OpenRouter reworks BYOK free tier from request counts to a dollar cap
OpenRouter's bring-your-own-key free allotment shifts from 1M requests/month (5M Enterprise) to $25,000/month of list-price inference ($200,000 Enterprise), keeping the 5% fee after.
BYOK free: 1M requests/month on Pay-as-you-go, 5M on Enterprise, then 5% fee
BYOK free: $25,000/month of list-price inference on Pay-as-you-go, $200,000 on Enterprise, then 5% fee
Proof of change
OpenRouter's pricing pages, as we captured them on two dates.
Showing the whole page as captured — scroll either panel, or open it at full size.
Show 4 other pages we compared
Showing the whole page as captured — scroll either panel, or open it at full size.
Showing the whole page as captured — scroll either panel, or open it at full size.
Showing the whole page as captured — scroll either panel, or open it at full size.
Showing the whole page as captured — scroll either panel, or open it at full size.
Both images are our own captures, taken on the dates shown. The pixels are unmodified — nothing is retouched, and where a region is highlighted the marker is drawn over the image, not into it. Open either capture to see it at full resolution.
OpenRouter restructured how its bring-your-own-key (BYOK) free allotment is measured. Previously the pricing page granted a request count — 1M free BYOK requests per month on Pay-as-you-go and 5M on Enterprise — before charging a 5% fee on what the same model would otherwise cost through OpenRouter.
The Pricing page now measures that free allotment in dollars of list-price inference instead: $25,000/month with no fees on Pay-as-you-go and $200,000/month on Enterprise, both charging the same 5% fee after. Tying the free BYOK ceiling to inference value rather than raw request volume better matches OpenRouter’s take-rate economics — a single expensive request and a cheap one no longer count the same. The pricing page’s advertised provider count also ticked up from 60+ to 70+. The core 5.5% credit-purchase fee (minimum $0.80; 5.0% flat for crypto) is unchanged.
OpenRouter restructures the bring-your-own-key free tier from a request count (1M free reqs/month on Pay-as-you-go, 5M on Enterprise) to a dollar value of list-price inference: $25,000/month free on Pay-as-you-go and $200,000/month on Enterprise, both charging the same 5% fee after. The pricing page's provider count also ticks from 60+ to 70+.