# Cortecs

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Cortecs and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** EU-hosted alternative to OpenRouter for accessing AI models, favored for privacy. Critics say it is often pricier and has high latency.

## Why people recommend it

- Europe-based alternative to OpenRouter (4 comments): "Cortecs (Austria) is quite good and offers a couple of recent models through its EU-based providers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48212220)) "Pretty much the same as OpenRouter but build in Europe." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49370824)) "cortecs.ai is the EU openrouter alternative." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47914190))
- Viable alternative, worth trying (3 comments): "lurus.ai and cortecs.ai are worth a try too" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49046507)) "it does seem a viable alternative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49371832)) "Awesome will check this out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49372057))

## What people warn about

- Often more expensive than alternatives (3 comments): "DS4 on Cortecs is the opposite of cheap" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48242598)) "Only EU providers, seemingly huge latency, >2x pricing is just in no way an alternative." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49372706)) "They seem to be about twice as expensive on a few openweight models I've checked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49372233))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [OpenRouter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openrouter.md): 666 recommend
- [OpenCode Zen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/opencode-zen.md): 36 recommend
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-ai-gateway.md): 9 recommend
- [Eden AI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/eden-ai.md): 9 recommend
- [TrustedRouter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/trustedrouter.md): 8 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://cortecs.ai/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Cortecs", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cortecs-ai/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).