Same models, lower fees, every enterprise feature included.
OpenRouter is the high-scale marketplace “unified interface for LLMs” — it raised a $113M Series B in May 2026. nRouter is the drop-in, OpenAI-compatible control plane that adds what a marketplace doesn't: a flat 4% fee on credits (no minimum) and monthly plans with usage allowances, with guardrails, RBAC, SSO, audit logs, and hard budgets on every plan. Every claim below about OpenRouter cites its public docs and is dated.
What you get on day one
- Platform fee on credits
- 4%
- Monthly plans
- Starter · Pro · Max
- Migrate in
- < 5 min
- Uptime SLA
- 99.9%
Flat 4% on top-ups, no minimum fee
Usage allowance for nrouter/auto — see /pricing
Same OpenAI-compatible base URL + one key
Contractual — see /legal/sla
The capability matrix
Both APIs are OpenAI-compatible. The difference is what ships included on day one, and what stays free as you scale. Every marker is sourced below.
Comparison · sources verified September 2026
| Capability | nRouter | OpenRouter |
|---|---|---|
| Platform feeMarkup added on top of provider cost | Flat 4 %Flat 4 %5 | ~5.5 % published~5.5 % published1 |
| Model token pricing markupPer-token markup on provider list price (Rule #28) | 0 % markup (list price)0 % markup (list price)5 | List price + 5.5% purchase fee ($0.80 min)List price + 5.5% purchase fee ($0.80 min)1 |
| Pricing modelHow the gateway is priced | Credit + platform fee (flat 4% platform fee across plans)Credit + platform fee (flat 4% platform fee across plans)5 | Credit + purchase feeCredit + purchase fee1 |
| Models live todayCounts come from the live router, never hardcoded | 169+169+6 | 500+500+7 |
| OpenAI-compatible APIDrop-in base URL for existing clients | Included | Included |
| Provider keys managed for youWho holds the OpenAI / Anthropic / Google credentials | Included | Included |
| Built-in guardrailsPreflight PII redaction, prompt-injection detection, content filter ($0 held and $0 spent on blocked requests) | Included | Not available3 |
| Role-based team managementDual-axis RBAC: Owner, Org Admin, Team Admin, Member, Viewer | Included | Not available2 |
| Per-team & per-key budgetsHard spend caps enforced before the request leaves | Included | Not available2 |
| SSO / SAML | Included5 | Not available2 |
| Audit logsImmutable record of privileged and key actions | Included | Not available2 |
| Prompt managementVersioned templates with A/B variants | Included | Not available3 |
| Activity / request logs | Included | Included3 |
| Cost trackingPer-key, per-team, real time | Per-key, real timePer-key, real time5 | Per-key usagePer-key usage3 |
| Contractual uptime SLA | 99.9 %99.9 %5 | Not publishedNot published4 |
| Air-gapped zero-DB sidecar (Rule #33)Stateless mTLS sidecar with zero database access and zero external egress | Included | Not available |
| FinOps FOCUS 1.4 tokenomicsStandardized cost attribution and 3-way billing reconciliation | Included | Not available |
Sources & methodology
Competitor rows reflect each vendor's publicly documented plans and docs as last checked in September 2026; each cell links the specific source. Where a competitor's pricing or plan structure is not public, the cell describes the structure rather than quoting a figure — we never invent competitor pricing. Found something out of date? Email sales@nrouter.ai and we'll correct it.
- OpenRouter publishes a 5.5% fee (5% for crypto) plus a $0.80 minimum on every credit-card purchase; inference is billed at provider list price with that platform fee layered on top. Because of the floor, a $5 test top-up effectively pays ~16%, while a $100 top-up pays the true 5.5%. The figures are OpenRouter’s own published rates, not estimated by us. OpenRouter pay-as-you-go · OpenRouter pricing page · verified September 2026
- OpenRouter’s current pricing page lists admin controls, budgets, and other governance features by plan: Standard excludes budgets and admin controls, while Business and Enterprise include them; SSO/SAML is listed for Enterprise. This comparison therefore treats governance as plan-dependent rather than absent. OpenRouter Standard / Business / Enterprise · OpenRouter pricing page · verified September 2026
- OpenRouter documents activity logs, usage analytics, and other platform controls. Its public materials do not establish that those controls are equivalent to nRouter’s inline PII redaction and prompt-injection checks, so this comparison does not claim feature parity. OpenRouter (all accounts) · OpenRouter docs · verified September 2026
- OpenRouter publishes per-model availability and routing behavior but does not publish a contractual uptime SLA percentage on its site. OpenRouter (all accounts) · OpenRouter site · verified September 2026
- nRouter platform fee is charged on top of provider cost, never deducted from purchased credits. Flat 4 % on credit top-ups with no minimum fee. nRouter pricing · nRouter pricing page · verified September 2026
- 169 models are live today across Alibaba US (Qwen, DeepSeek — our largest catalog), OpenAI (GPT, o-series), Azure Foundry, Google Vertex AI (Gemini), and Anthropic (Claude) live today. The count comes from nRouter’s live model catalog, not a hardcoded total. nRouter model catalog · nRouter /models · verified September 2026
- OpenRouter’s current pricing page lists 500+ models and 80+ providers on its Standard, Business, and Enterprise plans. OpenRouter Standard / Business / Enterprise · OpenRouter pricing page · verified September 2026
A platform fee with zero minimums
Do the math on a $100 credit top-up: OpenRouter's published 5.5% card fee is $5.50(with a $0.80 minimum that makes a small $5 top-up cost ~16%); nRouter's flat 4% fee on credits is $4.00 on the same top-up, with no minimum fee and models at list price. The fee is always on top of provider cost, never carved out of your credits.
