# OpenRouter vs RouterPlus

> OpenRouter scores 68.5 (B) 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/openrouter-vs-routerplus
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-routerplus.md (~2,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-routerplus.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-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

OpenRouter scores 68.5 (B) on agent readiness against RouterPlus's 51.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do llm inference.

- OpenRouter: grade B, 68.5/100, rank #214 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openrouter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openrouter.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

### OpenRouter (B)

Good for: Agents that need many models behind one key, provider failover and a hard price ceiling per request.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 59
- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 71
- Maintenance & community, 84 against 44
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 38

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No machine payment. USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance

### 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.

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenRouter | RouterPlus | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 45 | OpenRouter +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 59 | OpenRouter +31 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 71 | OpenRouter +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 62 | RouterPlus +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 84 | 44 | OpenRouter +40 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 38 | OpenRouter +33 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **68.5 · B** | **51.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenRouter | RouterPlus |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model router | Model router |
| Vendor | OpenRouter | RouterPlus |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://openrouter.ai/api/v1` | `https://api.routerplus.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) | 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 | 2026-10-01 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-31 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-31 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 226 stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**OpenRouter.** Public OpenAPI document, llms.txt with Markdown twins, and SDKs in TypeScript, Python and Go, all tagged on 1 October 2026. No machine payment. USDC top-ups go to a prepaid balance.

**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

### OpenRouter

1. Set `provider.data_collection: "deny"` or `provider.zdr: true` when the prompt holds anything private
2. Pass a `models` list so a failed provider falls through to the next one
3. Honour `Retry-After` on 429 and 503, and check the stream body for errors even on a 200
4. Set `max_price` so a routed request can't land on an expensive provider
5. Free models allow 50 requests a day until $10 of credit has been bought. Check `GET /api/v1/key` for what's left

### 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, OpenRouter or RouterPlus?

OpenRouter scores 68.5 (B) on agent readiness against RouterPlus's 51.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Do OpenRouter and RouterPlus need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call OpenRouter and RouterPlus without installing anything?

Yes. OpenRouter has a hosted endpoint at https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 and RouterPlus at https://api.routerplus.com/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with OpenRouter or RouterPlus

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