Nivana vs OpenRouter
OpenRouter and Nivana both put many models behind one API. They answer different questions: OpenRouter asks which model you want; Nivana decides for you, per request.
The short version
- Choose OpenRouter if you want a specific model, the widest catalogue (hundreds of models, including open-weight and niche ones), and full control over parameters per call.
- Choose Nivana if you want the best measured model for each request without choosing, one predictable endpoint, answers that say which model was used and why, and zero data retention on every call.
How they differ
| Nivana | OpenRouter | |
|---|---|---|
| Picks the model | Always, per request | You do; an auto option is available if you opt in |
| Models | 14 frontier and fast models from 8 labs, chosen by measured quality | Hundreds |
| How the choice is made | Weekly pairwise evals per task, live price and speed, effort set per request | Your choice, or the auto option |
| See why a model answered | Every response carries the route and its scores | The model id |
| Failover | The next two models in the ranking | Provider fallbacks for the model you chose |
| Data retention | Zero data retention requested on every call; API message content not stored | Configurable per account and provider |
| Pricing | Pay as you go: the routed model’s live price plus a 50% fee; 2,000 free credits | Provider prices plus a platform fee on credits |
| Chat app | Web, iOS and macOS, with web search, images, video and music | Web chat |
| API shape | POST /v1/chat and an OpenAI-compatible endpoint | OpenAI-compatible |
Switching
If your code uses the OpenAI SDK against OpenRouter, point the base URL at Nivana and keep your code: the model string is accepted and ignored, because Nivana routes. See migrating and the quickstart. You start with 2,000 free credits, so you can compare answers on your own prompts before paying anything.
What OpenRouter does better
Breadth and control. If you need a particular fine-tune, an open-weight model, or exact control of sampling parameters, a gateway where you pick is the right tool. Nivana deliberately keeps a small pool it measures every week, and it never lets you pin a model.