OpenRouter vs Vercel AI Gateway.
Prices checked
OpenRouter is cheaper on 31 of the 163 models both sell, the widest gap MiMo-V2.5 at $0.15 against $0.80 per M tokens, checked .
Where to start
OpenRouterall 297 models The reference router: charges each host's own price and routes open-weight models to the cheapest healthy host, so its price for an open model is often below the maker's.
Cheapest of the shared models
2.9¢/M tokens
Mistral Nemo
Vercel AI Gatewayall 187 models Passes provider prices through with no markup and publishes per model whether the route has zero data retention and no training.
Cheapest of the shared models
2.9¢/M tokens
Mistral Nemo
Side by side
| Fact | OpenRouter | Vercel AI Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of provider | Router | Router |
| Models we track | 297 | 187 |
| Cheaper of the two | 31 of 163 | 12 of 163 |
| Trains on your prompts | does not say | does not say |
| Keeps your requests | does not say | does not say |
| How you pay | does not say | does not say |
| Smallest top-up | does not say | does not say |
| Free tier | none listed | none listed |
| Where it runs | does not say | does not say |
Every model both sell
163 models, most widely sold first. Per M tokens, blended 3 in : 1 out.
| Model | OpenRouter | Vercel AI Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| GLM-5.3Z.ai · 1M context | $0.40 7¢ in · $1.40 out | $2.15 $1.40 in · $4.40 out |
| GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai · 1M context | $0.24 $0.15 in · $0.50 out | $0.24 $0.15 in · $0.50 out |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017DeepSeek · 1M context | $0.26 $0.15 in · $0.60 out | $0.13 7.5¢ in · $0.30 out |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731DeepSeek · 1M context | 6.8¢ 4.3¢ in · $0.14 out | $0.16 $0.13 in · $0.26 out |
| GLM-5.2Z.ai · 1M context | $1.78 3.4¢ in · $7 out | $1.24 $0.80 in · $2.55 out |
| Kimi K3Moonshot AI · 1M context | $2.88 $0.24 in · $10.80 out | $6 $3 in · $15 out |
| DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek · 1M context | $0.99 $0.66 in · $1.98 out | $0.99 $0.66 in · $1.98 out |
| Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI · 262k context | $1.34 $0.65 in · $3.41 out | $1.71 $0.95 in · $4 out |
| Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba Cloud · 1M context | $0.34 3.9¢ in · $1.25 out | $1.13 $0.50 in · $3 out |
| gpt-oss-120bOpenAI · 131k context | $0.26 $0.15 in · $0.60 out | $0.20 $0.10 in · $0.50 out |
| MiniMax-M3MiniMax · 1M context | $0.52 $0.30 in · $1.20 out | $0.52 $0.30 in · $1.20 out |
| Kimi K2.7 CodeMoonshot AI · 262k context | $1.34 $0.67 in · $3.35 out | $1.71 $0.95 in · $4 out |
| GLM-5.1Z.ai · 200k context | $2.15 $1.40 in · $4.40 out | $2.15 $1.40 in · $4.40 out |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic · 1M context | $6 $3 in · $15 out | $6 $3 in · $15 out |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 (latest)Anthropic · 200k context | $2 $1 in · $5 out | $2 $1 in · $5 out |
| Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic · 1M context | $10 $5 in · $25 out | $10 $5 in · $25 out |
| GPT-5.5OpenAI · 1.1M context | $11.25 $5 in · $30 out | $11.25 $5 in · $30 out |
| Claude Opus 4.7Anthropic · 1M context | $10 $5 in · $25 out | $10 $5 in · $25 out |
| GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI · 1.1M context | $8 $4 in · $20 out | $8 $4 in · $20 out |
| Claude Opus 5Anthropic · 1M context | $10 $5 in · $25 out | $10 $5 in · $25 out |
| GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI · 1.1M context | $0.45 $0.20 in · $1.20 out | $0.45 $0.20 in · $1.20 out |
| Claude Fable 5Anthropic · 1M context | $20 $10 in · $50 out | $20 $10 in · $50 out |
| Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic · 1M context | $4 $2 in · $10 out | $4 $2 in · $10 out |
