# Beam 1.0 vs RouterPlus

> Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) to RouterPlus's 51.2 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- 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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against RouterPlus's 51.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. RouterPlus leads on reliability, security & auth and payments & pricing. Both do llm inference.

- Beam 1.0: grade D, 53.4/100, rank #786 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/reflection-beam.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/reflection-beam.json
- RouterPlus: grade D, 51.2/100, rank #851 of 1133. 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 326 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Beam 1.0 (D)

Good for: An OpenAI-compatible endpoint for a large open-weight coding and agent model, for builders who want the same model hosted or self-hosted under Apache-2.0.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 59
- Maintenance & community, 50 against 44
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 38

Watch for: The API is a public beta with no SLA, and per-organisation rate limits and the daily allocation are not published as numbers

### 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 40
- Security & auth, 62 against 46
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Beam 1.0 | RouterPlus | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 45 | RouterPlus +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 59 | Beam 1.0 +25 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 71 | RouterPlus +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 46 | 62 | RouterPlus +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | RouterPlus +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 44 | Beam 1.0 +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 38 | Beam 1.0 +30 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **53.4 · D** | **51.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Beam 1.0 | RouterPlus |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model router |
| Vendor | Reflection | RouterPlus |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1` | `https://api.routerplus.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Weights under Apache-2.0. The hosted Reflection API is a closed service under Reflection AI, Inc.'s commercial terms of service | 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 | 2026-10-16 | none |
| Terms last updated |  | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | none |

## Verdicts

**Beam 1.0.** The Reflection API is OpenAI-compatible, with an OpenAPI document, strict structured outputs and tool calls, and error codes that say when to retry, and the weights are Apache-2.0. It is a free public beta with unpublished daily limits and no per-token price, reasoning can't be turned off, and three API incidents were posted between 14 and 16 October 2026.

**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

### Beam 1.0

1. Send `reasoning_effort` `low` or `medium` for short tasks. The default is `max`, and `none` or `minimal` return `400 unsupported_value`
2. Return every assistant message with its `reasoning_content` unchanged. If a turn comes back without it, start a new conversation, since later requests fail with `missing_required_parameter`
3. Don't rely on `stop` or `seed`. Both are accepted and ignored, so truncate output in your own code
4. Honour `x-should-retry: false` on a 429. It means a daily limit is spent and `Retry-After` counts to 00:00 UTC
5. Set `max_completion_tokens` yourself on long prompts. The default budget isn't reduced to fit the prompt and includes reasoning tokens

### 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, Beam 1.0 or RouterPlus?

Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against RouterPlus's 51.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. RouterPlus leads on reliability, security & auth and payments & pricing.

### Do Beam 1.0 and RouterPlus need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Beam 1.0 and RouterPlus without installing anything?

Yes. Beam 1.0 has a hosted endpoint at https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1 and RouterPlus at https://api.routerplus.com/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Beam 1.0 or RouterPlus

- [Claude API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Claude API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Antseed vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-routerplus.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [DeepInfra vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-routerplus.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Glimpse vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Glimpse vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [GroqCloud vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [GroqCloud vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Jais 3 vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Jais 3 vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Meta Model API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Meta Model API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Muse Spark Open vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Muse Spark Open vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Novita AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Novita AI vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-routerplus.md)
- [OpenAI API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [OpenAI API vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-routerplus.md)
- [OpenRouter vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [OpenRouter vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Prism Inference vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Prism Inference vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.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)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Antseed vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-routerplus.md)
- [RouterPlus vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)

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