{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "name": "Hugging Face Inference Providers", "vendor": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://huggingface.co", "kind": "router", "category": "inference", "summary": "Hugging Face's serverless router that sends model calls to partner inference providers such as Groq, Cerebras, Together and Fireworks through one Hugging Face token, with an OpenAI-compatible API at router.huggingface.co/v1 and Python and JavaScript clients.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "dns": "hugging-face-inference-providers.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/huggingface/huggingface_hub", "license": "Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "huggingface_hub" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@huggingface/inference" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Hugging Face user access token sent as `Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN`. The docs recommend a fine-grained token with only the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission. Tokens are made in account settings in a browser, can be rotated and revoked, and a leaked token can be revoked by anyone through `POST /api/credentials/revoke`. A provider's own key can be stored in settings instead, and Hugging Face swaps it in when routing.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Pay as you go at each provider's own per-token rates with no Hugging Face markup, drawn from prepaid credits on the Hugging Face account. Free users get no included credits since 7 October 2026 and must buy credits. PRO users and Team or Enterprise seats get $2.00 a month of compute credits. Requests with a custom provider key are billed by the provider (https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/pricing, checked 2026-11-06).", "priceSummary": "$2 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Inference Providers docs, llms.txt or the router's model list. Calls draw on prepaid Hugging Face credits bought in the account's billing settings (checked 2026-11-06).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 483470, "pypiWeekly": 71518708, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/index", "llmsTxt": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "inference.router", "inference.open-weights", "inference.llm" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "router", "usage", "prepaid", "openai-compatible", "llms-txt", "python", "javascript", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 54, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 926, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 28, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 58, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 20, "reliability": 25, "schema": 62, "security": 79, "transparency": 71 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.", "bestFor": "Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.", "strengths": [ "router.huggingface.co/v1/models lists every routed model with each provider's price, context, tool support, latency and throughput, without a token", "Provider choice by suffix (`:fastest`, `:cheapest`, `:preferred` or a provider name) on an OpenAI-compatible endpoint", "Fine-grained tokens can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission and revoked at once", "No markup on provider rates, and request bodies and responses are not stored when routed", "Official clients in Python (`huggingface_hub` 2.4.0, 29 October 2026) and JavaScript (`@huggingface/inference` 4.13.32)" ], "weaknesses": [ "No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router", "status.huggingface.co has no component for Inference Providers or the router", "Free users have had no included credits since 7 October 2026, and buying credits needs a person in the account settings", "No OpenAPI document for the router, no batch API, and the Responses API is beta", "Data handling past the router depends on each provider's own policy" ], "agentNotes": [ "Read https://router.huggingface.co/v1/models before choosing a provider; it shows price, context and `supports_tools` per provider", "Pin a provider with `model:\u003cprovider\u003e` when tool calling or structured output matters, since support varies by provider", "Use a fine-grained token with only the Inference Providers permission, and send `X-HF-Bill-To` to bill an organisation", "Back off on 429 without assuming a Retry-After header, since none is documented for the router" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 54 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 58, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 20, "reliability": 25, "schema": 62, "security": 79, "transparency": 58 }, "provenanceScore": 84, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install huggingface_hub # or: pip install openai, with base_url https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "http": "curl https://router.huggingface.co/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"model\":\"openai/gpt-oss-120b:fastest\",\"messages\":[{\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":\"How many Gs in huggingface?\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.router", "tool": "https://letme.dev/hugging-face-inference-providers" }, "sameCompany": [ "hugging-face-inference-endpoints", "smolagents", "carbon-x", "smollm3-3b" ], "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "openai/gpt-oss-120b input, cheapest provider listed (DeepInfra)", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.037, "note": "Output $0.17. Groq lists $0.15/$0.75 and Cerebras $0.35/$0.75, per the router's model list of 6 November 2026" }, { "item": "PRO monthly compute credits", "unit": "month", "usd": 2, "note": "Also $2.00 per seat for Team and Enterprise organisations" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "domain": "huggingface.co", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://huggingface.co/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://huggingface.co/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.huggingface.co", "changelog": "https://huggingface.co/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "The Terms of Service (effective 15 September 2022) name Hugging Face, Inc. and define Inference Providers as a hosted service for running inference through an API on Hub models.", "huggingface.co/robots.txt and router.huggingface.co/robots.txt allow all. status.huggingface.co serves an empty robots.txt.", "status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with components for the Hub, git hosting, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, and none for Inference Providers or the router.", "huggingface.co/changelog covers the whole Hub and had no Inference Providers entry on its first page on 6 November 2026. Dated changes to the docs are in the