An honest, factual comparison. Both are valid choices for different needs.
| Feature | openrout.ing | OpenRouter |
|---|---|---|
| Model selection | 24,786+ open source models only | 400+ models incl. closed (GPT, Claude, Gemini) |
| Pricing | Fixed monthly (£79–£1,499/mo), unlimited tokens | Pay-per-token, varies per model/provider |
| Logging | Zero logging, zero telemetry | Standard logging, no training on prompts |
| 429 rate limits | Zero 429 (Redis-infinite queue) | Provider-dependent |
| API format | OpenAI-compatible | OpenAI-compatible |
| Agents built-in | 904 pre-built agents, memory, workflows | No agent layer |
| Coalition fallback | 41 mappings, auto-fallback on busy models | Provider fallbacks on some models |
| Best for | Privacy-first, predictable costs, heavy open-source usage, agents | Needing closed frontier models, flexible per-token billing |
Choose openrout.ing for open-source-only inference, privacy, fixed costs and built-in agents. Choose OpenRouter when you need closed frontier models. Sources: llms.txt, openrouter.ai.