API Key Setup6 min readPublished: 2026-07-29Updated: 2026-07-29

How to Get an OpenRouter API Key (2026 Step-by-Step Guide)

OpenRouter is an AI API aggregator — one key gives you access to OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and hundreds of other models. Here's how to get started.

What is OpenRouter?

OpenRouter is an AI API aggregator that provides a unified interface to hundreds of models from different providers. Instead of managing separate API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and DeepSeek, you use one OpenRouter key to access them all.

This simplifies billing, model switching, and fallback strategies. If one provider goes down, you can reroute to another with a one-line code change. OpenRouter also normalizes pricing into a consistent format, making cost comparison easier.

Step 1: Create an OpenRouter Account

Go to openrouter.ai and sign up. OpenRouter supports Google and GitHub login for quick onboarding. The registration process takes less than a minute.

After registering, you'll land on the dashboard where you can manage keys, credits, and view usage analytics.

Step 2: Generate Your API Key

In the dashboard, navigate to the 'Keys' section. Click 'Create Key', give it a name (e.g., 'production' or 'dev'), and copy the generated key. Like most providers, the full key is only shown once.

OpenRouter lets you create multiple keys with different credit limits — useful for separating production and development environments.

Step 3: Add Credits

OpenRouter uses a prepaid credits model. Add credits via credit card or crypto. Some models are free (marked in the model list), so you can start experimenting even without payment.

Credits are shared across all models — you don't need separate balances for OpenAI vs Claude. The dashboard shows real-time usage breakdown by model.

Step 4: Call Multiple Models with One Key

OpenRouter's API is OpenAI-compatible. To switch models, just change the model name in your request. Here's an example calling three different providers with the same key:

python

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="your-openrouter-api-key",
    base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
)

# Call OpenAI GPT-4o
r1 = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="openai/gpt-4o",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

# Call Anthropic Claude
r2 = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

# Call Google Gemini
r3 = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="google/gemini-2.0-flash",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

print(r1.choices[0].message.content)
print(r2.choices[0].message.content)
print(r3.choices[0].message.content)

Calling OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini models through OpenRouter with a single API key

OpenRouter Pricing

OpenRouter passes through provider pricing with a small markup. The markup is transparent — shown on each model's page. For high-volume users, the convenience of a single billing system often outweighs the small premium.

Free models are available with rate limits. Paid models are billed per-token, consistent with each provider's original pricing. Check the model list page for real-time pricing.

FAQ

Is OpenRouter API free?

OpenRouter itself is free to sign up. Some models on the platform are free (rate-limited), while paid models are billed per token. You only pay for what you use.

Can I use OpenAI SDK with OpenRouter?

Yes. OpenRouter is OpenAI-compatible. Set the base URL to https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 and use your OpenRouter API key. The same code works — just change the model name to include the provider prefix (e.g., 'openai/gpt-4o').

Which models can I access through OpenRouter?

Hundreds of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, DeepSeek, Mistral, and more. The full list is on the OpenRouter models page, including free and paid options with real-time pricing.

Does OpenRouter support streaming and function calling?

Yes. OpenRouter supports streaming responses, function calling, and other features where the underlying provider supports them. Feature availability depends on the specific model you choose.