Stripe buys OpenRouter, the AI gateway 8M developers route through
Bloomberg says the $7B+ deal closed — 5x May's valuation. Your keys still work today, but the router fronting 400 models now answers to a payments giant.
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The deal, by the numbers
$7B-plus, per Bloomberg — roughly 5.4x OpenRouter's $1.3B valuation from its May Series B, just three months ago. Neither company has officially confirmed, but Fortune, TechCrunch and others corroborate.
Nothing breaks today — your keys keep working
The API and endpoints keep running; the precedent is Stripe's Lemon Squeezy buy, which still operates independently. What's actually changing is who owns your billing relationship.
The fees you're paying right now
OpenRouter takes 5.5% on card top-ups ($0.80 minimum) and 5% on crypto, with bring-your-own-key free up to $25K/month of list-price inference. Expect that pricing to get revisited on Stripe's timeline, not yours.
The real question: can routing stay neutral?
OpenRouter's whole pitch was impartial routing across ~400 models for 8M users. Under a payments company selling adjacent products, whether the router stays vendor-neutral is now an open, untested question.
Do this weekend: run a portability check
No post-close plan is published. Confirm your app can fail over to providers directly or a second gateway, and export your usage history now — cheap insurance before any pricing or policy shift lands.