# Novita AI vs RouterPlus

> Novita AI scores 53.5 (D) to RouterPlus's 51.2 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-routerplus
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-routerplus.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-routerplus.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-routerplus.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-13

Novita AI scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against RouterPlus's 51.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. RouterPlus leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do llm inference.

- Novita AI: grade D, 53.5/100, rank #725 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/novita-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/novita-ai.json
- RouterPlus: grade D, 51.2/100, rank #777 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/routerplus.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/routerplus.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 190 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Novita AI (D)

Good for: Agents that want many open-weight models at per-token prices behind one OpenAI-style key, with keys that can be limited by model, IP and expiry.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 62 against 44
- Transparency & trust, 56 against 38

Watch for: No status page or SLA was found on the home page, the docs index or the docs site map. The home page states 99.5% uptime with no supporting document

### RouterPlus (D)

Good for: Teams that call Claude and GPT models from one key and want the cost of every call in the response, with their own provider keys where they have them.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 28
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35

Watch for: No terms of service, privacy policy, status page, changelog or security.txt found for the gateway


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Novita AI | RouterPlus | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 28 | 45 | RouterPlus +17 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 59 | Novita AI +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 71 | Novita AI +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 62 | Novita AI +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | RouterPlus +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 44 | Novita AI +18 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 38 | Novita AI +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **53.5 · D** | **51.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Novita AI | RouterPlus |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model router |
| Vendor | Novita AI | RouterPlus |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.novita.ai/openai` | `https://api.routerplus.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Novita AI Terms of Service. The agent skill and the MCP server are MIT | Closed service. No terms of service for the gateway were found on routerplus.com or app.routerplus.com on 13 October 2026. The only terms on the site govern the capacity request form and name EVO HQ Inc, a Delaware corporation (https://routerplus.com/capacity/terms/). |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-05 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-13 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 6 stars, 1.4k npm/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**Novita AI.** Per-token prices for about 140 language models are public, and each key can carry an expiry, a model allowlist and a source IP allowlist. No status page, SLA or security.txt was found, the per-model rate limit figures are drawn by script, and both vendor SDK repositories are archived while the docs still point to them.

**RouterPlus.** The docs are written for agents, every model price is public, and each response carries its own cost. No terms of service, privacy policy, status page or changelog were found. Signup adds no free credit, and the chat catalogue is Claude and GPT only.

## Before you call either

### Novita AI

1. Set the OpenAI client base URL to `https://api.novita.ai/openai` and send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`. Keys start with `sk_`
2. Do not close a connection to stop generation. A request that reached the model is billed in full under status 499, so cap output with `max_tokens`
3. On 429, check whether the code is `RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` or `TOKEN_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` and back off exponentially. No `Retry-After` header is documented
4. Read the changelog for retirement notices before pinning a model id. One retirement in October 2026 came with 11 days' notice
5. Ask the account owner for a key with an expiry, a model access policy and an IP allowlist. Keys are created and deleted only in the console

### RouterPlus

1. Send `max_tokens` on every request. Without it the balance hold assumes up to 32,768 output tokens and can return `insufficient_quota` on a small balance
2. Switch on `error_type`. Retry `rate_limit` after `retry-after`, and stop on `insufficient_quota`, which needs a person to add credit or raise a cap
3. Don't add a retry loop on top of the SDK's. There is no idempotency key, so a retry that reaches a provider is billed again
4. Copy model ids from `GET /v1/models` or /api/models.json. An unknown id is a 404 and the gateway never substitutes one
5. Use `/v1/messages` for Claude when you need `thinking` or server tools, and `/v1/chat/completions` with `response_format` only for GPT ids

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Novita AI or RouterPlus?

Novita AI scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against RouterPlus's 51.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. RouterPlus leads on reliability and payments & pricing.

### Do Novita AI and RouterPlus need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Novita AI and RouterPlus without installing anything?

Yes. Novita AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.novita.ai/openai and RouterPlus at https://api.routerplus.com/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-routerplus.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-routerplus.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "novita-ai", "b": "routerplus"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare novita-ai routerplus`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/novita-ai.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/routerplus.json

## Other comparisons with Novita AI or RouterPlus

- [Claude API vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Claude API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Antseed vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-routerplus.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [DeepInfra vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-routerplus.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [GroqCloud vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-novita-ai.md)
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- [Meta Model API vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Meta Model API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Novita AI vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-openai-api.md)
- [Novita AI vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-openrouter.md)
- [Novita AI vs Prism Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-prism-inference.md)
- [Novita AI vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Novita AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Novita AI vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [OpenAI API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [OpenRouter vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Prism Inference vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-routerplus.md)
- [RouterPlus vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-sambanova.md)
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- [RouterPlus vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-stepfun-api.md)
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