OpenRouter
External APIs
OpenRouter aggregates hundreds of models behind a single SaaS interface, including the major open Chinese models (DeepSeek, GLM, Qwen, Kimi), useful for low-cost innovation and evaluation before bringing capability in-house. Point of caution: some free models learn from prompts. Zero retention and no-training must be enabled, and no sensitive data should go through this route.
Key points: Chinese models · Multi-model · Evaluation · Caution.
Models served: DeepSeek V4 Pro and Flash, GLM 5.3, Qwen 3.8, Kimi K3, Llama 4, Mistral, as well as GPT-5.6 and Claude Opus 5 (421 models from 105 providers listed by the OpenRouter API as of 2 September 2026)
Location: United States, subject to the Cloud Act.
Two retention questions, not one
OpenRouter routes requests to more than a hundred providers (105 as of 2 September 2026), each with its own policy. Retention on the OpenRouter side is always opt-in, and the company states it has never shared, sold or licensed prompt data. But the provider that actually serves the request applies its own rules, which may include logging and training.
What to settle before use
The documentation allows restricting which providers may serve a request, based on their logging policy. Without that filter, the retention guarantee for a request depends on whichever provider the routing picked, which is not a guarantee.
When to use it from a sovereign platform
To compare models and absorb peaks, with the provider list restricted to verified policies. Not as the default path of a sovereign platform, since the applicable jurisdiction changes from one request to the next.
Official sources
Frequently asked questions
What is OpenRouter?
OpenRouter aggregates hundreds of models behind a single SaaS interface, including the major open Chinese models (DeepSeek, GLM, Qwen, Kimi), useful for low-cost innovation and evaluation before bringing capability in-house. Point of caution: some free models learn from prompts. Zero retention and no-training must be enabled, and no sensitive data should go through this route.