Best AI API Gateways Compared 2026: OpenRouter vs Groq vs Together AI vs DashScope vs Fireworks AI
- Best overall: OpenRouter (4.3/5)
- Best free: Groq
- Best for teams: Fireworks AI
- Pricing last checked: 2026-09-11
OpenRouter keeps the overall top spot (4.3/5) for the broadest model selection — 374+ models including GPT, Claude and all open models. Fireworks AI (4.0/5) is the only provider with a full self-serve post-training stack (SFT/LoRA/RL) under one inference API. Groq (4.2/5) leads on raw LPU speed and a no-credit-card free tier; Together AI (4.1/5) suits production fine-tuning on open models; DashScope owns Chinese-model workloads.
| Tool | Rating | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter Best overall | 4.3/5 | Free $0.07/1M tokens | OpenRouter is the largest AI model gateway — 374+ models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, D… |
| Groq Best free | 4.2/5 | Free $0.05/1M tokens | Groq runs open-source LLMs on custom LPU chips that deliver 500+ tokens per second — the f… |
| Together AI | 3.9/5 | $0.05/1M tokens | Together AI is an open-model inference platform with 100+ open-source models, fine-tuning … |
| DashScope | 3.8/5 | Free ¥0.20/1M tokens (~$0.03) | DashScope is Alibaba Cloud's AI model service — Qwen, GLM, MiniMax and other Chinese model… |
| Fireworks AI Best for teams | 4.0/5 | $0.10/1M tokens | Fireworks AI runs 200+ open-source LLMs with a self-serve post-training stack (SFT/LoRA/RL… |
Bottom line: OpenRouter when you want one API key for every model (GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Llama, 374+ total) with free tiers and BYOK; Fireworks AI for teams that need post-training under one API — the only provider where SFT/LoRA/RL fine-tuning and inference share a key, with Day-0 open-model support and a 99.9% uptime SLA; Groq for the fastest open-model inference (500+ tok/s) and a no-credit-card free tier; Together AI for high-volume LLM inference with predictable per-token pricing and native fine-tuning from $3/M tokens; DashScope for Qwen and Chinese-model workloads at competitive prices with native Chinese support. Fireworks' $1 new-account free credit is shallower than Together's $5 or Cerebras' 1M tokens/day — budget for real usage from day one.
Pricing and details
OpenRouter · 4.3/5
Free plan available · $0.07/1M tokens
Pay-per-token, no monthly fees; 374+ models; free models: 20 req/min, 50 req/day (under $10 lifetime credits) or 1000/day ($10+); BYOK 1M free routing requests/mo; cheapest free models (DeepSeek R1, Llama 3.3 70B, Gemma 3, Gemini Flash) all rate-limited; paid models start at ~$0.07/1M input for small open models
OpenRouter is the largest AI model gateway — 374+ models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek and more, with free tiers, BYOK support, and unified OpenAI-compatible API.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Best dimension: Core features at 5/5 — backed by verification against the official site & pricing.
- Second strong point: Value for money at 5/5.
- Pricing: Pay-per-token, no monthly fees
- Positioning: OpenRouter is the largest AI model gateway — 374+ models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek and more, with free tiers, BYOK support, and unified OpenAI-compatible API.
Cons
- Weakest dimension: Localization at 3/5.
- Weigh localization before committing.
Pricing verified 2026-09-07
Groq · 4.2/5
Free plan available · $0.05/1M tokens
Pay-per-token, no monthly fees; free tier: 30 req/min, 6000 tokens/min, 14400 req/day, all models, no credit card; paid = Developer pay-as-you-go (rate limit increases with usage); cheapest: Llama 3.1 8B $0.05/$0.08 per 1M; flagship Llama 3.3 70B $0.59/$0.79 per 1M; Batch API + prompt caching each 50% off (~25% stacked)
Groq runs open-source LLMs on custom LPU chips that deliver 500+ tokens per second — the fastest inference API available, with a generous free tier and no credit card required.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Best dimension: Value for money at 5/5 — backed by verification against the official site & pricing.
- Second strong point: Core features at 4/5.
- Pricing: Pay-per-token, no monthly fees
- Positioning: Groq runs open-source LLMs on custom LPU chips that deliver 500+ tokens per second — the fastest inference API available, with a generous free tier and no credit card required.
Cons
- Weakest dimension: Collaboration at 2/5.