hub-docs repository's history.", "security.txt, privacy policy and subprocessor list as recorded on the Inference Endpoints listing (checked 8 October and 2 November 2026); not re-read for this listing." ], "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "live": { "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "probe": { "target": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T19:22:12.474650545Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 145, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 109, "p95ms24h": 196, "samples24h": 210, "samples30d": 210, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 197, "ok": 197 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.huggingface.co", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:47:55.542550557Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "huggingface/huggingface_hub", "version": "v2.4.0", "released": "2026-10-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:27.894225298Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@huggingface/inference", "version": "4.13.32", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:27.102558197Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "huggingface_hub", "version": "2.4.0", "released": "2026-10-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:26.910773744Z" } ], "githubStars": 4034, "npmWeekly": 483470, "pypiWeekly": 71518708, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2030-07-01T08:42:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:00.493446773Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:32:44.910268229Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:11:37.221950067Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "2cbe821ca9d2" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T19:22:12.474650545Z" } }, "answer": "OpenRouter scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hugging Face Inference Providers leads on security \u0026 auth.", "b": { "slug": "openrouter", "name": "OpenRouter", "vendor": "OpenRouter", "vendorUrl": "https://openrouter.ai", "kind": "router", "category": "inference", "summary": "One OpenAI-compatible API in front of 80+ model providers, at the providers' own token prices, with fallbacks and routing controls.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openrouter", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openrouter.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openrouter.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openrouter.json", "dns": "openrouter.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/OpenRouterTeam/typescript-sdk", "license": "Apache-2.0 (SDKs)", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@openrouter/sdk" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "openrouter" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Bearer key. OAuth PKCE lets an app get a key on a user's behalf.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "No markup on tokens. The fee is on credit top-ups, 5.5% by card ($0.80 minimum) and 5% in crypto, 8% on Business. Bring your own key free up to $25,000 a month, then 5%. 25+ free models at 20 requests a minute and 50 a day, 1,000 a day after a $10 purchase (https://openrouter.ai/pricing).", "priceSummary": "5.5% fee", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "Credits can be bought in USDC through Coinbase, but requests are paid from a prepaid balance, not per call.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 226, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-26" }, "docsUrl": "https://openrouter.ai/docs", "rateLimitsUrl": "https://openrouter.ai/docs/api_reference/limits", "llmsTxt": "https://openrouter.ai/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://openrouter.ai/docs/openapi/openapi.yaml", "capabilities": [ "inference.llm", "inference.router" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "router", "free-tier", "no-card", "openapi", "llms-txt", "crypto-topup" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-31", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 66.6, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 365, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 15, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 85, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 40, "reliability": 55, "schema": 90, "security": 67, "transparency": 72 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-01" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-21. Breaking changes published the day they shipped, folded into one term. The Python SDK `openrouter` 1.3.70, a patch release in the listing's own package, removed the `client.end_users` namespace for `client.external_users`, and `POST /messages` streams stopped sending a trailing `data: [DONE]` frame, so clients that waited for it must end on `message_stop`. The versioning page promises migration notes but no notice period, and earlier same-day removals (8 September, 23 October) are of the same kind. -3. https://openrouter.ai/docs/changelog.md" ], "verdict": "Public OpenAPI document, llms.txt with Markdown twins, and a changelog generated from the spec on every release, with SDKs in TypeScript and Python tagged on 31 October 2026. Breaking changes ship with migration notes on the day, with no notice period. No machine payment, and USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance.", "bestFor": "Agents that need many models behind one key, provider failover and a hard price ceiling per request.", "strengths": [ "Public OpenAPI document, llms.txt with Markdown twins, and a changelog generated from the spec with migration notes", "Per-request routing controls, fallback `models` lists, provider ordering, `zdr` and `max_price`", "429, 503 and some 402 responses carry `Retry-After`, and the SDKs honour it", "OpenRouter stores no prompts or responses unless you opt in", "Free models with no card, and Management API keys for minting and rotating keys in code" ], "weaknesses": [ "No machine payment. USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance", "`data_collection` defaults to 'allow', which admits providers that may store and train on prompts", "Breaking changes are published the day they ship, with no notice period, among them the Python SDK's `end_users` removal on 21 October 2026", "Mid-stream failures arrive inside a 200 response, and upstream providers may charge for prompt processing on a failed call", "No published SLA, and the status page gave us no readable history" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `provider.data_collection: \"deny\"` or `provider.zdr: true` when the prompt holds anything private", "Pass a `models` list so a failed provider falls through to the next one", "Honour `Retry-After` on 429 and 503, and check the stream body for errors even on a 200", "Set `max_price` so a routed request can't land on an expensive provider", "Free models allow 50 requests a day until $10 of credit has been bought. Check `GET /api/v1/key` for what's left", "On `/messages` streams, stop at `message_stop` or an `error` event. No `[DONE]` frame is sent since 21 October 2026" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 66.