,000 USD of list price inference per month with no fees, then 5% fee after
- SSO/SAML support
- Contractual SLAs
- Dedicated support with shared Slack channel
- Full access to 500+ models and 80+ providers
Where OpenRouter stops being free
Free, Free
- 50 requests per day
- Access to 25+ free models across 4 providers
- Community support
No paid tier on record
OpenRouter lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
How that compares in Machine Learning
Too few machine learning tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter (this page) | Free | usage-based | - | |
| ClearML | Free | Open-source self-hosted, with paid hosted and enterprise tiers | - | vs OpenRouter |
| Langwatch | Free, then €29/month | Tiered subscription with usage-based overage charges | - | vs OpenRouter |
| Haystack | Free | Open-source with optional paid enterprise support | - | vs OpenRouter |
| Semantic Kernel | Free | Open source, no pricing | - | vs OpenRouter |
| Fal AI | $1.89/hour | usage-based | - | vs OpenRouter |
| H2O.ai | Free | freemium | - | vs OpenRouter |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the OpenRouter badges page.
Before you pay for OpenRouter
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 3 tiers between Free and On request, with the jump itemised above. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
OpenRouter runs on api, web. The full record is on the OpenRouter review, and the rest of the category is under best machine learning tools.
OpenRouter pricing questions
- How much does OpenRouter cost?
- OpenRouter publishes 3 tiers, from Free for Free up to On request for Enterprise. The entry tier costs nothing.
- Does OpenRouter have a free plan?
- Yes. The Free tier costs nothing and covers 50 requests per day, access to 25+ free models across 4 providers, community support.
- What is the difference between Free and Pay-as-you-go on OpenRouter?
- Pay-as-you-go costs On request against Free, and adds 5.5% platform fee on inference costs, access to 500+ models across 80+ providers, email support, budgets and spend controls.
- Which machine learning tools can I use without paying?
- 7 of the 8 machine learning tools listed alongside OpenRouter have a free tier: ClearML, Langwatch, Haystack, Semantic Kernel, H2O.ai.
- What am I actually paying for with OpenRouter?
- The record we hold does not itemise what each tier includes beyond the plan names and prices. The OpenRouter review carries whatever feature detail is available.
- Does OpenRouter charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 3 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these OpenRouter prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare OpenRouter against before paying?
- The closest machine learning tools in this directory are ClearML, Langwatch, Haystack, Semantic Kernel. Each has a side-by-side comparison with OpenRouter covering price, platforms and features.