OpenRouter

OpenRouter — The Unified Interface For LLMs is a multiprovider AI access platform that lets you reach major language models through a single, unified API. It emphasizes low latency, high availability, cost efficiency, and fine-grained data policies, enabling developers to route requests across multiple providers without vendor lock-in. The platform showcases a broad ecosystem of models, real-time routing visuals, and tooling to manage access, keys, and credits from a centralized place.

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How OpenRouter Works

1. Sign up and set up: Create an account, optionally configure an organization for team use.
2. Get credits and API key: Purchase credits and generate an OPENROUTER_API_KEY to authenticate requests.
3. Unified access: Use a single API surface that can route requests to various providers (OpenAI, Claude, etc.) via one SDK or endpoint.
4. Routing & availability: The system automatically routes around outages and balances latency and cost by choosing the optimal provider per request.
5. Policies & data control: Apply fine-grained data policies to ensure prompts/outputs go only to trusted models/providers.

OpenRouter supports OpenAI-compatible endpoints, making integration straightforward for developers familiar with OpenAI's API, while expanding access to additional providers and models.

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Core Capabilities

• Access a wide range of models from multiple providers through a single API
• Real-time model routing visualization and performance data
• High availability with automatic failover to maintain uptime
• Edge-based deployment to minimize latency (~30ms added per user)
• Simple credits-based pricing system
• Fine-grained data policies to control data flow to providers
• Easy integration with OpenAI SDKs and compatibility with existing codebases

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How to Use OpenRouter

1. Create an account and, if needed, an organization for your team.
2. Purchase credits and generate your API key (OPENROUTER_API_KEY).
3. Choose a provider/model or rely on automatic routing for each request.
4. Integrate using the OpenRouter API/SDK as you would with OpenAI, but with access to multiple models.
5. Monitor performance with routing visualizations and adjust policies as needed.

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Data Policies and Safety

• Custom Data Policies: Define which providers can handle your prompts and data.
• Privacy-forward: Route data only to trusted models; configurable to align with compliance needs.
• Usage guidelines should follow best practices and provider terms to avoid misuse.

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Use Cases

• Multimodel experimentation and A/B testing across different providers
• Global teams requiring reliable access without vendor lock-in
• Cost-optimized routing by selecting providers with favorable latency/cost profiles
• Compliance-heavy applications needing strict data routing controls

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Related Tools & Ecosystem

• OpenRouter integrates with major model hosts and offers a unified interface compatible with existing OpenAI workflows
• Leadership in routing, availability, and data governance for enterprise-scale AI deployments

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Feature Highlights

• Unified access to major AI models through a single API
• Auto-routing and high-availability to minimize downtime
• Edge latency optimization (~30ms extra per request)
• OpenAI-compatible API with extended provider support
• Credits-based pricing and centralized API key management
• Fine-grained data policies for prompt and data routing control
• Developer-friendly SDKs and tooling for quick integration