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 85, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 40, "reliability": 55, "schema": 90, "security": 67, "transparency": 57 }, "provenanceScore": 87, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-01", "maintenance": "2026-11-01", "payments": "2026-11-01", "reliability": "2026-11-01", "schema": "2026-11-01", "security": "2026-11-01", "transparency": "2026-11-01" }, "last": "2026-11-01", "lastMoved": "2026-11-01", "oldest": "2026-11-01", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "npm i @openrouter/sdk # or any OpenAI client with base URL https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", "http": "curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY\" -H \"content-type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"models\":[\"anthropic/claude-opus-5-5\",\"openai/gpt-6-sol\"],\"provider\":{\"zdr\":true},\"messages\":[{\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":\"hello\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm", "tool": "https://letme.dev/openrouter" }, "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Card top-up fee", "unit": "pct", "usd": 5.5, "note": "$0.80 minimum" }, { "item": "Crypto top-up fee", "unit": "pct", "usd": 5 }, { "item": "Bring your own key over $25,000 a month", "unit": "pct", "usd": 5 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "OpenRouter, Inc.", "domain": "openrouter.ai", "domainRegistered": "2023-04-17", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://openrouter.ai/terms", "privacy": "https://openrouter.ai/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.openrouter.ai", "changelog": "https://openrouter.ai/docs/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-09-26", "score": 87 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openrouter.json", "live": { "slug": "openrouter", "probe": { "target": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T19:22:24.011438582Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 154, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 158, "p95ms24h": 257, "samples24h": 238, "samples30d": 7920, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-11", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-17", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-18", "probes": 256, "ok": 256 }, { "date": "2026-10-19", "probes": 255, "ok": 255 }, { "date": "2026-10-20", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-22", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-23", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-24", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-26", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-27", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-28", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-29", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-11-01", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-11-02", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-11-03", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-11-04", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 }, { "date": "2026-11-05", "probes": 185, "ok": 185 }, { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 241, "ok": 241 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 197, "ok": 197 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.openrouter.ai", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:48:32.364573242Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "OpenRouterTeam/typescript-sdk", "version": "v1.5.63", "released": "2026-11-06", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:53:19.843060338Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@openrouter/sdk", "version": "1.5.63", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:53:19.458250016Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "openrouter", "version": "1.3.136", "released": "2026-11-06", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:53:19.721594609Z" } ], "githubStars": 266, "npmWeekly": 1500637, "pypiWeekly": 508914, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://openrouter.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-08-12T00:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:59:55.426629359Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://openrouter.ai/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:33:32.781344125Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "openrouter.ai", "registered": "2023-04-17", "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/openrouter.ai", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:08:10.430011075Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://openrouter.ai/docs/changelog", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:15:31.271472972Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:37:16.450910388Z", "fingerprint": "643881c9ce0d" }, { "url": "https://openrouter.ai/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:15:39.383701632Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-30T05:44:51.931625899Z", "fingerprint": "5cb2a28b714b" }, { "url": "https://openrouter.ai/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:15:39.647363812Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-30T05:44:54.355186693Z", "fingerprint": "9aab6dce3dcb" }, { "url": "https://openrouter.ai/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:15:41.576148386Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-30T05:44:56.728736628Z", "fingerprint": "e65daca75fd6" } ], "github": { "repo": "openrouterteam/typescript-sdk", "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T09:13:41.01188934Z", "stars": 266, "archived": false, "issuesEnabled": true, "pushedAt": "2026-11-01T00:31:43Z", "openIssues": 16, "openPRs": 21, "issuesOpened90d": 10, "issuesClosed90d": 6, "prsMerged90d": 535, "ci": { "branch": "main", "runs": 50, "success": 50, "failure": 0, "other": 0, "latest": "success", "latestAt": "2026-10-31T04:54:28Z" }, "replies": { "sampled": 25, "unanswered": 14, "medianDays": 39.5 } }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T19:22:24.011438582Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 30, "category": "reliability", "leads": "openrouter", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "Hosted lines. status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with 90-day component history for the Hub, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, but no component for Inference Providers or the router (10 of 20). With no component, there is no readable incident history for the surface agents call, and the