Why is my AI agent so expensive to run?

The usual cause is that your agent calls a premium model (Claude Opus 4.7 at $15/$75 per 1M tokens, GPT-5.2 at $1.75/$14) for every request — including trivial ones like simple Q&A, code formatting, or translation. For those tasks, Gemini Flash ($0.30/M output) or Claude Haiku ($5/M) would deliver the same quality at 15-250x lower cost. In a typical agent workload, about 80% of calls don't need the premium model. CodeRouter analyzes each call in 10ms and routes it to the cheapest capable model — typical users save 70-90% on their monthly bill.

How do I reduce OpenClaw AI API costs?

OpenClaw is OpenAI-compatible, so you can change its base_url to a smart routing proxy like CodeRouter. The proxy analyzes each call (coding vs formatting vs reasoning) and sends it to the cheapest model that can handle it. No code changes — just one config line in your openclaw.json. Typical OpenClaw users cut their token bill 70-90% without any loss in output quality. Pricing starts at $29/mo (Starter plan, 10M tokens included) or $99/mo (Pro, 20M tokens + 500K Opus quota).

CodeRouter vs OpenRouter — which is better for cost savings?

OpenRouter and LiteLLM give you multi-model access under one API key — but you still manually pick which model to call. That's why most developers default to the premium model and bleed money. CodeRouter is different: we automatically pick the cheapest capable model per task, in 10ms. OpenRouter solved access; CodeRouter solves cost. CodeRouter also adds features OpenRouter doesn't: per-end-user token tracking (for SaaS agent builders sharing keys with customers), auto top-up, BYOK fallback opt-in, and OpenClaw-native integration.

What's the cheapest model for coding agents in 2026?

For code formatting and simple edits: Claude Haiku 4.5 ($1/$5 per 1M) or DeepSeek V3.2 ($0.28/$0.42). For medium-complexity coding: Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3/$15) or Gemini 2.5 Pro ($1.25/$10). Only use Claude Opus 4.7 ($15/$75) or GPT-5.2 ($1.75/$14) for genuinely complex reasoning or architectural design. A smart router like CodeRouter makes this decision per-call automatically based on the task — you don't need to configure it by hand.

How does task-aware routing save money vs. just using one model?

Most AI agent workloads break down roughly as: 60% simple Q&A/translation/formatting, 25% medium coding/analysis, 15% complex reasoning. If you send all of them to Claude Opus ($75/M output), you pay full price for every call. If you task-route instead: 60% → Gemini Flash at $0.30/M (250x cheaper), 25% → Claude Haiku at $5/M (15x cheaper), 15% → Opus (no change). Blended savings ≈ 80-90% vs. Opus-everything, with no quality degradation. This is the math behind the 70-90% typical savings.

Is CodeRouter safe with my data?

Yes. CodeRouter is a routing proxy — we classify the task type (in 10ms, on our servers) to pick a model, then forward your request directly to the model provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) over encrypted connections. We don't train on your data. We log minimal metadata (token counts, model used, timing) for usage dashboards, not prompt content beyond a 500-char snippet for classifier improvement which you can opt out of. BYOK keys are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM.

How do I track per-customer API costs when I share my CodeRouter key across my SaaS users?

Pass a stable per-customer ID in the OpenAI SDK's 'user' parameter with every request. CodeRouter writes this to each usage log and surfaces aggregated per-end-user breakdowns in your dashboard — requests, cost, tokens, models used, first/last seen. This is built-in and included with every plan. It's essential for SaaS agent builders (e.g. an OpenClaw-based product) who share keys across customers and need to attribute cost back to each one.

Built for devs using Cursor · Aider · Claude Code · Copilot · OpenClaw

Your coding agent doesn't need
Opus for everything.

CodeRouter is a phase-aware API proxy that detects whether your request is planning, implementing, debugging, or testing — and routes it to the cheapest model that can actually do the job. Typical developers cut their coding-agent bill by 70–90% in the first week.

Start 14-day free trial →See pricing

✓ No credit card to trial✓ 2-minute setup✓ Works with any OpenAI-compatible agent

The problem

Right now, every "fix this typo" costs Opus prices.

Coding agents default to a single premium model — Claude Opus 4.7 at $15/$75 per 1M tokens. They use it for architecture decisions AND for // TODO: rename variable. That's why your bill balloons.

