OpenRouter Startup Program
AI Platform Credits
Up to $5,000 in universal LLM credits + 0% fees for 12 months
One grant, every frontier model — up to $5K in universal inference credits across 300+ models plus zero platform/BYOK fees for a year.
Who qualifies
Every condition below is taken from the vendor’s own published criteria. Read them before you spend an afternoon on the application.
Raised under $50M
Total funding must be below $50M at the time you apply. Vendors verify this against public funding records, so an unannounced round usually still counts.
Startups
The programme is aimed at startups. Vendors read this loosely, but expect to describe the company and what you are building on the application.
About OpenRouter Startup Program
Quick answer
One grant, every frontier model — up to $5K in universal inference credits across 300+ models plus zero platform/BYOK fees for a year.
Most model-provider grants lock you into one vendor. OpenRouter's startup program is the exception: up to $5,000 in universal inference credits you can spend across 300+ frontier and open models — Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama and the rest — plus 0% platform and BYOK fees for 12 months. For a team still choosing its model mix, that flexibility is worth as much as the dollars.
What you get
- Up to $5,000 in universal inference credits, usable on any model OpenRouter routes
- 0% processing fees for 12 months (platform fees and BYOK fees)
- One integration, every major provider — no per-vendor grant applications
How to apply
4 steps. The last one is the part most people skip.
- 1
Open OpenRouter Startup Program through the link on this page
It carries our referral tag. The terms you get are identical either way, and it never changes what this page says about the programme.
- 2
Have the eligibility evidence ready
Applications are checked against 2 conditions — raised under $50m, startups. Incorporation date, cap table and a one-line description of what you are building cover most of it.
- 3
Size the migration against the 6 months window
Credits start burning from activation, not from when you get round to using them. Work out what you will genuinely consume in that window before you move production workloads across.
- 4
Know the rate you land on when it runs out
The point of a credit is a runway extension, not a permanent discount. Check standard list pricing for the usage you will have by then, so the first real invoice is a decision rather than a surprise.
OpenRouter Startup Program FAQ
The questions we actually get asked about this programme.
Ask us something elseUp to $5,000 in universal inference credits spendable across 300+ models, plus 0% platform and BYOK processing fees for 12 months.
Pre-Series-B startups building AI-native products, with under $500 lifetime OpenRouter spend, no prior startup credits, a public website and a professional company email.
Most credits expire around 6 months after issuance, while the fee waiver lasts 12 months — so apply when you're ready to use them, not just to bank them.