feed's 23 items from 10 June to 7 October 2026 don't name it (5). No rate limits for the router were found; the Hub rate-limits page gives numbers for Hub APIs, resolvers and pages only (0). No 429 or overload guidance for the router was found (0). No SLA found (0). Chat completions on the router is generally available; the Responses API is labelled beta (10). Routing between providers with `:fastest` or `:cheapest` softens a single provider's outage, which this checklist doesn't score.", "b": "Status page at status.openrouter.ai, which rendered only in a browser with its feed and JSON paths answering 403 on 1 and 2 October. On 1 November its robots.txt answered 403 AccessDenied, so the host is treated as blocked and the page was not read (10 of 20, per the 2 October check, and 5 for the incident line, no readable history). The limits page gives 20 requests a minute on free models, 50 a day below $10 of lifetime purchases and 1,000 a day above, no platform cap on paid models, and a key endpoint that reports what's left (15). The errors page says 429, 503 and 402 responses from the in-flight spending budget carry `Retry-After`, tells clients to honour it, and says the official SDKs already do (15). The pricing page lists 'Contractual SLAs' for Enterprise without publishing terms, which we count as no published SLA (0). The chat completions API is GA (10). Model fallbacks through a `models` list soften an upstream outage, which this checklist doesn't score." }, "scores": { "a": 25, "b": 55 } }, { "by": 28, "category": "schema", "leads": "openrouter", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "No OpenAPI document for the router (openapi.json paths answer 404). The task reference pages are generated from typed JSON Schema specs in huggingface.js, and the router's /v1/models gives a machine-readable catalogue, so 12 of 25. llms.txt for the Inference Providers docs and a Markdown twin of every page via `.md` (10). Guides say what each task and policy is for, with a quick setup page for coding agents (14 of 20). Parameter tables with types for chat completion, though `response_format` and `tool_choice` show as unknown types (9 of 15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every task page, but no documented error responses for the router (9 of 15). No changelog of its own; the Hub changelog doesn't cover it and dated changes are only in the hub-docs history (8 of 15).", "b": "Public OpenAPI document at openrouter.ai/docs/openapi/openapi.yaml (25). llms.txt with Markdown twins (10). Reference not read in full (15 of 20). Structured outputs documented, enforcement depends on the upstream model (10 of 15). Errors and debugging page and examples throughout (15). An API changelog generated from OpenAPI diffs on every release, with a human-reviewed Breaking section and migration notes, dated entries to 29 October 2026, and an API versioning page (15)." }, "scores": { "a": 62, "b": 90 } }, { "by": 27, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "openrouter", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "Router reading of the model checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors), as for openrouter. Tool calling through the OpenAI-compatible API with `tool_choice`, support flagged per provider in /v1/models (15 of 20). Structured output documented, support flagged per provider and false on some (10 of 15). No prompt caching guidance found, though the Enterprise usage API counts cached input tokens (3 of 15). Routes to models with up to 1,048,576 tokens of context per the model list, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). No batch API (0 of 10). Official clients in Python and JavaScript, plus any OpenAI SDK (10). Errors not documented (5 of 15).", "b": "Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool calling documented, behaviour depends on the routed model (15 of 20). Structured outputs depend on the upstream model (10 of 15). Prompt caching documented, discount set by each provider (10 of 15). Routes to models with 1M-token context, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). Batch API, usually half price per the listing (10). Official SDKs in TypeScript, Python and Go (10). Errors and debugging page (15)." }, "scores": { "a": 58, "b": 85 } }, { "by": 20, "category": "payments", "leads": "openrouter", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-token prices for every model and provider published without a login in the router's /v1/models and on model pages (20). No free tier since 7 October 2026, when free users lost their included monthly credits; PRO's $2.00 of credits needs a subscription (0). Sign-up, token creation and credit purchase are browser steps (0).", "b": "No machine payment protocol found in the docs index. Credits can be bought in USDC through Coinbase, but calls draw on a prepaid balance (0). Per-token prices published per model without a login (20). 25 or more free models with no card, per the listing (20). Browser sign-up for the first key (0). Management API keys and OAuth PKCE mint keys in code, but only after a person has an account." }, "scores": { "a": 20, "b": 40 } }, { "by": 12, "category": "security", "leads": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading. Fine-grained user access tokens that can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission, rotated and revoked, plus a public revocation endpoint for leaked tokens, and organisation approval of fine-grained tokens on paid plans (30). Hugging Face says it doesn't store user data for training, but data handling past the router follows each provider's policy, with no per-request filter to exclude providers that train or retain (12 of 20). Request bodies and responses aren't stored when routed and debug logs are kept up to 30 days without user data or tokens, with provider retention outside that statement (10 of 15). Usage by model and provider in account settings, an Enterprise usage API, and Team and Enterprise admins can disable providers and set a spending limit (13 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2 for the Hub, of which the docs say Inference Providers is a feature, and security.txt valid to 2030 per the Inference Endpoints check; no bug bounty found (14 of 20).", "b": "Model reading. Bearer keys with per-key credit limits, Management API keys for creating and rotating keys in code, and OAuth PKCE for user-delegated keys. No permission scopes on keys (25 of 30). OpenRouter doesn't store or use prompts unless you opt in for a 1% discount, but the routing reference, re-read on 1 November 2026, still sets `data_collection` to 'allow' by default, which admits providers that may store and train on data. An account privacy setting can switch that off, and the docs don't say what a new account starts with (5 of 20). Prompts not stored by default and a per-request `zdr` filter (15). Request metadata kept for