OmniRouteby Cheaper Inference

Free & open-source AI gateway

#1 Open Source AI Router

Route across 352 providers through one OpenAI-compatible endpoint, with automatic fallback.

Start with Cheaper InferenceSelf-host OmniRoute (opens in a new tab)
  • 352 providers
  • 90+ free tiers
  • 15–95% eligible tokens saved
OpenAI-compatible Free and open source59.6k stars (opens in a new tab)

OmniRoute × Cheaper Inference

Combine OmniRoute’s automatic fallback and developer tools with Cheaper Inference’s cost-ranked marketplace. Every eligible request starts with the cheapest available provider route.

6 models
Direct list prices compared with Cheaper Inference prices by model
ModelInput priceOutput priceSavings
gpt-5.6-lunaOpenAI · text$0.20$0.08/ 1M tokens$1.20$0.48/ 1M tokens60% off
gpt-5.6-solOpenAI · text$2.00$1.00/ 1M tokens$10.00$5.00/ 1M tokens50% off
glm-5.3Z.ai · text$1.40$0.77/ 1M tokens$4.40$2.42/ 1M tokens45% off
deepseek-v4-flashDeepSeek · text$0.083$0.05/ 1M tokens$0.18$0.11/ 1M tokens40% off
deepseek-v4-flash-0731DeepSeek · text$0.067$0.04/ 1M tokens$0.18$0.11/ 1M tokens40% off
glm-5.3-flashZ.ai · text$0.071$0.05/ 1M tokens$0.24$0.17/ 1M tokens30% off
Direct list price → Cheaper Inference price · View live catalog (opens in a new tab)Pricing checked Aug 31, 2026, 12:00 AM UTC. Rates can change when upstream pricing or available routes change.

Core controls

One endpoint for your configured providers.

Keep requests moving

When a target is unavailable or out of quota, OmniRoute selects the next healthy target.

Compress eligible context

A 12-engine pipeline reduces eligible context by 15–95%. The documented tool-heavy example reduced it by ~89%.

$0 to start

90+ free tiers and 56 recurring or keyless free-forever providers. No credit card needed for the keyless quick start.

35 supported integrations

Configure Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Cline, Copilot, Antigravity and other supported clients through one endpoint.

One endpoint

Accept OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and Responses API requests at `/v1`.

Operational controls

Circuit breakers, encrypted credentials, MCP, A2A, memory, guardrails and evals ship with the self-hosted gateway.

The catalog

All behind one endpoint.

A catalog spanning chat, media, search, local runtimes, cloud agents and system integrations.

352 providers

14 Search12 Audio-only2 Upstream proxy3 Cloud agent1 System
25OAuthClaude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Kimi Code…
233API keyOpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, NVIDIA, Cerebras, Mistral…
35Web cookieChatGPT Web, Claude Web, Gemini Web, Grok Web…
14LocalOllama, LM Studio, vLLM, llama.cpp…
13No authenticationOpenCode Free, Felo, Pollinations and other keyless routes…
Explore the provider reference (opens in a new tab)

Quick start

Install, run, connect.

Install the package, launch the gateway, then point any OpenAI-compatible client at port 20128.

Provider catalog
352
Routing strategies
19
Local endpoint
:20128/v1

Step 1: Install

Install the `omniroute` npm package globally.

omniroute: install
$ npm install -g omnirouteadded 1 package

Step 2: Run

Launch the API and dashboard together on port 20128.

omniroute: run
$ omniroute▸ dashboard ✓ http://localhost:20128/dashboard▸ api ...... ✓ serving on :20128

Step 3: Connect your tool

Use `http://localhost:20128/v1`; the keyless `auto` route works on a fresh install.

omniroute: connect
$ curl localhost:20128/v1/models✓ models listed

Gateway controls

Core gateway controls in one process.

Configure fallback, quota, compression, memory, MCP and A2A from the local dashboard.

Smart Combos

Set a model to `auto` or build your own combo with 19 strategies and tiered fallback.

Use a ready-made mode or combine 19 strategies around the goal that matters.

Memory

Persistent conversational memory with FTS5 keyword and Qdrant vector recall.

3-layer resilience

Provider breaker, connection cooldown and model lockout isolate failures at the smallest useful scope.

Free quota

Pool-deduped accounting across 90+ free tiers.

Published free-tier capacity, deduplicated.

Compression

12 composable engines for tool output, context and response style.

Reduce eligible tokens by 15–95%.

MCP server

A built-in server exposing 110 gateway tools across 33 scopes.

110 tools · 33 scopes · stdio / HTTP

A2A protocol

A JSON-RPC agent server with 6 skills.

6 skills · JSON-RPC 2.0 · Agent Card

CombosResilienceFree quotaCompressionMCPA2AMemoryProxy controlsGuardrailsCloud agentsEvalsSemantic cacheSkillsAnalytics

Client compatibility

Keep your existing coding tools.

Point an OpenAI-compatible CLI or editor at one local base URL; OmniRoute handles the providers behind it.

