OpenRouter vs Kyma API: fees, models, limits and refunds compared (2026)

Short answer. Choose OpenRouter if you need the widest model catalog (600+ models from 80+ providers), a published platform fee, and documented data-retention controls. Choose Kyma API if you want one balance that also covers image, video and audio models, credits that never expire, and a $0.50 signup credit with no card. Kyma does not publish its markup, bring-your-own-key support or data-retention policy on the pages we checked, so cost and privacy comparisons need your own check.

Both services let you call many AI models through one API key instead of opening an account with every provider. They differ in catalog size, how they charge, what happens to unused credits and how much each one publishes. Everything below comes from each company’s official pages, checked on November 11, 2026.

Disclosure on Kyma: Kyma’s terms name Affitor LLC as the party you contract with, and Affitor is also the affiliate network that pays us when readers sign up for Kyma. The comparison is built only from what both vendors publish, and the verdict follows the criteria listed, not commission.

At a glance

	OpenRouter	Kyma API
Models	600+ models, 80+ providers	119 models
Modalities listed	Not stated on the pages checked	Chat, reasoning, image, video, audio
Free option	Free plan: 25+ free models, 50 requests/day	$0.50 signup credit after email verification, no card, for 48 eligible models
Platform fee	5.5% on credit purchases (Standard), 8% (Business)	Not stated
Subscription	None for pay-as-you-go	None, pay per use
Bring your own key (BYOK)	$25,000/month of list-price usage with no OpenRouter fee, then 5%	Not stated
OpenAI-compatible API	Yes: `/chat/completions`, `/responses`, `/completions`	Yes: `/v1/chat/completions`
Anthropic-style API	Not stated	Yes: `/v1/messages`
Refunds	Unused credits within 24 hours of purchase; platform fees and crypto payments non-refundable	Purchased credits non-refundable; failed video jobs refunded
Credit expiry	Not stated on the pages checked	Credits “never expire” (per terms)
Data retention	Prompts and completions not logged by default; Zero Data Retention routing on every plan	Not stated

What OpenRouter offers

Per OpenRouter’s pricing page there are four tiers. Free has no platform fee, 25+ free models and 4 free providers, with a limit of 50 requests per day. Standard is pay-as-you-go with a 5.5% platform fee on credit purchases, 600+ models and 80+ providers, with provider rate limits passed through. Business has the same catalog with an 8% fee and up to 1,000 workspaces. Enterprise is priced by contract with fee discounts and invoicing.

Other published details:

Free-model limits. Free models are limited to 20 requests per minute and 50 per day, rising to 1,000 per day once the account has bought at least $10 of credits. Failed attempts count toward the daily cap.
BYOK. On Standard and Business, usage through your own provider keys is free of OpenRouter fees up to $25,000 of list-price inference per month; above that, a 5% fee applies.
Routing. If a provider returns an error, OpenRouter falls back to the next provider. Variants such as :nitro, :floor and :exacto sort providers by throughput, price and tool-calling reliability.
Data. OpenRouter says it does not train on customer data, does not log prompts and completions by default, and offers a 1% usage discount if you opt in to logging. Zero Data Retention routing is available on every plan.
Refunds. Unused credits can be refunded within 24 hours of the transaction. Platform fees are non-refundable and crypto payments are never refundable.

What Kyma API offers

Per Kyma’s home and pricing pages, Kyma is “one account, one balance, pay per use” for chat, reasoning, image, video and audio models, with 119 models sharing one key. You point an existing OpenAI or Anthropic SDK at https://kymaapi.com/v1. Chat completions are at /v1/chat/completions and Anthropic-style requests at /v1/messages. Kyma also offers an MCP server so assistants can browse its live model catalog.

Other published details:

Free credit. A $0.50 signup credit, after email verification and with no card, covers 48 of the 119 models until you buy credits.
Billing. Pay per use with no subscription. Each model has its own per-token rate, and some models publish no cached-input rate. The pages checked do not say how those rates relate to the underlying providers’ prices, and no platform fee or minimum top-up is stated.
Credits. Per the terms, credits are “non-refundable, non-transferable, and never expire” (except where law requires). The pricing page adds that failed video jobs are refunded.
Rate limits. Limits depend on a tier from 0 to 4, set by your lifetime purchased credits. Tier 0 needs no deposit but has no video generation; Tier 1 is reached with a $5 top-up. Signup bonuses, referral credits and promotions do not count. Exact limits are published at api.kymaapi.com/v1/limits/tiers, not on the page.
Uptime. The home page shows per-model uptime over 30 days, for example 100% for one model and 35.0% for another, and says automatic fallback keeps requests moving “when a compatible route is available.”
Commercial use. The terms allow building products on Kyma where the value is your product, not raw model access. Reselling raw API access or keys is prohibited.

Where they differ

Catalog size. 600+ models versus 119, from each vendor’s own count. Whether a model you need is available is the first thing to check on either site.
Fees you can calculate. OpenRouter publishes a percentage (5.5% on Standard). Kyma publishes per-model rates but no fee or markup, so you cannot work out the overhead from its pages. This is a gap in what is published, not a statement that Kyma costs more or less.
Modalities. Kyma lists image, video and audio models in the same balance as chat. OpenRouter’s pricing page, as checked, does not say which modalities it covers.
Credits. Kyma’s terms say credits never expire. OpenRouter’s refund terms are explicit (24 hours for unused credits), while Kyma’s say purchased credits are non-refundable.
Free testing. OpenRouter’s free tier is a rate-limited set of free models. Kyma’s is a one-time $0.50 credit for 48 eligible models.
Data handling. OpenRouter documents logging defaults and Zero Data Retention routing. Kyma links to a privacy policy, but the pages checked state nothing about retention.

Who should choose which

You need a specific or less common model, or want to compare many providers: OpenRouter’s 600+ models give the larger catalog.
You handle sensitive prompts and need documented retention controls: OpenRouter publishes them; Kyma’s pages did not.
You already have provider keys and want one gateway: OpenRouter states BYOK terms; Kyma does not.
You want chat, image, video and audio on one balance, or use tools that speak the Anthropic API: Kyma API lists all of these and an /v1/messages endpoint.
You want to test before paying with no card: both have a free route, with different limits (see above).

If you are choosing a tool to build with rather than an API to build on, see our guide to Lovable vs Base44.

What we couldn’t verify

Kyma’s markup or fees relative to provider prices, minimum top-up, BYOK support and data-retention policy: not stated on the pages checked.
OpenRouter’s credit expiry and which non-text modalities it covers: not stated on the pages checked.
OpenRouter’s FAQ mentions a fee on credit purchases but the page displayed an unrendered placeholder instead of the amount; the 5.5% figure comes from the pricing page.
Real-world speed, reliability and per-model prices. Both sites show live per-model data that changes, so check current numbers before committing.

Bottom line

OpenRouter is the more documented option today: a published fee, a larger catalog, BYOK terms and data-retention controls. Kyma is narrower but covers more than text and has simple credit terms, though several cost and privacy details are not published. Start with the free route on each, and confirm the price of the specific model you plan to use. Open Kyma API or OpenRouter.

Kyma link is an affiliate link. Prices and terms change; verify on the vendors’ pages.