reporting, per-call logs not confirmed (10 of 15). security.txt, read on 1 November 2026, is valid to 12 August 2027 with security@openrouter.ai and a PGP key, and says reports confirmed as high-impact get an invitation to a private HackerOne bug bounty. The private bounty counts as a bounty, as other listings' invitation-only programmes do (activepieces, fireflies, mixpanel). No certification or public advisory was found, so 12, above blockrun-ai's 10 (valid security.txt, no bounty) and below activepieces' 13 (a private bounty and nine public advisories) (12 of 20)." }, "scores": { "a": 79, "b": 67 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Model router", "b": "Model router", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "b": "OpenRouter", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "b": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT", "b": "Apache-2.0 (SDKs)", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-29", "b": "2026-10-31", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2022-09-15", "b": "2026-08-31", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2023-03-28", "b": "2026-08-31", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "483k npm/wk, 71.5M PyPI/wk", "b": "226 stars", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "3/5 (2)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "OpenRouter scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hugging Face Inference Providers leads on security \u0026 auth.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Hugging Face Inference Providers or OpenRouter?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do Hugging Face Inference Providers and OpenRouter need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Hugging Face Inference Providers has a hosted endpoint at https://router.huggingface.co/v1 and OpenRouter at https://openrouter.ai/api/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call Hugging Face Inference Providers and OpenRouter without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Security \u0026 auth, 79 against 67" ], "also": [ "No incidents deducted, where OpenRouter loses 3 points for them" ], "goodFor": "Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.", "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "watchFor": "No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 55 against 25", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 62", "Agent ergonomics, 85 against 58", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Agents that need many models behind one key, provider failover and a hard price ceiling per request.", "slug": "openrouter", "watchFor": "No machine payment. USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance" } ], "history": { "hugging-face-inference-providers": null, "openrouter": [ { "causes": [ "evidence", "event" ], "date": "2026-11-01", "delta": -1.9, "from": 68.5, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 66.6, "toGrade": "B" }, { "causes": [ "correction" ], "date": "2026-10-28", "delta": -0.1, "from": 68.6, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 68.5, "toGrade": "B" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-27", "delta": 0.1, "from": 68.5, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 68.6, "toGrade": "B" } ] }, "job": { "capability": "inference.router", "name": "Model routing" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-openrouter.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs OpenRouter", "url": 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"title": "OpenRouter vs SambaCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-sambanova" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-siliconflow.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs SiliconFlow", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-siliconflow" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-simplismart.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs Simplismart", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-simplismart" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-swe-2-flash.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs SWE-2 Flash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-swe-2-flash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-tencent-tokenhub" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-together-inference.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs Together AI Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-together-inference" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs Vercel AI Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-vercel-ai-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Antseed vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-openrouter.json", "title": "Antseed vs OpenRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-openrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Eden AI vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-openrouter.json", "title": "Eden AI vs OpenRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-openrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-litellm.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs LiteLLM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-litellm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-ramp-router.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Router.com (Ramp Router)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-ramp-router" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-routerplus.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs RouterPlus", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-routerplus" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-tencent-tokenhub" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vercel AI Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vercel-ai-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/litellm-vs-openrouter.json", "title": "LiteLLM vs OpenRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/litellm-vs-openrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-prism-inference.