OpenRouter

Model access intermediary routes requests to selected or automatically routed model providers; privacy and training handling depends on provider/model settings.

Score calculation

(6 + 6) ÷ 2 = 6.0

2 of six dimensions rated. Unrated dimensions and BDS status are excluded.

Full scoring method ↗

Setup details

OpenRouter is an intermediary, not the inference host/model owner in every transaction; actual endpoint and model provider are essential context.

Energy

↑

OpenRouter describes itself as an interface that routes requests to model providers; its public materials do not report a request-level electricity, emissions, or water footprint for the router or downstream route.

Reasoning & sources

A routed request’s facility and model can vary by selected provider, while OpenRouter’s public disclosures do not attach a measured footprint to that path. Compare only after obtaining the selected upstream provider, region, and usage-linked energy data.

Request-level electricity, emissions, and water use remain unknown.

Training rights

↑

OpenRouter’s terms/privacy explain intermediary routing and defer model corpus/data practices to model providers; no single OpenRouter policy establishes training rights for all catalog models.

Reasoning & sources

OpenRouter’s terms/privacy explain intermediary routing and defer model corpus/data practices to model providers; no single OpenRouter policy establishes training rights for all catalog models. Select the model first and review its license plus corpus-provenance disclosures; prompt no-training terms do not clear the model’s original dataset.

Model-provider-specific policies, model license and training corpus provenance are required.

Privacy

↑

OpenRouter states it does not use inputs/outputs to train its own models, but transmits inputs to selected or automatically routed model providers, whose retention and training terms differ; uploaded files may be retained until deleted.

Reasoning & sources

OpenRouter says it does not train on prompts, but routes content to selected providers with differing practices and may retain uploaded files. Check the exact API/web surface, plan, region, retention setting, routing, and stateful features in the applicable terms before sending sensitive content.

OpenRouter says it does not train on prompts, but routes content to selected providers with differing practices and may retain uploaded files.

Review provider-specific data practices, routing selection, account controls, and whether files/stateful features are used.

OpenRouter Privacy Policy ↗

Openness

↑

OpenRouter lets users select models and providers and configure routing, but it forwards requests to other hosted services; its router is not a self-hostable model stack.

Reasoning & sources

Model/provider choice and routing controls help portability, but every request still relies on another hosted provider. Check whether the chosen model’s weights and license permit inspection or relocation, and whether the serving runtime moves too; API compatibility alone is not an open stack.

Model/provider choice and routing controls help portability, but every request still relies on another hosted provider.

No claim can be made from silence; additional direct documentation or independently verified records are needed.

OpenRouter - The Unified Interface For Every Model ↗

Worker treatment

↑

OpenRouter’s careers page describes its internal team and hiring, while its routing terms place model delivery with separate providers; neither establishes labor conditions across those upstream model and infrastructure suppliers.

Reasoning & sources

The company’s own recruiting information is not evidence about annotation, data-center, or upstream-provider work. Request supplier-level labor and audit information for the actual model route; otherwise the worker conditions remain unverified.

Conditions for contractors, annotators, and model evaluators remain unknown.

Government & military

↑

OpenRouter’s terms and routing description establish an intermediary role, but the reviewed sources do not identify a defense award or military deployment tied to an OpenRouter endpoint.

Reasoning & sources

A routing layer can expose models operated by separate providers, so neither its own terms nor silence about contracts establishes the downstream use of each route. Assess a named customer and model-provider path separately, with the endpoint and contractual restrictions specified.

No inference about undisclosed customers or contracts is possible from silence.

BDS status

↑

We did not find OpenRouter, Inc. among the named targets in the two official BNC campaign lists. This is a limited list check, not BDS approval.

Reasoning & sources

OpenRouter, Inc. is not a named target in the checked lists, but BDS uses selective campaigns, so absence cannot establish a clean record. OpenRouter’s directory includes Google Vertex, Amazon Bedrock and Azure. Routes through those services involve named BDS targets; the directory does not mean every OpenRouter request uses them, so inspect and restrict your provider route.

This review covers the named targets in the BNC consumer/pressure guide and No Tech campaign, not every BDS campaign, local group, investment or supplier. Lists and ownership can change. A company’s absence from these lists is not an endorsement or proof that it has no relevant relationships.

All sources