# Liquid Inference vs OpenRouter

OpenRouter is a hosted router. It sells each model at the list price of the provider and adds a fee when you buy credit. Liquid Inference is an exchange. Providers quote their own prices, and each request starts an auction among the offers that meet your rules.

Both services take the OpenAI and Anthropic formats, so a move changes the base URL, the key and the model names. The facts about OpenRouter come from its own pages, checked on 10 November 2026. The links are in [Sources](#sources).

## Feature by feature

| Feature                           | OpenRouter                                                       | Liquid Inference                                                      |
| --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Price                             | The provider's list price                                        | Each provider quotes its own price                                    |
| Provider choice                   | A weighted random pick by price, speed and uptime                | An auction: the lowest charge plus wait cost wins                     |
| Fee                               | 5.5% on card top-ups, 5% by crypto, 8% on Business               | 5% of the charge, or a floor on cheap models. No top-up fee           |
| Cap for each request              | No. `max_price` filters only the rate for each million tokens    | Yes. `cap_usd`; the provider pays any usage above it                  |
| Spend limits                      | Yes. For each key, member and workspace                          | Yes. For each key, workspace, organization and end user               |
| Preview with no charge            | No                                                               | Yes. The charge and cap of each offer, and why others are out         |
| Record of each request            | Yes. `GET /generation`: provider, cost, tokens and latency       | Yes. A receipt: rates, fee, cap, charge split and the offers left out |
| Credit for a failure after output | No. Only an empty response is free                               | Yes. A full credit                                                    |
| No retention by default           | No. Set `zdr: true` to turn it on                                | Yes. Only offers that keep no prompt compete                          |
| Open to sellers                   | Yes. By application; OpenRouter staff edit the listing           | Yes. By application; sellers post their own offers                    |
| Own cloud keys                    | Yes. Free to $25,000 a month at list price, then 5%              | Partly. Beta. The exchange fee at the list price                      |
| Reserved capacity                 | Partly. An Enterprise add-on for capacity that you buy elsewhere | Partly. Beta. A monthly pool from one provider                        |

## What the exchange does that OpenRouter does not

- **A hard cap for each request.** Send `exchange.cap_usd`, or the `x-liquid-cap-usd` header. An offer whose worst case is higher does not compete. See [Purchasing rules](https://liquidinference.ai/docs/rules.md).
- **A dry run.** See which offers compete and what the request can cost before you buy. See [Move from OpenRouter](https://liquidinference.ai/docs/move-from-openrouter.md#check-a-request-without-a-purchase).
- **A receipt for each job.** Check the charge against the offer rates and the fee rule. See [Receipts](https://liquidinference.ai/docs/receipts.md).
- **A credit after a provider error.** If a provider fails after the first output, you keep the output and pay nothing. See [Receipts](https://liquidinference.ai/docs/receipts.md).
- **Prices from competition.** Each provider quotes its own price for each model, and the auction buys the lowest cost. See [Price and wait](https://liquidinference.ai/docs/price-and-wait.md).

## When OpenRouter is the better choice

- You send most traffic through your own cloud keys. OpenRouter charges no fee on the first $25,000 a month.
- You need a model or a provider that the exchange does not list. OpenRouter lists more than 600 models from more than 80 providers.
- You need EU in-region routing. OpenRouter has it on the Business plan.

## Switch in one line

```diff
 client = OpenAI(
-    base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
+    base_url="https://router.inference.ai.exchange/v1",
     api_key=...,
 )
```

Then change each `model` to a name that `GET /v1/models` lists, and move the `provider` object to `exchange`. [Move from OpenRouter](https://liquidinference.ai/docs/move-from-openrouter.md) has each step and the table of settings.

## Questions

### Does the exchange read the OpenRouter `provider` object?

Yes. It maps `only`, `ignore`, `order`, `max_price`, `data_collection: "deny"`, `zdr: true` and `sort: "price"`. It refuses a setting that it cannot apply exactly, and does not ignore it. See [Purchasing rules](https://liquidinference.ai/docs/rules.md#openrouter-provider).

### Can a request switch provider in the middle of an answer?

No. The exchange can try the next offer only before the first output. After that, it never switches provider. You never get one answer from two providers.

### What changed in OpenRouter's routing on 28 October 2026?

OpenRouter replaced its price-first default with a routing cost for each provider. The routing cost includes price, throughput, latency and reliability. OpenRouter reported 6% higher cost in its own test. To go back to price first, set `provider.sort` to `price`.

### Who owns OpenRouter?

On 19 August 2026, Stripe said that it agreed to acquire OpenRouter. On 10 November 2026, we found no statement that the sale is complete.

## Sources

Checked on 10 November 2026.

- Routing and `max_price`: [Provider selection](https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/routing/provider-selection)
- The routing change on 28 October 2026: [How we rebuilt provider routing](https://openrouter.ai/blog/announcements/how-we-rebuilt-provider-routing/)
- Fees and BYOK: [Pricing](https://openrouter.ai/pricing), [Simplifying our platform fee](https://openrouter.ai/blog/announcements/simplifying-our-platform-fee/)
- Budgets: [Guardrails](https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/features/guardrails), [Workspace budgets](https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/features/workspaces/workspace-budgets)
- Request record: [Get a generation](https://openrouter.ai/docs/api-reference/get-a-generation)
- Charges for empty responses: [Never pay for empty AI responses again](https://openrouter.ai/blog/announcements/never-pay-for-empty-ai-responses-again/)
- Data collection: [Data collection](https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/privacy/data-collection)
- Sellers: [For providers](https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/community/for-providers)
- Plans and capacity: [Enterprise](https://openrouter.ai/enterprise), [Business EU](https://openrouter.ai/business/eu), [Private Endpoints](https://openrouter.ai/blog/announcements/private-endpoints/)
- Ownership: [Stripe newsroom](https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/stripe-agrees-to-acquire-openrouter)