Tokens vs OpenRouter
OpenRouter has the larger catalog, free models and fine routing controls. Tokens lets you pay in BDT and sets spend caps and model lists per key.
OpenRouter is a large OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible gateway: its public model list had 466 IDs on 3 October 2026, including free :free variants, plus per-request provider routing and zero-data-retention filters. It passes provider prices through with no inference markup and charges a fee when you buy credits (5.5% by card, minimum $0.80). Tokens is smaller and built for developers who pay locally: you settle a BDT invoice instead of using an international card, then use one key for Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, Qwen and others. Choose OpenRouter if you need breadth, free models or routing control and paying in USD is easy for you. Choose Tokens if the USD card is the problem, or if you want per-key spend caps, usage alerts, BDT receipts and support tickets in one dashboard.
Tokens
- Pricing model
- Prepaid plan or USD wallet, paid in BDT; per-model prices in USD and BDT on /models
- Payment methods
- Invoice via billing portal
- Currencies
- USD and BDT
- Model prices
- Live in the model catalog, in BDT and USD
OpenRouter
- Pricing model
- Provider list price passed through; fee on credit purchases: 5.5% by card (min $0.80), 5% in crypto, 8% on the Business plan
- Payment methods
- Credit card in USD (Stripe), AliPay, USDC crypto (Coinbase), Invoice (Enterprise only)
- Prices checked
- 3 Oct 2026, before the credit-purchase fee
- GLM-5.3 (per 1M tokens, in / out)
- $1.40 / $4.40
- Kimi K3 (per 1M tokens, in / out)
- $2.70 / $13.50
- GPT-6 Luna (per 1M tokens, in / out)
- $0.10 / $0.50
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (per 1M tokens, in / out)
- $0.75 / $3.75
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (per 1M tokens, in / out)
- $2.00 / $10.00
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (per 1M tokens, in / out)
- $0.30 / $1.20
Side by side
A tick marks the better option for that row. Some rows go to the other side.
| Topic | Tokens | OpenRouter |
|---|---|---|
| Paying from Bangladesh | BDT invoice through the billing portal; no international card needed | USD only (card, AliPay or USDC). Bangladesh Bank FE Circular 26 (2019) limits international-card online payments to USD 300 per transaction, with an OTAF form each time |
| Model catalog | A curated, admin-managed catalog (see /models) | 466 model IDs on the public API list (3 Oct 2026) |
| Free models | Usage needs a plan or wallet balance | 17 :free model IDs live on 3 Oct 2026; 50 requests/day, rising to 1,000/day after buying $10 of credits |
| How prices are set | Tokens sets a price per model, shown in USD and BDT | Provider list price with no inference markup; the fee is on credit purchases ($0.80 minimum, so 16% of a $5 top-up) |
| API formats | OpenAI-compatible at https://tokens.bd/v1, Anthropic-compatible at https://tokens.bd | OpenAI-compatible at https://openrouter.ai/api/v1, Anthropic Messages at /api/v1/messages |
| Routing and data controls | Automatic failover to another upstream on 429, 5xx and connection errors; prompts and responses are not stored | Per-request provider order, sort by price, throughput or latency, data_collection deny and zdr flags; prompts not logged by default |
| Agent setup | One command (tokens.mjs setup) configures OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex CLI and Crush, backing up each file first | Per-agent guides, e.g. ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api for Claude Code |
| Billing records and help | Printable receipts in the dashboard, built-in support tickets | Payments in USD; invoicing, SLAs and a custom DPA on Enterprise |
Choose Tokens when
- Pay a BDT invoice instead of pushing a USD card through the USD 300 per-transaction limit and the OTAF step.
- Each key can carry a monthly spend cap and a model allow-list, and the dashboard sends usage alerts at 50, 75, 90 and 100%.
- One setup command configures OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex CLI and Crush and backs up each config file first.
- Receipts, usage history and support tickets sit in the same dashboard as your keys.
Choose OpenRouter when
- A much smaller catalog, and nothing like OpenRouter's free :free models.
- No per-request provider ordering, price sorting or ZDR-only routing flags.
- Tokens sets its own per-model prices; OpenRouter passes list prices through and charges only on credit purchases, so compare on /models.
- If you already have a USD card that works abroad, OpenRouter's card checkout is quicker than an invoice.
Switch your client
Point the client at Tokens and swap the key. Your code and agent setup stay the same.
bash
# Before (OpenRouter) # export OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 # export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api # After (Tokens). Keep the key in your shell or a secret store, not in git. export TOKENS_API_KEY=tok_live_your_key export OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://tokens.bd/v1 export OPENAI_API_KEY=$TOKENS_API_KEY # Claude Code and other Anthropic clients (no /v1) export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://tokens.bd export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=$TOKENS_API_KEY # Both use provider/model ids (e.g. deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash), but check what your key can call curl -s https://tokens.bd/v1/models -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKENS_API_KEY"
Other comparisons
- Tokens vsAlibaba Cloud Qwen API (Model Studio)Alibaba Model Studio sets Qwen's list prices, with regional rates and input-length tiers. Tokens bills Qwen in BDT beside other providers.
- Tokens vsAnthropic API (Claude)Anthropic's API has Claude at list price, a half-price Batch API and first-party tools. Tokens puts Claude next to other providers on one BDT-billed key.
- Tokens vsCommand CodeCommand Code is a coding agent sold with credit plans from $1/month. Tokens is a gateway, paid in BDT, for the agents you already use.
- Tokens vsDeepSeek APIDeepSeek's own API sets the list price for its models and halves it off-peak. Tokens adds BDT billing and other providers on the same key.
- Tokens vsGoogle Gemini APIGoogle's Gemini API has a free tier, Batch at half price and Search grounding. Tokens serves Gemini Flash in OpenAI and Anthropic formats, billed in BDT.
- Tokens vsMoonshot Kimi APIMoonshot sells Kimi K3 and K2.x at flat prices in OpenAI and Anthropic formats. Tokens adds BDT billing and other providers on the same key.
- Tokens vsOpenAI APIOpenAI's API has GPT at list price with Batch and Flex at half price. Tokens puts GPT beside Claude, Gemini and open models on one key billed in BDT.
- Tokens vsOpenCode ZenZen sells tested coding models at cost plus card fees, and OpenCode Go adds $10 and $40 plans. Tokens bills in BDT with one base URL per API format.
- Tokens vsZ.ai GLM APIZ.ai sells GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3 Flash at flat list prices, plus a GLM Coding Plan from $18/month. Tokens bills GLM in BDT beside other providers.