| Llama 3.3 70B InstructMeta · 131k context | $0.16 $0.10 in · $0.32 out | $0.72 $0.72 in · $0.72 out |
| DeepSeek V3.2DeepSeek · 164k context | $0.29 $0.26 in · $0.38 out | $0.93 $0.62 in · $1.85 out |
| GLM 5Z.ai · 200k context | $1.55 $1 in · $3.20 out | $1.55 $1 in · $3.20 out |
| GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI · 1.1M context | $4.50 $2 in · $12 out | $4.50 $2 in · $12 out |
| MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax · 205k context | $0.52 $0.30 in · $1.20 out | $0.52 $0.30 in · $1.20 out |
| GPT-5.4OpenAI · 1.1M context | $5.63 $2.50 in · $15 out | $5.63 $2.50 in · $15 out |
| MiniMax-M2.7MiniMax · 205k context | $0.52 $0.30 in · $1.20 out | $0.52 $0.30 in · $1.20 out |
| gpt-oss-20bOpenAI · 131k context | 3.6¢ 1.8¢ in · 9¢ out | 5.8¢ 3¢ in · $0.14 out |
| Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic · 1M context | $8 $4 in · $20 out | $8 $4 in · $20 out |
| Kimi K2.5Moonshot AI · 262k context | $1 $0.50 in · $2.50 out | $1.20 $0.60 in · $3 out |
| Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba Cloud · 1M context | $3 $2 in · $6 out | $3 $2 in · $6 out |
| Claude Opus 4.6Anthropic · 1M context | $10 $5 in · $25 out | $10 $5 in · $25 out |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGoogle · 1M context | $4.50 $2 in · $12 out | $4.50 $2 in · $12 out |
| Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle · 262k context | $0.25 $0.20 in · $0.40 out | $0.21 $0.14 in · $0.40 out |
| GPT-6 AstraOpenAI · 1.1M context | $20 $10 in · $50 out | $20 $10 in · $50 out |
| GPT-6 LunaOpenAI · 1.1M context | $0.20 $0.10 in · $0.50 out | $0.20 $0.10 in · $0.50 out |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic · 200k context | $6 $3 in · $15 out | $6 $3 in · $15 out |
The 40 most widely sold of 163 · every row in the open dataset
How we count
OpenRouter is cheaper on 31 of the 163 models both sell, Vercel AI Gateway on 12, and 120 cost the same at both. Both are the same kind of provider, routers running the same models, so the price is most of what separates them.
Each price is the cheapest that provider charges for the model, per M tokens, blended 3 in : 1 out. The smaller line under it is the price in and the price out.
A free tier is a limit rather than a price, and a price below the maker's own with nothing published to account for it is left out, so neither can be marked as the cheaper of the two.
Frequently asked
- Is OpenRouter cheaper than Vercel AI Gateway?
- On the 163 models both sell, OpenRouter is cheaper on 31, Vercel AI Gateway on 12, and 120 cost the same at both. The widest gap is MiMo-V2.5: $0.15 per million tokens against $0.80. Prices are per M tokens, blended 3 in : 1 out, and read on 31 Oct 2026.
- Which models do OpenRouter and Vercel AI Gateway both sell?
- 163 of the models we track, led by GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3-Flash, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017. OpenRouter sells 297 in all and Vercel AI Gateway 187, so most of each catalog has no counterpart at the other.
- Does OpenRouter or Vercel AI Gateway train on what you send it?
- OpenRouter does not say whether it trains on what you send it, and does not say how long it keeps requests. Vercel AI Gateway does not say whether it trains on what you send it, and does not say how long it keeps requests. A provider that may train on prompts is often how a price below the maker's own is paid for.
- How current are these prices?
- Both catalogs are read every 3 days. OpenRouter was last read 31 Oct 2026 and Vercel AI Gateway 31 Oct 2026; the whole index was refreshed 31 Oct 2026. Prices exclude tax, and a price below the maker's own with nothing published to account for it is left out of this table entirely.