- Weigh collaboration before committing.
Pricing verified 2026-09-07
Together AI · 3.9/5
$5 free signup credit · $0.05/1M tokens
Pay-per-token, no monthly minimums; $5 free signup credit (no credit card required for trial); cheapest: GPT-OSS 20B $0.05/$0.20 per 1M; Llama 3.3 70B $0.88 flat per 1M; DeepSeek V3.1 $0.60/$1.70; DeepSeek V4 Pro $2.10/$4.40; fine-tuning LoRA extra; Batch API 50% off; dedicated GPU hours separate
Together AI is an open-model inference platform with 100+ open-source models, fine-tuning support, and dedicated GPU capacity — built for production AI teams.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Best dimension: Core features at 4/5 — backed by verification against the official site & pricing.
- Second strong point: Stability at 4/5.
- Pricing: Pay-per-token, no monthly minimums
- Positioning: Together AI is an open-model inference platform with 100+ open-source models, fine-tuning support, and dedicated GPU capacity — built for production AI teams.
Cons
- Weakest dimension: Localization at 2/5.
- Weigh localization before committing.
Pricing verified 2026-09-07
DashScope · 3.8/5
Free plan available · ¥0.20/1M tokens (~$0.03)
Pay-per-token in CNY; Qwen3.6-Flash ¥0.20/1M input / ¥1.20 output (~$0.03/$0.17); Qwen3.7-Plus ¥0.32/¥1.28 (~$0.05/$0.18); Qwen3.8-Max $2.00/$6.00 per 1M (GA Aug 2026); free signup credits vary by promotion (historical: free tier with RPM/daily caps); billing in CNY via Alibaba Cloud; full Chinese UI + docs
DashScope is Alibaba Cloud's AI model service — Qwen, GLM, MiniMax and other Chinese models with OpenAI-compatible API, free credit promotions, and native Chinese support.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Best dimension: Localization at 5/5 — backed by verification against the official site & pricing.
- Second strong point: Stability at 4/5.
- Pricing: Pay-per-token in CNY
- Positioning: DashScope is Alibaba Cloud's AI model service — Qwen, GLM, MiniMax and other Chinese models with OpenAI-compatible API, free credit promotions, and native Chinese support.
Cons
- Weakest dimension: Collaboration at 3/5.
- Weigh collaboration before committing.
Pricing verified 2026-09-07
Fireworks AI · 4.0/5
$1 free credit for new accounts · $0.10/1M tokens
Pay-per-token for serverless; new accounts get only $1 in free credits (less than Together AI's $5 and Cerebras' 1M tokens/day); Serverless from $0.10/1M tokens for text & vision under 4B; On-Demand dedicated from $7.00/hr H100 (billed per second, no cold-boot cost); LoRA fine-tuning from $0.50/1M training tokens; Usage limit tier 1 = $50/month by default, hard-blocks requests when exceeded even with remaining credits
Fireworks AI runs 200+ open-source LLMs with a self-serve post-training stack (SFT/LoRA/RL) and 99.9% uptime SLA — pay-per-token serverless, no GPU provisioning, Day-0 support for new open weights.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Best dimension: Core features at 5/5 — only provider with full self-serve post-training stack (SFT/LoRA/RL pipelines) under one inference API; 200+ open models across five modalities; Day-0 support for new open-source weights.
- Stability at 4/5 — 99.9% uptime SLA with 15T tokens/day operational scale; no cold boots on Serverless.
- Ease of use at 4/5 — OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible API; one-line migration for chat completion and embedding calls.
- Pricing: Pay-per-token serverless from $0.10/1M; On-Demand from $7.00/hr H100 billed per second; LoRA fine-tuning from $0.50/1M tokens
Cons
- Weakest dimension: Value for money at 3/5 — not always the cheapest per-token option; On-Demand GPU $7.00/hr adds up quickly for always-on deployments.
- Free credit only $1 for new accounts — far less than Together AI ($5) or Cerebras (1M tokens/day); limits free-tier evaluation depth.
- Weigh value and free-credit depth before committing.
Pricing verified 2026-09-11
Frequently asked questions
How many AI API Gateways tools are compared here?
This page compares 5 AI API Gateways tools, with OpenRouter as our top-rated pick. Pricing was last re-checked on 2026-09-11.
Which AI API Gateways tool has the best free plan?
Groq is our free-tier pick among the tools compared.