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Prism Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-prism-inference" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 30, "edge": "openrouter", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 25, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "openrouter": 55, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 28, "edge": "openrouter", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 62, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "openrouter": 90, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 27, "edge": "openrouter", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 58, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "openrouter": 85, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 12, "edge": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 79, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "openrouter": 67, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "openrouter", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 20, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "openrouter": 40, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 2, "edge": "openrouter", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 80, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "openrouter": 82, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "openrouter", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 71, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "openrouter": 72, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "OpenRouter scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hugging Face Inference Providers leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do model routing.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "hugging-face-inference-providers": "One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.", "openrouter": "Public OpenAPI document, llms.txt with Markdown twins, and a changelog generated from the spec on every release, with SDKs in TypeScript and Python tagged on 31 October 2026. Breaking changes ship with migration notes on the day, with no notice period. No machine payment, and USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter.min.md" }, "markdown": "OpenRouter scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hugging Face Inference Providers leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do model routing.\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers: grade C, 54/100, rank #926 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json\n- OpenRouter: grade B, 66.6/100, rank #365 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openrouter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openrouter.json\n- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md\n- All 830 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Hugging Face Inference Providers (C)\n\nGood for: Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.\n\nAhead on:\n- Security \u0026 auth, 79 against 67\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No incidents deducted, where OpenRouter loses 3 points for them\n\nWatch for: No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router\n\n### OpenRouter (B)\n\nGood for: Agents that need many models behind one key, provider failover and a hard price ceiling per request.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 55 against 25\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 62\n- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 58\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No machine payment. USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Reliability: OpenRouter +30\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (25): Hosted lines. status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with 90-day component history for the Hub, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, but no component for Inference Providers or the router (10 of 20). With no component, there is no readable incident history for the surface agents call, and the feed's 23 items from 10 June to 7 October 2026 don't name it (5). No rate limits for the router were found; the Hub rate-limits page gives numbers for Hub APIs, resolvers and pages only (0). No 429 or overload guidance for the router was found (0). No SLA found (0). Chat completions on the router is generally available; the Responses API is labelled beta (10). Routing between providers with `:fastest` or `:cheapest` softens a single provider's outage, which this checklist doesn't score.\n- OpenRouter (55): Status page at status.openrouter.ai, which rendered only in a browser with its feed and JSON paths answering 403 on 1 and 2 October. On 1 November its robots.txt answered 403 AccessDenied, so the host is treated as blocked and the page was not read (10 of 20, per the 2 October check, and 5 for the incident line, no readable history). The limits page gives 20 requests a minute on free models, 50 a day below $10 of lifetime purchases and 1,000 a day above, no platform cap on paid models, and a key endpoint that reports what's left (15). The errors page says 429, 503 and 402 responses from the in-flight spending budget carry `Retry-After`, tells clients to honour it, and says the official SDKs already do (15). The pricing page lists 'Contractual SLAs' for Enterprise without publishing terms, which we count as no published SLA (0). The chat completions API is GA (10). Model fallbacks through a `models` list soften an upstream outage, which this checklist doesn't score.\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: OpenRouter +28\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (62): No OpenAPI document for the router (openapi.json paths answer 404). The task reference pages are generated from typed JSON Schema specs in huggingface.js, and the router's /v1/models gives a machine-readable catalogue, so 12 of 25. llms.txt for the Inference Providers docs and a Markdown twin of every page via `.md` (10). Guides say what each task and policy is for, with a quick setup page for coding agents (14 of 20). Parameter tables with types for chat completion, though `response_format` and `tool_choice` show as unknown types (9 of 15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every task page, but no documented error responses for the router (9 of 15). No changelog of its own; the Hub changelog doesn't cover it and dated changes are only in the hub-docs history (8 of 15).\n- OpenRouter (90): Public OpenAPI document at openrouter.ai/docs/openapi/openapi.yaml (25). llms.txt with Markdown twins (10). Reference not read in full (15 of 20). Structured outputs documented, enforcement depends on the upstream model (10 of 15). Errors and debugging page and examples throughout (15). An API changelog generated from OpenAPI diffs on every release, with a human-reviewed Breaking section and migration notes, dated entries to 29 October 2026, and an API versioning page (15).\n\n### Agent ergonomics: OpenRouter +27\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (58): Router reading of the model checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors), as for openrouter. Tool calling through the OpenAI-compatible API with `tool_choice`, support flagged per provider in /v1/models (15 of 20). Structured output documented, support flagged per provider and false on some (10 of 15). No prompt caching guidance found, though the Enterprise usage API counts cached input tokens (3 of 15). Routes to models with up to 1,048,576 tokens of context per the model list, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). No batch API (0 of 10). Official clients in Python and JavaScript, plus any OpenAI SDK (10). Errors not documented (5 of 15).