Yeah, and Stripe is "just" a payments platform.

Openrouter is easy, reliable and performant (like Stripe).

Nextgrid 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Stripe is "just" a payments platform

Counterpoint: you can't just go to Visa/Mastercard or a merchant acquirer out there and set up an account on the same terms that Stripe can.

On the other hand, you can sign up to any LLM provider and get API access on terms that are the same or better (since I'm sure they don't appreciate having a middleman and would benefit from incentivizing direct usage) than OpenRouter gets.

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GTP 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, you can get better pricing if you do it yourself. But the true advantage of OpenRouter is that, in a space where there's a new model being released every week, you can easily switch to whatever model is best at any given time without having to set up accounts with multiple providers. Or you can just experiment with the latest release. Their product is the convenience. Of course if you decide to only use a specific provider or two, then you don't need OpenRouter.

	▲	rob-lag 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		But it's not really that difficult to make a clone of OpenRouter's service. What they do isn't really that original. Their only value comes from the fact that the currently have lots of traffic. And I dkn't think that their cumstomers are really bound to theur servuce. They could switch to a competitor without too much hassle.

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ahepp 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Will that necessarily be true in the future? Would we not expect that openrouter will develop the ability to negotiate special pricing?

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surgical_fire 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

To add to this; payment infrastructure requires a lot of heavy lifting. There's a lot of regulations you need to adhere to, different payment systems in different countries, settlement, chargebacks, etc.

There is a reason why not doing your own payment processing is a thing.

OpenRouter may have some interesting things in streamlining the process of switching LLM providers, but it is indeed something easy to replicate in comparison to payment processing.

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bubblegumcrisis 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Also it's name has "open" in it. Which means you can do what you want with it, and it's all open source!

Just the other day, I tried to have openrouter route to my local ollama, and it refused. Apparently I have to pay for this privilege. How wonderful.

Open open (op)en. Open open (op)en. Clo-o-o-ooooo-sed.. (sing with Wagner flight of the V)

	▲	Animats 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Now that's the value. OpenRouter has the power to step on the air hose of any provider they don't like. That's Google's real power. Works for them. Between search, ads, and the "app store", they can crush most companies. OpenRouter's power is only in one area. For now.

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BeetleB an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Payments is quite hard, actually.

Payment platforms existed for years before Stripe came along. They solved the problems the others couldn't.

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xmcp123 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There are already other providers that can say the same, some with very small teams and better rates.

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nonethewiser 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah and the kids down the street are “just” a lemonade stand.

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verdverm 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Stripe operates in a very regulated industry where new entrance is difficult

OpenRouter is commodity stuff, I've never used it personally and picked alternatives. The sense I got from people who said they used it was that they are on average penny pinchers. That does not seem like an ideal user base

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abixb 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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