OpenRouter vs Groq Pricing Comparison
Compare OpenRouter routing prices with Groq API prices for chat, code, reasoning, and high-throughput workloads. Use the live rows below to estimate monthly token cost, then verify final production billing against the official provider pages.
Quick answer · Pricing data refreshed 2026-03-13 12:45:29
OpenRouter and Groq solve different pricing problems.
OpenRouter is useful when you want one routing layer across many model providers and need to compare prices model by model. Groq is usually evaluated for high-speed inference on its supported model set. The cheaper option depends on the exact model row, output length, request volume, latency requirement, and whether routing flexibility is worth a small pricing difference.
OpenRouter vs Groq cost estimator
Select one OpenRouter row and one Groq row, then enter your token mix. The calculator estimates model token cost only; it does not include taxes, enterprise commitments, free-credit expiration, or provider-specific non-token fees.
How the estimate works
The formula is the same for both providers:
monthly cost = requests x (input tokens x input price + output tokens x output price) / 1,000,000
- Use OpenRouter when model routing, fallback, or one API for many providers matters.
- Use Groq when the supported model set and speed profile fit your production workload.
- Compare output price carefully for agents, code, summaries, and report generation.
- Confirm live provider terms before launch because official pricing can change.
OpenRouter vs Groq pricing comparison table
Use this matrix to decide whether the comparison belongs in a procurement review, a routing experiment, or a speed test.
| Decision point | OpenRouter | Groq | What to test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing surface | Many model rows across routed providers | Groq-hosted rows for supported models | Compare the exact model row, not only the provider name. |
| Lowest tracked blended row | GTE-Base at $0.0050 | gpt-oss-safeguard-20b at $0.38 | Run your real input/output mix in the calculator above. |
| Best fit | Fallback routing, model choice, unified API experiments | Latency-sensitive inference on the supported Groq model set | Measure p95 latency and answer quality alongside cost. |
| Common risk | Route-specific terms, provider differences, pass-through caveats | Model availability and fit for specialized workloads | Keep a fallback model and re-check official pricing before launch. |
Live OpenRouter and Groq token price rows
Rows are normalized to USD per 1M input and output tokens where the local pricing database has values.
OpenRouter pricing rows
| Model | Brand/provider | Input | Output | Blended | Context | Capability fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
GTE-Base
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
E5-Base-v2
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
paraphrase-MiniLM-L6-v2
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
all-MiniLM-L12-v2
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
bge-base-en-v1.5
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
multi-qa-mpnet-base-dot-v1
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
all-mpnet-base-v2
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
all-MiniLM-L6-v2
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.0050 | Free | $0.0050 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
Qwen3 Embedding 8B
chat,tool_use,code
|
Alibaba Qwen
DeepInfra
|
$0.01 | Free | $0.01 | 32k | Code and developer agents |
|
Qwen3 Embedding 8B
chat,tool_use,code
|
Alibaba Qwen
Nebius
|
$0.01 | Free | $0.01 | 32k | Code and developer agents |
|
bge-m3
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.01 | Free | $0.01 | 8k | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
GTE-Large
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.01 | Free | $0.01 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
E5-Large-v2
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.01 | Free | $0.01 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
Multilingual-E5-Large
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.01 | Free | $0.01 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
bge-large-en-v1.5
chat,tool_use
|
Other
DeepInfra
|
$0.01 | Free | $0.01 | 512 | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
Qwen3 Embedding 4B
chat,tool_use,code
|
Alibaba Qwen
DeepInfra
|
$0.02 | Free | $0.02 | 33k | Code and developer agents |
|
Text Embedding 3 Small
chat,tool_use
|
OpenAI
OpenAI
|
$0.02 | Free | $0.02 | 8k | Chat, extraction, and classification |
|
LiquidAI/LFM2-8B-A1B
chat,tool_use
|
Other
Liquid
|
$0.01 | $0.02 | $0.03 | 33k | Chat, extraction, and classification |
Groq pricing rows
| Model | Brand/provider | Input | Output | Blended | Context | Capability fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
gpt-oss-safeguard-20b
chat,reasoning,tool_use
|
OpenAI
Groq
|
$0.07 | $0.30 | $0.38 | 131k | Reasoning and multi-step tasks |
How to use this OpenRouter vs Groq pricing comparison
- Pick the OpenRouter and Groq rows that match the model family you would actually deploy.
- Enter realistic input tokens, output tokens, and monthly requests from logs or a small benchmark.
- Compare monthly token cost and cost per 1,000 requests.
- Run a latency and quality test before switching, especially for agent, code, or reasoning workflows.
- Verify production pricing against the official provider pages before purchase or migration.
When each provider is a better fit
The cheapest row is not always the best production choice. Fit the provider to the workload before optimizing price.
High-throughput chat
Groq can be attractive when the supported model set is enough and response speed is a primary requirement. Compare cost with p95 latency, not just token price.
Multi-model routing
OpenRouter is useful when you need one API surface for several model families, fallback routes, or fast model experiments across providers.
Code and agent output
Output tokens dominate cost for code generation and agent traces. Use the calculator with your real output length before choosing a route.
Procurement shortlist
If a buyer asks whether OpenRouter or Groq is cheaper, answer with a model-specific table, a monthly workload estimate, and official pricing verification.
Limits of this comparison
This page compares token pricing rows available in the AI Pricing Hub database. It does not guarantee the cheapest production bill because final cost can change with free credits, account terms, region, rate limits, minimum commitments, retries, prompt caching, batch jobs, and non-token features.
Official pages remain the source of truth for production decisions: OpenRouter pricing, OpenRouter model catalog, Groq pricing, and Groq model docs.
For an apples-to-apples benchmark, measure cost, latency, success rate, retry rate, structured-output validity, context length, and model availability on the same task set.
Related AI pricing tools
Use these pages when your comparison moves beyond OpenRouter and Groq.
Low-cost alternatives to test
| Model | Provider | Input | Output | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTE-Base | Other | $0.0050 | Free | 512 |
| E5-Base-v2 | Other | $0.0050 | Free | 512 |
| paraphrase-MiniLM-L6-v2 | Other | $0.0050 | Free | 512 |
| all-MiniLM-L12-v2 | Other | $0.0050 | Free | 512 |
| bge-base-en-v1.5 | Other | $0.0050 | Free | 512 |
| multi-qa-mpnet-base-dot-v1 | Other | $0.0050 | Free | 512 |
OpenRouter vs Groq pricing FAQ
Sometimes, but only for specific model rows and token mixes. OpenRouter exposes many routed model prices, while Groq pricing applies to the models Groq serves directly. Use the calculator with your real input, output, and request volume.
It depends on the exact Llama variant, input/output ratio, and available row. Groq may be attractive for speed-sensitive Llama workloads, while OpenRouter may be useful when you need routing flexibility or fallback providers.
No. The calculator estimates token cost only. For production, benchmark p50 and p95 latency, success rate, rate limits, and answer quality on the same prompts.
Check retries, fallback calls, prompt caching, batch discounts, rate-limit workarounds, account minimums, non-token features, and human review cost. These can matter more than small token-price differences.
Yes. Use the general calculator, model comparison tool, and cheapest LLM API guide linked above to compare OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Groq, OpenRouter, and other provider rows.