OpenRouter vs Groq: routing and API costs

Groq direct avoids OpenRouter Standard’s 5.5% credit-purchase fee; for GPT-OSS 120B, however, the funded NEAR AI route example is $0.00047475 versus Groq’s $0.0021.¹⁴⁶

Updated 2026-10-29 · 6 sources · Methodology

Dimension	Winner	Margin	Evidence
Funded request cost	OpenRouter · NEAR AI route	4.42×	OpenRouter Standard $0.00047475 / Groq $0.0021⁶⁴
OpenRouter credit-purchase fee	Groq direct	5.5 pp	OpenRouter Standard 5.5% / Groq 0%⁶⁴
Cross-provider fallback	OpenRouter	Router-managed	OpenRouter selects among eligible providers; the direct API targets one service.²

Response delivery and routing controls

Provider	Serving path and request control
OpenRouter · NEAR AI route¹	Upstream provider can be pinned; fallback eligibility is configured per request.²
Groq direct⁴	Requests use the Groq service account and direct API endpoint.⁵

Prices and request cost

Provider	Input / 1M tokens	Output / 1M tokens
OpenRouter · NEAR AI route¹	$0.03	$0.15
Groq direct⁴	$0.15	$0.6
Product documentation	OpenRouter documentation Groq API documentation
API documentation	Novita AI · Chat API

Cost example: 10,000 input + 1,000 billed output tokens

OpenRouter · NEAR AI route$0.00047475

Groq direct$0.0021

Capabilities and serving conditions

Dimension	OpenRouter · NEAR AI route	Groq direct
API and model ID	`https://openrouter.ai/api/v1`³	`https://api.groq.com/openai/v1`⁵
Compared model	openai/gpt-oss-120b¹	openai/gpt-oss-120b⁴
Serving path and request control	Upstream provider can be pinned; fallback eligibility is configured per request.²	Requests use the Groq service account and direct API endpoint.⁵
Billing basis	Input and billed output tokens are metered separately.¹	Input and billed output tokens are metered separately.⁴

When each option fits

OpenRouter · NEAR AI route

Upstream provider can be pinned; fallback eligibility is configured per request.²
The cheapest route and a pinned provider are different configurations; forcing a provider can change the price and reduce failover choices.²

Groq direct

Requests use the Groq service account and direct API endpoint.⁵
Groq direct access avoids an external routing account; switching to another host requires changing the application’s provider integration.⁵

Methodology and sources

GPT-OSS 120B: 1 request(s), each with 10,000 uncached input and 1,000 billed output tokens. Official seller tariffs and the named routing path define each price. OpenRouter Standard charges $5.5 when $100 of credits are purchased; allocating that fee over fully consumed credits multiplies routed inference cost by 1.055. Business uses 1.08. The example excludes optional BYOK, tax and unspent balances.

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