Planning (5% of calls)

$33/M

Claude Opus 4.7

$33/M

Implementation (55%)

$33/M

DeepSeek V3 / Sonnet 4.6

$1.26/M

Debugging (10%)

$33/M

Sonnet 4.6 / R1

$3.46/M

Test generation (15%)

$33/M

DeepSeek V3

$0.32/M

Small edits + docs (15%)

$33/M

Haiku 4.5 / Gemini Flash

$1.25/M

Blended average

$33/M

(weighted mix)

~$2.30/M

Math based on typical coding-agent workload mix (70% input / 30% output tokens). Real savings depend on your workload — the CodeRouter dashboard shows your actual number per week.

How phase-aware routing works

We analyze each request in <10ms and route it.

Phase detection is built from regex over the last user message + inspection of recent tool-call history + agent fingerprinting (we know Cursor composer mode, Aider architect mode, Claude Code plan mode, etc). Confidence ≥ 70% → route decisively.

Plan

Architecture & design

"How should I structure this service? What's the best caching strategy?" — high reasoning, low frequency.

→ Claude Opus 4.7 / GPT-5.2

Implement

Code generation

"Write a function that..." "Add error handling to this." The bulk of your agent's work — 50–60% of calls.

→ Sonnet 4.6 / DeepSeek V3

Debug

Errors & failures

Tool result contained a stack trace? Failed test? We know — route to reasoning-strong models.

→ Sonnet 4.6 / DeepSeek R1

Test

Test generation

Writing unit/integration tests is pattern-heavy. Cheap models do this as well as premium — for 100× less cost.

→ DeepSeek V3 / Kimi K2.5

Refactor

Restructuring

"Extract this into a helper", "simplify this method" — medium reasoning, high frequency.

→ Sonnet 4.6 / DeepSeek V3

Document

Docstrings & READMEs

Template-heavy, low reasoning — prime Haiku/Flash territory.

→ Haiku 4.5 / Gemini Flash

Small edit

Formatting & renames

"Fix the typo on line 42." Using Opus for this is criminal. We route to the cheapest capable model.

→ GPT-5 Mini / Flash

Fallback

Uncertain requests

Low-confidence phase? We stay conservative — upgrade to a tier-1 model rather than guess wrong.

→ Sonnet 4.6 default

Setup · 2 minutes

Change one `base_url`. That's it.

If your agent speaks the OpenAI chat-completions API, it speaks CodeRouter. Cursor, Aider, Claude Code, Copilot, OpenClaw, Windsurf, or your own SDK.

# In Cursor settings → Models → Custom API
Base URL: https://coderouter.io/api/v1
API Key:  cr_your_coderouter_key
Model:    auto

Transparency

We show you every routing decision.

Every response carries headers explaining exactly which model we picked, why, and how much it cost. No black box.

X-CodeRouter-Model: deepseek-chat

X-CodeRouter-Phase: implement

X-CodeRouter-Phase-Confidence: 0.85

X-CodeRouter-Agent: cursor

X-CodeRouter-Cost: 0.000123

X-CodeRouter-Cost-If-Opus: 0.012874

X-CodeRouter-Savings: 99.0%

Pricing

Simple platform pricing.

Plus 20% markup on any overage — never inflated, with a per-plan cap so you never see a runaway bill.

Solo

$29 /mo

5M tokens + 100K Opus included
Phase-aware routing
All 15+ coding models
+20% overage (cap $60/mo)

Start Solo

Pro MOST POPULAR

$99 /mo

30M tokens + 500K Opus included
Priority Opus routing
Agent fingerprint analytics
+20% overage (cap $200/mo)

Start Pro

Team

$299 /mo

80M tokens + 1M Opus included
5 seats + shared dashboards
SSO-ready
+20% overage (cap $600/mo)

Start Team

See all 6 plans + FAQ →

Your coding agent doesn't needOpus for everything.

Right now, every "fix this typo" costs Opus prices.

We analyze each request in <10ms and route it.

Architecture & design

Code generation

Errors & failures

Test generation

Restructuring

Docstrings & READMEs

Formatting & renames

Uncertain requests

Change one base_url. That's it.

We show you every routing decision.

Simple platform pricing.

Get weekly AI cost optimization tips

Stop paying Opus pricesfor variable renames.

Your coding agent doesn't need
Opus for everything.

Change one `base_url`. That's it.

Stop paying Opus prices
for variable renames.