# AkaRouter – Flat per-call LLM API gateway (20x cheaper than Claude Max)

> Source: <https://akarouter.dev>
> Published: 2026-06-21 16:19:59+00:00

## CLAUDE MAX 20X

$200/MO $20/MO

Same Opus 4.8. Same prompt size limits. 91% cheaper.

Pay-per-request. One API key. Every frontier model.

* Every signup ships with 100 free points on 1pt models (10/day cap). No credit card.

``` python
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
  base_url="https://api.akarouter.dev/v1",
  api_key="akar_your_key_here"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
  model="step-37-flash",
  messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello AkaRouter!"}]
)
```

Same Opus 4.8. Same prompt size limits. 91% cheaper.

Pay-per-request. One API key. Every frontier model.

* Every signup ships with 100 free points on 1pt models (10/day cap). No credit card.

␃WPNCODE0␃

Same upstream models. Same prompts. Same response quality. AkaRouter routes you to the same providers the big guys use — we just don't mark it up 50x.

| Feature | AkaRouter Pro $20/mo | Claude Max 20x $200/mo | ChatGPT Pro $200/mo | OpenRouter pay-as-you-go |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per-call cost (Opus 4) | $0.08 | $0.90 | N/A | $0.45+ |
| Opus 4 calls on $20 | 250 | ~22 | 0 (no API) | ~44 |
| API access (Claude Code, scripts) | ||||
| Multi-provider (Anthropic + OpenAI + Google) | ||||
| Flat per-call (no token math) | ||||
| Same price for 5K or 200K prompt | mixed | |||
| Free frontier model included | ||||
| One key, every model | Claude only | OpenAI only | ||
| OpenAI-compatible (any client) |

750 Opus 4.8 calls + free frontier + unlimited cheap models. 91% cheaper than Max 20x.

250 Opus + 500 Sonnet + 5000+ cheap calls in ONE key. Replace two subscriptions.

Route everything through ONE gateway. 87% off retail API spend at the same workload.

Most APIs charge per million tokens. We charge per call — flat. Same price whether your prompt is 500 words or 200,000 tokens.

Every time you stuff more code into context, you pay more. Every long doc. Every large repo clone. Token anxiety is real.

As long as your prompt fits in the model's context window, you pay the same. Opus 4.8 fits 200K tokens. Use them all.

Don't calculate input/output token splits. Don't estimate cost before every request. Just call the model.

Stuff the whole codebase in. Drop in 10 PDFs. Use the full 200K Opus window without a calculator.

100 Opus calls = $8. Always. Same on Monday, same on Sunday. No surprise overages.

* Per-call pricing applies as long as your prompt fits within the model's documented context window. Hit the limit? Split your request — or upgrade to a model with a bigger window.

No hidden tiers. No "premium" markups. The whole menu, at the price you'll actually pay.

| Model | Tier | Points/call | Pro $19.99/mo | Ultra $99.99/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
MiniMax M350% off frontier, free to us | free | 1 2 | 2.5k calls | 7.5k calls |
Nemotron Ultra free-tier alternative | free | 1 | 2.5k calls | 7.5k calls |
Claude Haiku 4.5 fast + cheap | free | 1 | 2.5k calls | 7.5k calls |
Claude Sonnet 4.6 workhorse | T1 | 2 | 1.3k calls | 7.5k calls |
GPT-5.4 multimodal | T1 | 2 | 1.3k calls | 7.5k calls |
Gemini 3.1 Pro 1M context, multimodal | T1 | 2 | 1.3k calls | 7.5k calls |
GPT-5.5 flagship OpenAI | T2 | 3 | 1.3k calls | 3.8k calls |
GPT-5.3 Codex Spark coding specialist | T2 | 3 | 1.3k calls | 3.8k calls |
Step 3.7 Flash instant answers | T2 | 3 | 1.3k calls | 3.8k calls |
Owl Alpha experimental preview | T3 | 10 | 312 calls | 1.3k calls |

Pro Plan ships with 2,500 points/month. Ultra ships with 7,500. Mix and match freely — no model locking.

Built from the ground up for high availability and low-latency inference workloads.

Round-robin routing with real-time health weighting and dynamic in-flight concurrency tracking.

Automatic request retry and hot-swap routing. If a routing target goes down, traffic is immediately re-allocated.

Granular subscription tier rate limits, sliding token budgets, and cost analytics logged per API key.

All models accessible through a single API key. Supports per-token and per-request billing.

claude-sonnet-46

Balanced Claude variant with strong coding and reasoning.

gpt-54

Flagship GPT model with strong general performance.

gpt-55

Top-tier GPT model with maximum capability and reasoning.

nemotron-ultra

Frontier open-source LLM optimized for speed and reasoning.

minimax-m3

Frontier closed-source LLM with strong reasoning and code capabilities.

claude-haiku-45

Fast, affordable Claude variant for everyday tasks.

gemini-31-pro

Google flagship Pro model with strong reasoning.

gpt-53-codex-spark

Code-specialized variant optimized for generation and refactoring.

step-37-flash

Ultra-fast conversational model with broad general capability.

owl-alpha

1M token context model optimized for long-form reasoning and agentic workflows.

Choose a flexible subscription plan that matches your production throughput demands.

Starter + Claude Sonnet 4.6, GPT-5.4, Gemini 3.1 Pro

Starter + Owl Alpha, Nemotron Ultra, Step 3.7 Flash

Pro + GPT-5.5, GPT-5.3 Codex Spark, Claude Opus 4.8

* Need custom limits or an enterprise setup? Join our Telegram support group at [t.me/akarouter_support](https://t.me/akarouter_support) — we don't do email, just the group.