\n- OpenRouter (85): Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool calling documented, behaviour depends on the routed model (15 of 20). Structured outputs depend on the upstream model (10 of 15). Prompt caching documented, discount set by each provider (10 of 15). Routes to models with 1M-token context, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). Batch API, usually half price per the listing (10). Official SDKs in TypeScript, Python and Go (10). Errors and debugging page (15).\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: OpenRouter +20\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (20): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-token prices for every model and provider published without a login in the router's /v1/models and on model pages (20). No free tier since 7 October 2026, when free users lost their included monthly credits; PRO's $2.00 of credits needs a subscription (0). Sign-up, token creation and credit purchase are browser steps (0).\n- OpenRouter (40): No machine payment protocol found in the docs index. Credits can be bought in USDC through Coinbase, but calls draw on a prepaid balance (0). Per-token prices published per model without a login (20). 25 or more free models with no card, per the listing (20). Browser sign-up for the first key (0). Management API keys and OAuth PKCE mint keys in code, but only after a person has an account.\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: Hugging Face Inference Providers +12\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (79): Model reading. Fine-grained user access tokens that can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission, rotated and revoked, plus a public revocation endpoint for leaked tokens, and organisation approval of fine-grained tokens on paid plans (30). Hugging Face says it doesn't store user data for training, but data handling past the router follows each provider's policy, with no per-request filter to exclude providers that train or retain (12 of 20). Request bodies and responses aren't stored when routed and debug logs are kept up to 30 days without user data or tokens, with provider retention outside that statement (10 of 15). Usage by model and provider in account settings, an Enterprise usage API, and Team and Enterprise admins can disable providers and set a spending limit (13 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2 for the Hub, of which the docs say Inference Providers is a feature, and security.txt valid to 2030 per the Inference Endpoints check; no bug bounty found (14 of 20).\n- OpenRouter (67): Model reading. Bearer keys with per-key credit limits, Management API keys for creating and rotating keys in code, and OAuth PKCE for user-delegated keys. No permission scopes on keys (25 of 30). OpenRouter doesn't store or use prompts unless you opt in for a 1% discount, but the routing reference, re-read on 1 November 2026, still sets `data_collection` to 'allow' by default, which admits providers that may store and train on data. An account privacy setting can switch that off, and the docs don't say what a new account starts with (5 of 20). Prompts not stored by default and a per-request `zdr` filter (15). Request metadata kept for reporting, per-call logs not confirmed (10 of 15). security.txt, read on 1 November 2026, is valid to 12 August 2027 with security@openrouter.ai and a PGP key, and says reports confirmed as high-impact get an invitation to a private HackerOne bug bounty. The private bounty counts as a bounty, as other listings' invitation-only programmes do (activepieces, fireflies, mixpanel). No certification or public advisory was found, so 12, above blockrun-ai's 10 (valid security.txt, no bounty) and below activepieces' 13 (a private bounty and nine public advisories) (12 of 20).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Hugging Face Inference Providers | OpenRouter | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 25 | 55 | OpenRouter +30 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 90 | OpenRouter +28 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 85 | OpenRouter +27 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 79 | 67 | Hugging Face Inference Providers +12 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | OpenRouter +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 82 | OpenRouter +2 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 72 | OpenRouter +1 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |\n| **Total** | | **54 · C** | **66.6 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Hugging Face Inference Providers | OpenRouter |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model router | Model router |\n| Vendor | Hugging Face, Inc. | OpenRouter |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://router.huggingface.co/v1` | `https://openrouter.ai/api/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-31 |\n| Terms last updated | 2022-09-15 | 2026-08-31 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-03-28 | 2026-08-31 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |\n| Popularity | 483k npm/wk, 71.5M PyPI/wk | 226 stars |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Hugging Face Inference Providers\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n### OpenRouter\n\n- -1.9 on 1 November 2026: new evidence, negative event\n- -0.1 on 28 October 2026: correction\n- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Hugging Face Inference Providers.** One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.\n\n**OpenRouter.** Public OpenAPI document, llms.txt with Markdown twins, and a changelog generated from the spec on every release, with SDKs in TypeScript and Python tagged on 31 October 2026. Breaking changes ship with migration notes on the day, with no notice period. No machine payment, and USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Hugging Face Inference Providers\n\n1. Read https://router.huggingface.co/v1/models before choosing a provider; it shows price, context and `supports_tools` per provider\n2. Pin a provider with `model:\u003cprovider\u003e` when tool calling or structured output matters, since support varies by provider\n3. Use a fine-grained token with only the Inference Providers permission, and send `X-HF-Bill-To` to bill an organisation\n4. Back off on 429 without assuming a Retry-After header, since none is documented for the router\n\n### OpenRouter\n\n1. Set `provider.data_collection: \"deny\"` or `provider.zdr: true` when the prompt holds anything private\n2. Pass a `models` list so a failed provider falls through to the next one\n3. Honour `Retry-After` on 429 and 503, and check the stream body for errors even on a 200\n4. Set `max_price` so a routed request can't land on an expensive provider\n5. Free models allow 50 requests a day until $10 of credit has been bought. Check `GET /api/v1/key` for what's left\n6. On `/messages` streams, stop at `message_stop` or an `error` event. No `[DONE]` frame is sent since 21 October 2026\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Hugging Face Inference Providers or OpenRouter?