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OpenRouter vs Requesty (2026): Fees, BYOK and Free Tier Compared

By Hisham · Published · Facts as of Oct 30, 2026, each linked to its source.

OpenRouter and Requesty are both hosted LLM routers with an OpenAI-compatible API and 600+ models. The differences are in how fees work, what BYOK costs, the free tier, and how much spend control and governance comes built in.

Each row below links the page it came from, checked on the date shown.

OpenRouter vs Requesty at a glance

As of Oct 30, 2026OpenRouterRequesty
What it isA model marketplace and router: one account and one API for 600+ models from 80+ providers. [source]An AI gateway (LLM router) for 600+ models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, with spend limits, governance and request tracing. [source]
APIOpenAI-compatible: change the base URL and model names to migrate. [source]OpenAI-compatible base URL https://router.requesty.ai/v1; works with the OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs and coding agents such as Claude Code. [source]
Fees5.5% on credit purchases (Standard) or 8% (Business), charged when you buy credits, never per request. [source]5% on top of model cost on pay as you go, or 0% with your own provider keys. No seat fees or minimum spend. [source]
Bring your own keysBYOK on Standard and Business: $25,000 of list-price inference per month with no fee, then 5%. Not on the Free plan. [source]BYOK for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI Studio, Vertex AI, Mistral AI and xAI; at most one key per provider. [source]
Free tierFree plan: 25+ free models from 4 free providers, 50 requests/day. [source]Free plan: free models only, 200 requests/day, no credit card. [source]
RoutingProvider routing with automatic fallback to other providers for the same model, optional fallback models, and an auto router (openrouter/auto) that adds no fee. [source]Routing policies (failover chains, weighted load balancing, latency routing) called as model="policy/name". [source]
RegionsEU and US in-region routing on Business and Enterprise (eu.openrouter.ai, us.openrouter.ai). [source]Regional gateways, including an EU endpoint in Frankfurt (router.eu.requesty.ai) that an admin can make mandatory. [source]
GovernanceEnterprise plan with SSO (SAML), contractual SLAs, invoicing and dedicated support. [source]Spend limits per key, user, team and organization; PII guardrails; an MCP gateway on pay as you go; SSO and RBAC on Enterprise. [source]

When to pick OpenRouter

  • You want the broadest marketplace (80+ providers), paid through one prepaid balance.
  • Your BYOK usage stays within the $25,000 of list-price inference per month that OpenRouter includes with no fee.
  • You want a higher free daily allowance on free models: 1,000 requests/day once you have bought at least $10 of credits.

When to pick Requesty

  • You want 0% fees on your own provider keys at any volume.
  • You need spend limits per key, user, team and organization, PII guardrails or an MCP gateway from the router itself.
  • You need an EU gateway that an admin can make mandatory for the whole organization.

Where SentioGate fits

SentioGate is a third option when you mainly want your own keys behind one endpoint: 0% token markup on BYOK with flat plans, failover across your keys and models, an Anthropic Messages endpoint for Claude Code, and a free community pool to try it. It has fewer governance features than Requesty and a smaller model reach than OpenRouter.

See SentioGate vs OpenRouter for the details, or the free community pool to try it without keys.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, OpenRouter or Requesty?

For pay-as-you-go credits: OpenRouter adds 5.5% (Standard) or 8% (Business) on credit purchases; Requesty adds 5% on top of model cost. For BYOK: OpenRouter is fee-free up to $25,000 of list-price inference per month, then 5%; Requesty charges 0% with your own keys.

Which has a better free tier?

OpenRouter's free plan gives 25+ free models at 50 requests/day (1,000/day after buying at least $10 of credits). Requesty's free plan gives its free models at 200 requests/day with no credit card.

Do both support bring your own key?

Yes. OpenRouter supports BYOK on Standard and Business plans. Requesty supports BYOK for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI Studio, Vertex AI, Mistral AI and xAI, with at most one key per provider.

Can I keep requests in the EU?

Both offer EU routing. OpenRouter includes EU in-region routing (eu.openrouter.ai) on Business and Enterprise. Requesty has an EU gateway in Frankfurt (router.eu.requesty.ai) that an admin can make mandatory.

Sources

Checked on Oct 30, 2026. Prices and limits change; the linked pages are authoritative.