# OpenRouter: how AI models rank it, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Named in 32 judge labels across 2 categories by 12 of 12 models. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/openrouter/

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLM gateways and observability | 2% | 6 | 23% | 31 |
| AI coding assistants | 0% | 28 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "use LiteLLM if you want to self-host...; use OpenRouter if you want managed, zero-ops access to many models" (Claude Haiku 4.5, LLM gateways)
- "Best for: Fastest setup and widest model selection without infrastructure management." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, LLM gateways)
- "Want broad model access with minimal ops? OpenRouter." (GPT-5.4 mini, LLM gateways)
- "OpenRouter is the best default choice if you want the broadest model catalog with zero infrastructure to run yourself." (Claude Haiku 4.5, LLM gateways)

## And against it

- "routing sensitive enterprise or user data through a third-party hosted cloud gateway introduces strict compliance and privacy risks" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, LLM gateways)
- "prefer Portkey (self-hostable, Apache 2.0) or Braintrust over hosted-only options like OpenRouter" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, LLM gateways)
- "it is not the cheapest long-term managed option for a budget-conscious company" (Perplexity Sonar, LLM gateways)
- "no SOC 2, no self-hosting... less ideal for regulated client workloads" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, LLM gateways)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.