WanAPI vs OpenRouter
The widest model marketplace, versus a cost-focused gateway that also does image & video.
WanAPI
WanAPI is a cost-efficient, OpenAI-compatible gateway for developers who want frontier text, coding, image and video models on one balance — with automatic failover, transparent pay-as-you-go pricing and direct founder support.
OpenRouter
OpenRouter is a large model marketplace that routes to hundreds of models across many providers, with a big ecosystem, app discovery and provider-level routing.
openrouter.aiSide by side
| Dimension | WanAPI | OpenRouter |
|---|---|---|
| Model & provider breadth | Curated frontier + media models | Hundreds of models, many providers |
| Pricing angle | Cost-efficient, transparent pay-as-you-go | Per-provider market pricing + credits |
| Image / video / audio APIs | Yes — async task APIs for media | Primarily text / LLM |
| Automatic failover | Built-in multi-channel failover | Provider routing / fallbacks |
| Ecosystem & discovery | Focused gateway | Large ecosystem, app showcase, OAuth |
| Support | Founder replies directly | Docs + community |
When to choose OpenRouter instead
- You want the widest possible model and provider selection.
- You rely on their ecosystem, app discovery or OAuth 'bring your users'.
- You want to pick a specific upstream provider per request.
When WanAPI fits better
- You want lower, more predictable cost for frontier models.
- You need image / video / audio task APIs alongside text.
- You want a real person to answer when something breaks.
Switch in minutes
Keep your OpenAI SDK — point base_url to https://api.wanapis.com/v1 and get free trial credit on sign-up.