> Today, we are excited to announce that we are joining forces with Stripe, to power the next wave of GDP growth globally. This is some high level meaningless corpo speak.
Big line go up!
OpenRouter is joining Stripe
11–20 of 532 posts
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#12Could someone explain why these routers are so valuable and pulling acquisitions in the billions?
OpenRouter allows you to have 1 API key to access
hundreds of models across dozens of providers.
Can’t explain the valuation since everything in this space is rationally overvalued, but I don’t think OpenRouters valuation is that surprising, all things considered.
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tokens are just a type of currency. Stripe is a middleman for currency. Using something like OpenRouter (or any of the AI Gateways) is better than tying yourself to one LLM provider that can rug pull on pricing or change models in a way you don't like. The value is in the network effect I think. OpenRouter is popular and has a good head start over anything Stripe could build internally.
Tokens are not a currency, tokens aren’t fungible and cannot be traded
A dollar bill and a euro coin isn’t fungible either.
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#14Could someone explain why these routers are so valuable and pulling acquisitions in the billions?
Distribution is a big moat and value-add.
So much so that right now GPT-5.6 Sol tokens are half price from OpenRouter compared to OpenAI directly. Which I guess means enough people are using OpenRouter, that OpenAI are more concerned about getting those users to switch (from, presumably, Anthropic) than they are about encouraging OpenRouter to exist and long term reduce margins for them by competition / lack of lock-in.
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#15Could someone explain why these routers are so valuable and pulling acquisitions in the billions?
It’s a marketplace with a markup on every token they sell. And I’d rather go to this shop, than sign up individually at the 70+ different providers they broker access to - even if it comes with a price.
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#16Could someone explain why these routers are so valuable and pulling acquisitions in the billions?
Contend of the LLM calls.
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tokens are just a type of currency. Stripe is a middleman for currency. Using something like OpenRouter (or any of the AI Gateways) is better than tying yourself to one LLM provider that can rug pull on pricing or change models in a way you don't like. The value is in the network effect I think. OpenRouter is popular and has a good head start over anything Stripe could build internally.
Tokens are not a currency, tokens aren’t fungible and cannot be traded
Yet
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#18Congrats!
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#19[deleted]
Re: OpenRouter is joining Stripe
#20> Today, we are excited to announce that we are joining forces with Stripe, to power the next wave of GDP growth globally. This is some high level meaningless corpo speak.
I get where it's coming from, I like Stripe's long-stated mission ("To increase the GDP of the Internet").
This version is dumb/empty, and reads like brown-nosing Stripe.