Guides, comparisons, and insights on LLM routing and AI API cost optimization.
Aider's architect + editor split is brilliant — but both modes default to Opus. Here's how to combine Aider's --architect flag with phase-aware routing for 80%+ cost reduction without touching your workflow.
Claude Code is brilliant but expensive by default because every tool call routes to Opus. Here's how to point it at a phase-aware proxy so planning stays on Opus, implementation moves to Sonnet / DeepSeek, and your bill drops 60–80%.
OpenRouter and CodeRouter sound similar — both are 'routers'. But they solve different problems. OpenRouter gives you multi-model access; CodeRouter reduces your coding agent bill by picking the cheapest capable model per request automatically.
Cursor Pro burns tokens fast when you hit fast-request limits. Here's how phase-aware API routing cuts your real monthly coding spend without switching away from the Cursor IDE.
Head-to-head: DeepSeek V3 at $0.28/$0.42 vs. Claude Sonnet 4.6 at $3/$15 per 1M. On coding tasks, when does the 15× cost difference show up in output quality — and when doesn't it?
GitHub Copilot's $10/month is cheap but locks you into their model choices. For power users who hit Copilot's rate limits, phase-aware routing via a Custom Model endpoint delivers more context + cheaper per-token + model diversity.
Most LLM routers pick one model and stick with it. Phase-aware routing detects which *phase* of coding you're in — planning, implementing, debugging, testing — and picks the cheapest capable model per phase. Here's how it works in <10ms.