The best llm routers, according to hackers
12 llm routers recommended in Hacker News comments over the past year, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one.
- Most recommendedOpenRouter666 people recommend it
- Built to lastEden AIowners report a median of 2.5 years
- Least regretOpenCode Zen36 recommend, 16 criticize
All llm routers
- OpenRouterOne API and credit balance for nearly every AI model, making it easy to switch models, pick cheap providers and cap spending; critics flag quantized providers and broken caching.666recommend
- OpenCode ZenRecommended for cheap pay-as-you-go access to many AI models and a free tier. Critics doubt its data handling and don't know who its providers are.36recommend
- CortecsEU-hosted alternative to OpenRouter for accessing AI models, favored for privacy. Critics say it is often pricier and has high latency.9recommend
- Amazon API GatewayUsed to connect HTTP endpoints to Lambda and S3 with few moving parts; critics find it convoluted to configure and limited on timeouts and payload size.9recommend
- Cloudflare AI GatewayPeople recommend it for quick, plug-and-play setup as a proxy for LLM API calls. Critics say it has fewer features than alternatives like OpenRouter and some model-handling problems.9recommend
- Eden AIRecommended as an EU alternative to OpenRouter with pay-as-you-go pricing and failover between providers. Critics note it mostly proxies US and Chinese models with a 5.5% fee.9recommend
- TrustedRouterHosted, open-source OpenRouter alternative that promises end-to-end encryption and confidential compute, so prompts stay private. Critics say its privacy claims are unproven and the site looks unfinished.8recommend
- OpenRouter FusionRecommended for combining several models into one answer, with a cost-versus-performance graph. The most common caveat is high latency and cost.7recommend
- KalibrRecommended for autonomous routing and observability of AI agent calls, with routing decisions visible in a dashboard rather than hidden inside an LLM.7recommend
- EUrouterRoutes requests to current AI models while keeping data inside the EU, which people recommend for GDPR compliance. Critics say the 15% markup and minimum payment are steep.6recommend
- TokenlessAutomatically switches each LLM request to a cheaper or stronger model to cut spend. Critics doubt answer quality and say switching providers can lose cache benefits.6recommend
- TregGives access to many data sources through one subscription, and is open-source with many free tools supported. Caveat: one commenter says provider terms may not legally allow this use.5recommend