Short answer
OpenRouter is a router for hundreds of models from many providers, generally billed at each provider's list price plus a fee when you buy credits. APIVAI sells only Claude and GPT models, below list price: as of 2026-10-06, Claude is 58–66% below list and GPT up to 86% below.
If most of your tokens go to Claude or GPT, APIVAI costs less; if you need other model families or automatic fallback across providers, OpenRouter is the better choice.
How much cheaper is APIVAI than OpenRouter?
For Claude and GPT models, OpenRouter's per-token price is generally the provider's list price, so the "official" column below is a close guide to what you would pay there before its credit-purchase fee. Check OpenRouter's pricing page for current terms.
| Model | Official list price (input / output per 1M) | APIVAI (input / output per 1M) | APIVAI below list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $3.00 / $15.00 | $1.04 / $5.22 | 65% |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $4.00 / $20.00 | $1.39 / $6.96 | 65% |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $1.00 / $5.00 | $0.35 / $1.74 | 65% |
| GPT-5.5 | $5.00 / $30.00 | $0.77 / $4.56 | 85% |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.0304 / $0.18 | 85% |
Prices as of 2026-10-06. The full list, including cache-read and cache-write prices for every model, is on the pricing page.
A worked example: 600 coding requests averaging 4,000 input and 1,500 output tokens on Claude Sonnet 4.6 cost $20.70 at list price and $7.19 on APIVAI, before any savings from prompt caching.
Feature comparison
| Feature | OpenRouter | APIVAI |
|---|---|---|
| Models | Hundreds, from many providers, including open-weight models | Claude and GPT families |
| API formats | OpenAI-compatible; check their docs for other formats | Anthropic Messages and OpenAI Chat Completions / Responses |
| Claude Code | Check their docs for current setup | Native Anthropic format, two environment variables |
| Provider routing and fallbacks | Yes, configurable per request | Not applicable: Claude and GPT only |
| Payment methods | Cards and crypto; check their site | Cards, crypto (USDT and more), Alipay, WeChat Pay |
| Rate limits | Depend on model and account; see their docs | 60 requests per minute per key by default, higher on request |
| Billing model | Prepaid credits, fee on credit purchases | Prepaid USD balance, per-token charges, no subscription |
| Data handling | Per-provider data policies you can filter by; see their privacy docs | Request and response content is not stored or inspected; only usage metadata is kept |
When APIVAI is the better choice
- Most of your tokens go to Claude or GPT models and the per-token price matters to you.
- You use Claude Code or the Anthropic SDK. APIVAI serves the native Messages format at
https://api.apivai.com, so Anthropic-format tools talk to it directly. - You want one key for both formats: Claude Code on the Anthropic side, and Cursor, Codex CLI, Cline or the OpenAI SDK on the OpenAI side.
- You want to pay with Alipay or WeChat Pay, with a minimum top-up of ¥20 (or $10 by card or crypto).
- You want a separate budget per key and a dashboard that lists every request with its tokens and cost.
When OpenRouter is the better choice
- You use models beyond Claude and GPT, such as Gemini, Llama, DeepSeek, Mistral or Qwen. APIVAI does not offer them.
- You want automatic fallback to another provider when one is slow or down, or you want to choose providers by price, speed or data policy.
- You are still comparing many models and want to try them all through one integration before settling on one.
- You need more than 60 requests per minute right away without asking support.
Some developers keep both: OpenRouter for experiments with other model families, APIVAI for the Claude and GPT traffic that makes up most of the bill.
How to switch from OpenRouter to APIVAI
- Create an account with your email and a verification code.
- Top up your balance and create an API key on the Dashboard. You can give each key its own budget.
- Change the base URL and the key in your tool.
- Change the model IDs. OpenRouter uses prefixed names like
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6; APIVAI uses plain IDs likeclaude-sonnet-4-6.GET /v1/modelsreturns the full list.
With the OpenAI SDK it is a two-line change:
from openai import OpenAI
# Before: base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://api.apivai.com/v1",
api_key="your-apivai-key",
)
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
model="claude-sonnet-4-6", # was "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6"
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)For Claude Code, use the Anthropic-format base URL, which has no /v1:
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.apivai.com" export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-apivai-key" unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY # it would take priority over the token
A 404 usually means the base URL is wrong: Anthropic-format tools must not have /v1, OpenAI-format tools need it exactly once. Step-by-step instructions for Cursor, Cline and other tools are in the OpenRouter migration guide and the docs.
FAQ
Is APIVAI cheaper than OpenRouter for Claude?
Generally yes. OpenRouter usually charges the list price for Claude plus a fee on credit purchases, while APIVAI is 58–66% below list as of 2026-10-06. Compare current numbers on the pricing page and OpenRouter's pricing.
Does APIVAI have as many models as OpenRouter?
No. APIVAI offers only the Claude and GPT families. If you need open-weight models or other providers, OpenRouter covers far more.
Can I use Claude Code with APIVAI?
Yes. Set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://api.apivai.com and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN to your key, and unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. Switch models inside Claude Code with /model. The Claude Code setup guide covers the details.
Can I keep using OpenRouter and APIVAI at the same time?
Yes. They use different keys and base URLs, so you can point each tool or project at whichever service suits it.
Is there a subscription or monthly minimum?
No. You prepay a USD balance and each request is charged for its input, output and cache tokens. The minimum top-up is $10 by card or crypto, or ¥20 via Alipay or WeChat Pay.
Create an APIVAI account to get a key that works with both Claude Code and OpenAI-format tools.