Claude Code
Codex CLI
Cursor
Cline
GitHub Copilot
Gemini CLI
OpenCode
Kilo Code
Factory Droid
Continue
Roo Code
Antigravity
Aider
OpenClaw
Goose
Grok Build
Windsurf
Devin CLI

http://localhost:20128/v1

request.sh
curl http://localhost:20128/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OMNIROUTE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"auto","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'

OmniCopilot

Use OmniRoute models in Copilot Chat.

OmniCopilot adds OmniRoute models to the existing model picker.

Official Marketplace

Works in VS Code stable and Insiders. Install from the Marketplace or Extensions view.

Open VSX Registry

For Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, Theia, code-server, Gitpod and other compatible editors.

No Copilot plan needed

Provider models can run through OmniRoute in Copilot Chat without routing inference through a Copilot plan.

VS Code Marketplace (opens in a new tab)Open VSX Registry (opens in a new tab)OmniCopilot source (opens in a new tab)

Common failure modes

Why OmniRoute

See which control addresses each common failure mode.

Without routing
With OmniRoute
Quota expires unused
Track and drain the allowance you already have
Rate limits stop you mid-task
4-tier auto-fallback in milliseconds
Tool output burns tokens
12-engine compression, 15–95% on eligible content
Expensive APIs add up
Cost-optimized routing can pick the cheapest eligible target
Each tool needs its own setup
One endpoint and one dashboard
A provider is unavailable from your network
Proxy scopes and client-fingerprint controls
One dead key breaks a provider
Breaker, cooldown and lockout isolate the failure
A team shares one subscription
Key pools and fair-share quotas
You need local control of routing data
Local-first storage with encrypted credentials
No spend or health visibility
Usage, quota, savings and latency analytics
1. Subscription2. API key3. Cheap4. Free

Documentation snapshot

How the gateways compare

Capabilities checked against the linked project documentation on 2026-08-30.

CapabilityOmniRoute (opens in a new tab)9Router (opens in a new tab)LiteLLM (opens in a new tab)CLIProxyAPI (opens in a new tab)
Providers35240+100+8+ upstreams
Routing strategies193-tierretry / priorityround-robin / fill-first
Tiered fallback with UIYesYesManual policyMulti-account
Token compression12 engines · 15–95%RTK / Headroom / CavemanNo built-in pipelineHTTP compression

Public README and official documentation snapshot; verify linked sources before purchase or deployment decisions.

Deployment

9 supported ways to run OmniRoute.

Install it on a laptop, server or phone, or connect through a supported editor and plugin.

npm

One command on any supported desktop OS

npm install -g omnirouteOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

Docker

Multi-arch AMD64 and ARM64 image

docker run … diegosouzapw/omnirouteOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

Desktop

Native window and system tray on Windows, macOS and Linux

npm run electron:buildOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

ARM

Raspberry Pi, ARM servers and Apple Silicon

native arm64

Android · Termux

Runs on Android without root

pkg install nodejs && npx -y omnirouteOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

PWA

Fullscreen, offline-ready and installable from a browser

Add to Home ScreenOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

OpenCode plugin

Native OpenCode provider plugin

@omniroute/opencode-providerOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

VS Code

OmniRoute models in the Copilot Chat picker

Install OmniCopilotOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

From source

Hack on it and contribute

npm install && npm run devOpen guide (opens in a new tab)

Routing

Choose an `auto` route.

Use a ready-made mode or combine 19 strategies around the goal that matters.

Model · fallback enabledautoBalanced default
OpenAI-compatible request
curl http://localhost:20128/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"auto","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Write a TypeScript retry helper."}]}'

Routing alias auto selected. Objective: Balanced default. Fallback enabled.

Drain subscription quota

Use quota you already have before touching paid APIs.

priority · fill-first

Spread load

Balance traffic across keys and accounts to reduce rate-limit pressure.

weighted · round-robin · p2c · least-used · headroom

Cheapest first

Route to the lowest-cost eligible target.

cost-optimized

Context-aware

Keep long contexts on models that fit, then relay when needed.

context-relay · context-optimized · cache-optimized

Randomized

Distribute eligible traffic across targets.

random · strict-random

Adaptive scoring

Use 15-factor scoring, last-known-good and reset-aware windows.

reset-window · reset-aware · lkgp · auto · fusion · pipeline

Free-tier accounting

Published free-tier capacity, deduplicated.

455 catalog entries are deduplicated into 40 recurring pools; only published positive budgets feed the headline.

1.51B

Pool-deduped accounting keeps shared quotas from being counted more than once. No-cap providers stay visible without inflating the token total. Checked 2026-08-30.

View the calculation (opens in a new tab)
Recurring or keyless free-forever providers56
  • Mistral1B/month
  • LLM7150M/month
  • Nara150M/month
  • Gemini CLI · forever60M/month
  • Kiro50 credits/month
  • Qoder · foreverFree catalog
  • LongCat · forever50M/day
  • Cerebras1M/day
  • NVIDIA NIM~40 RPM
  • Pollinations · foreverNo key
  • Cloudflare Workers AI · foreverDaily neurons
  • OpenCode Free · foreverNo-auth catalog

Context compression

Reduce eligible tokens by 15–95%.

