OpenRouter Fee Calculator
OpenRouter has no per-token markup, but credits carry a 5.5% fee and BYOK is only free up to $25,000 a month. Enter your model and daily token volume to see what direct API, OpenRouter credits and BYOK actually cost you each month.
Direct API
$2,250.00 /mo
Provider list price, 30 days.
OpenRouter credits (card)
$2,373.75 /mo
Includes $123.75 in credit purchase fees (5.5%).
OpenRouter BYOK
$2,250.00 /mo
Includes $0.00 in BYOK fees (5% above the $25,000.00 allowance).
Verdict
Credits cost $123.75 a month more than going direct (5.5%). Switching this traffic to BYOK would cut that to $0, the same as going direct.Prices last verified 14 September 2026. Fees from the OpenRouter FAQ. Full worked examples in OpenRouter pricing: is the 5.5% fee worth it?
The math behind the numbers
Every figure comes from four lines. Token volumes are in millions per day; rates are dollars per million tokens.
direct = (in_tokens × in_rate + out_tokens × out_rate) × 30 credits = direct × 1.055 (card) or direct × 1.05 (crypto) byok_fee = max(0, direct − allowance) × 0.05 allowance = $25,000 or $200,000 byok = direct + byok_fee
For the reasoning behind when each route wins, and how OpenRouter's provider routing can move your bill, read the full OpenRouter pricing breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
How is the OpenRouter credits cost calculated?
OpenRouter charges no markup on per-token prices. The fee is applied when you buy credits: 5.5% by card ($0.80 minimum per purchase) or 5% by crypto. To get the same purchasing power as a direct API bill, you pay that bill plus the fee.
How does the BYOK fee work?
With your own provider keys, the first $25,000 of list-price inference per month carries no OpenRouter fee ($200,000 on Enterprise). Past that, OpenRouter charges 5% of what the excess would have cost on OpenRouter, deducted from your credits.
Why does DeepSeek have two prices?
DeepSeek charges double during weekday peak hours. Its off-peak discount applies when you call DeepSeek directly. OpenRouter may route DeepSeek requests to third-party hosts that set their own prices and don't follow that discount, so pin the provider if the off-peak rate matters.
What does this calculator leave out?
Prompt caching discounts, batch pricing and the $0.80 minimum fee on small card purchases. It also assumes a 30-day month and that every request lands on the first-party provider at list price.
Skip the markup question entirely
BetterClaw is BYOK with zero inference markup across 28+ model providers. Connect an OpenRouter key, direct provider keys, or both. You pay providers directly, at any volume.
Free plan available · Pro $49/mo · BYOK · 7-day money-back guarantee