- Monthly plans (Starter, Pro, Max): usage allowance for nrouter/auto, 4% on top-ups
- Pay-as-you-go: flat 4% on top-ups, no minimum fee, models at list price
- OpenRouter: 5.5% published fee (5% crypto) + $0.80 minimum per purchase
Monthly plans (Starter, Pro, Max)
4% on top-ups
Monthly plans with a usage allowance for nrouter/auto — see /pricing
Pay as you go
4%
Pay-as-you-go — flat 4%, no minimum fee, models at list price
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about switching from OpenRouter to nRouter.
Is nRouter cheaper than OpenRouter?
Both charge a platform fee on top of provider cost. nRouter keeps it simple: Pay-as-you-go carries a platform fee of 4% of your credits (added on top, so you receive every credit you buy) with no minimum fee. The Pro and Max monthly plans add a usage allowance for nrouter/auto, and credit top-ups on every plan carry the same fee on top. OpenRouter also adds a minimum fee that pushes small top-ups toward ~16%. On steady production volume the 4% platform fee on credits, added on top is the lowest total cost. We do not invent OpenRouter's figure. See the sourced footnotes under the comparison table.
Can I switch from OpenRouter to nRouter?
Yes. nRouter exposes the same OpenAI-compatible API. Change your base URL and API key. Your existing code works without modification. Most teams migrate in under five minutes.
Does nRouter support all the same models as OpenRouter?
Not yet, and we will not pretend otherwise. nRouter serves 169 models live today across Alibaba US, OpenAI, Azure Foundry, Google Vertex AI & Anthropic (Alibaba US (Qwen, DeepSeek — our largest catalog), OpenAI (GPT, o-series), Azure Foundry, Google Vertex AI (Gemini), and Anthropic (Claude) live today). OpenRouter has a broader catalog today. If you need a specific model that is on our roadmap, contact sales@nrouter.ai.
What does nRouter have that OpenRouter doesn't?
Built-in guardrails (content filtering, prompt-injection detection), role-based team management, per-team budget caps, prompt management with A/B tests, SSO/SAML, audit logs, and a contractual uptime SLA. All on every tier. Each competitor gap in the comparison table cites OpenRouter's public docs.
Is OpenRouter a good fit for autonomous agents?
OpenRouter is a token marketplace. On it, an agent is a buyer of inference. Its public docs cover routing and per-key activity logs, but not request-path budget enforcement (a hard 402 that stops a runaway reasoning loop before the spend) or inline PII redaction and prompt-injection defense. nRouter runs those checks in the request path on every call, so a per-agent budget and guardrail is one field, not a bolt-on. Each gap in the comparison table above cites OpenRouter's public docs.
Are all nRouter features really included on every tier?
Every product feature — guardrails, prompt management, A/B tests, evals, observability, RBAC, SSO/SAML, audit logs, per-team budgets, and priority support — ships on every tier. Tiers differ primarily on the RPM/TPM throughput guarantee (with a flat 4 % platform fee on credit top-ups across plans and no minimum fee). Nothing else is gated.
How current is this comparison?
Every competitor row links the specific OpenRouter page it is drawn from and a last-verified month (currently September 2026). Where OpenRouter's pricing or plan structure is not public, the cell describes the structure instead of quoting a figure. We never invent competitor pricing.
Drop-in · 5-minute migration
Why sign five contracts when one key runs them all?
nRouter replaces separate provider contracts, invoices, and rate limits: one OpenAI-compatible key for 169+ models, on a single bill. Less procurement, more shipping.
Already have an account? sales@nrouter.ai for assisted migration.99.9% SLA