Tool output, repeated context and bloated structured data can be compressed before they reach the model.

Before69 tokens
The function should iterate over the list of items, and for each item, it should check whether the value is greater than zero, and if so, add it to the running total.
After19 tokens
sum all list items where value > 0

Composable pipeline

  1. Session-Dedup
    Drop content already sent earlier in the session.
  2. CCR
    Archive large blocks and restore them on demand.
  3. Lite
    Apply conservative lossless cleanup.
  4. RTK
    Filter and deduplicate command and tool output.
  5. Responses Tool Output
    Compact Responses API tool payloads.
  6. Headroom
    Apply reversible tabular and structured-data compaction.
  7. Relevance
    Keep sentences most relevant to the latest query.
  8. Caveman
    Use rule-based prose condensation.
  9. Aggressive
    Apply stronger configured pruning.
  10. LLMLingua-2
    Use code-safe semantic pruning in an isolated worker.
  11. Ultra
    Combine high-savings stages with preservation guards.
  12. OmniGlyph
    Encode eligible repeated structures compactly.

Profiles

Published profile range~30%x-omniroute-compression: standard

Standard compression selected. Published range ~30%.

Controls and output styles

  • Named profiles and active selector
  • Visual Compression Studio
  • Anthropic Context Editing
  • Adaptive context-budget dial
  • Per-request `x-omniroute-compression` header
  • Offline eval harness
  • Token-threshold auto-trigger
  • Terse prose
  • Less code (YAGNI)
  • Terse CJK 文言

Control precedence: request header → combo → profile → adaptive policy → default.

Failure isolation

Isolate provider, connection and model failures.

A bad key should not kill a provider. A limited model should not kill a connection.

model ⊂ connection ⊂ provider
Provider circuit breakerWhen a provider is unhealthy, combo routing skips it until a half-open probe succeeds.
Connection cooldownCool down one key or account while sibling connections keep serving.
Model lockoutLock one rate-limited or unavailable model while other models on the connection remain available.

Network controls

Network routing and local data controls.

Proxy scopes control network routing while local-first storage keeps operational data on your machine.

Three proxy scopes

Route globally, per provider or per individual connection.

  • Global · per-provider · per-connection
  • SOCKS5 and HTTP(S) proxies
  • Proxy marketplace integration

TLS and client fingerprint controls

Match supported provider clients down to selected transport characteristics.

  • JA3/JA4-capable transport via wreq-js
  • Provider-specific client profiles
  • IPv4 and IPv6 egress controls

Private and local-first

Keys, usage and history stay on the host you control.

  • SQLite on disk with AES-256-GCM encrypted credentials
  • No OmniRoute account required
  • Self-host on infrastructure you choose
RussiaChinaIranCubaTürkiye

Local dashboard

Configure OmniRoute without editing YAML.

Manage providers, combos, analytics, health and costs at `localhost:20128/dashboard`.

localhost:20128/dashboardExample data
352providers connected
90+free tiers available
198healthy in this example
  • Claude Code · OAuth · live
  • Cerebras · free · live
  • Groq · cooldown example
  • NVIDIA NIM · free · live

Agent protocols

Expose OmniRoute over MCP and A2A.

OmniRoute can expose its gateway to MCP clients, A2A networks and supported cloud coding agents.

MCP server

110 tools across 33 scopes over stdio and HTTP transports.

110 tools · 33 scopes · stdio / HTTP

claude mcp add omniroute --type http --url http://localhost:20128/api/mcp/stream

A2A server

6 skills for smart routing, quota, discovery, cost analysis and health reporting over JSON-RPC 2.0.

6 skills · JSON-RPC 2.0 · Agent Card

Cloud agents

Connect supported Codex, Cursor, Devin and Jules workflows through one orchestration surface.

Codex · Cursor · Devin · Jules

Additional services

Extend the gateway.

Embedded services

Run Bifrost, 9Router or CLIProxy as managed sidecars, or operate a full cluster profile.

Your knowledge, in context

Connect Notion and Obsidian as MCP-backed context sources.

Guardrails built in

Prompt-injection checks, opt-in PII redaction and normalized safety filters without provider lock-in.

Usage goals

Track streaks, achievements and live savings alongside operational analytics.

Guides

Setup guides in three languages

Walkthroughs cover installation, free-provider setup and connecting an IDE.

Built in the open

Repository activity

See stars, forks, contributors and releases from the checked-in GitHub snapshot.

  • 8,274forks
  • 583contributors
  • 280releases shipped

Snapshot from 2026-09-01

Discord

Chat, support and roadmap

(opens in a new tab)

Telegram

News and announcements

(opens in a new tab)

WhatsApp 🌍

Global community

(opens in a new tab)

WhatsApp 🇧🇷

Comunidade Brasil

(opens in a new tab)
Meet the contributors (opens in a new tab)

OmniRoute by Cheaper Inference

Choose how you run OmniRoute.

Self-host OmniRoute, or start with Cheaper Inference for a hosted cost-ranked gateway.

Start with Cheaper Inference Self-host OmniRoute (opens in a new tab)