\n\nOpenRouter scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hugging Face Inference Providers leads on security \u0026 auth.\n\n### Do Hugging Face Inference Providers and OpenRouter need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Hugging Face Inference Providers and OpenRouter without installing anything?\n\nYes. Hugging Face Inference Providers has a hosted endpoint at https://router.huggingface.co/v1 and OpenRouter at https://openrouter.ai/api/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"hugging-face-inference-providers\", \"b\": \"openrouter\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare hugging-face-inference-providers openrouter`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openrouter.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Hugging Face Inference Providers or OpenRouter\n\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Claude API vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Claude API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [BlockRun.AI vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [BlockRun.AI vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Cerebras Inference vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Cerebras Inference vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [DeepInfra vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [DeepInfra vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [DeepSeek API vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [DeepSeek API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Glimpse vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Glimpse vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Fireworks AI Inference vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Fireworks AI Inference vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Gemini Developer API vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Gemini Developer API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [GroqCloud vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [GroqCloud vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Inkling 2 Small](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-inkling-2-small.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Jais 3](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-jais-3.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Meta Model API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-meta-model-api.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs MiniMax API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-minimax-api.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-mistral-api.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Muse Spark Open](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-muse-spark-open.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-novita-ai.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openai-api.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-reflection-beam.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-sambanova.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-siliconflow.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Simplismart](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-simplismart.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs SWE-2 Flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-swe-2-flash.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Together AI Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-together-inference.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Inkling 2 Small vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inkling-2-small-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Jais 3 vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Meta Model API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [MiniMax API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Mistral AI API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Muse Spark Open vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Novita AI vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [OpenAI API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Prism Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-prism-inference.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Router.com (Ramp Router)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-ramp-router.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-reflection-beam.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-routerplus.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-sambanova.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-siliconflow.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Simplismart](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-simplismart.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs SWE-2 Flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-swe-2-flash.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-tencent-tokenhub.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Together AI Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-together-inference.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Antseed vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Antseed vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Eden AI vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Eden AI vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs LiteLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-litellm.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Router.com (Ramp Router)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-ramp-router.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-routerplus.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-tencent-tokenhub.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)\n- [LiteLLM vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/litellm-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Prism Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-prism-inference.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs OpenRouter", "url": "" } ], "description": "OpenRouter scores 66.6 (B) to Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C) for model routing. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Hugging Face Inference Providers C 54", "OpenRouter B 66.6", "scores" ], "h1": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs OpenRouter", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs OpenRouter for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 6500, "slim": 2630 }, "version": 1 }