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-5.5 at $5/$30) for every request — including trivial ones like simple Q&A, code formatting, or translation. For those tasks, Gemini Flash ($0.30/M output), DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.14/$0.28), 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. ClawRouters 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 ClawRouters. 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/month with up to 500K that can run on Opus).

ClawRouters 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. ClawRouters is different: we automatically pick the cheapest capable model per task, in 10ms. OpenRouter solved access; ClawRouters solves cost. ClawRouters 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 V4 Flash ($0.14/$0.28). For medium-complexity coding: Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3/$15), GPT-5.4 ($2.5/$15), Kimi K2.6 ($0.60/$4), or DeepSeek V4 Pro ($1.74/$3.48). Only escalate to Claude Opus 4.7 ($15/$75) or GPT-5.5 ($5/$30) for genuinely complex reasoning or architectural design. A smart router like ClawRouters 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 ClawRouters safe with my data?

Yes. ClawRouters 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 ClawRouters key across my SaaS users?

Pass a stable per-customer ID in the OpenAI SDK's 'user' parameter with every request. ClawRouters 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.

LLM API Pricing Tracker — Verified Weekly, With a Price-Change Log (2026)

TL;DR — This page tracks LLM API pricing the way it should be tracked: verified against official rate cards weekly (last verification: 2026-08-26), with a running changelog of price changes — because in 2026 the story is not any single price, it is how fast they move. Cite freely; every number below carries an as-of date, and stale copies of this table elsewhere are exactly why we maintain it.

Current pricing (per million tokens, USD, verified 2026-08-26)

| Provider | Model | Input | Output | Notes | |----------|-------|-------|--------|-------| | Anthropic | Claude Fable 5 | $10.00 | $50.00 | Top tier | | Anthropic | Claude Opus 5 | $5.00 | $25.00 | 3× cut vs Opus 4 | | Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 5 | $2.00 | $10.00 | Promo through Aug 31, 2026 | | Anthropic | Claude Haiku 4.5 | $1.00 | $5.00 | Details | | OpenAI | GPT-5.5 | $5.00 | $30.00 | | | OpenAI | GPT-5.4 | $2.50 | $15.00 | | | OpenAI | GPT-4o | $2.50 | $10.00 | | | OpenAI | GPT-4o-mini | $0.15 | $0.60 | Details | | Google | Gemini 3 Pro | $1.25 | $5.00 | | | Google | Gemini 3 Flash | $0.075 | $0.30 | Cheapest input tracked | | DeepSeek | V4 Pro | $1.74 | $3.48 | | | DeepSeek | V4 Flash | $0.14 | $0.28 | | | Zhipu (Z.ai) | GLM-5.2 | ~$1.12 | ~$3.92 | ¥8/¥28; tiered pricing | | Zhipu (Z.ai) | GLM-5.1 | ~$0.84–1.12 | ~$3.36–3.92 | ¥6–8/¥24–28 by request length | | Zhipu (Z.ai) | GLM-4.7-Flash | Free | Free | 200K context | | Moonshot | Kimi K2.6 | $0.60 | $4.00 | | | Mistral | (flagship API) | see source | see source | verified via official page |

Cache discounts: Anthropic ~90% off cached input; Zhipu ~75–80% off; OpenAI cached-input discounts apply. Batch APIs: Anthropic −50% (stacks with cache); others vary. CNY→USD at ~7.15.

Price-change log — the part nobody else keeps

Dated, sourced changes only. This log is the citable asset: it turns "prices change fast" from a vibe into a record.

| Date | Change | Magnitude | |------|--------|-----------| | 2026-08 | Claude Opus 5 launches at $5/$25 — replacing Opus 4's $15/$75 as Anthropic's workhorse frontier tier | −67% frontier repricing | | 2026-08 | Claude Sonnet 5 promotional pricing $2/$10 announced through Aug 31, 2026 | Promo | | 2026-02 | GLM-5 family launches with 67–100% API price increases over prior generation (per launch coverage) | +67–100% | | 2026 (ongoing) | Gemini 3 Flash holds the tracked floor for input pricing at $0.075/1M | Floor marker |

Have a dated change we missed? The log only accepts changes we can verify against official sources — that constraint is the point.

How to read this table like a router

Three structural facts matter more than any single price (full routing guide):

The spread is the opportunity: ~200× between cheapest and most expensive input token. Routing exists because of this table.
Repricing waves change routing math overnight — the Opus 5 cut moved the frontier threshold for every well-tuned router (analysis).
The free tier is real: GLM-4.7-Flash at $0 with 200K context has no Western equivalent and quietly absorbs background workloads.

Methodology

Verification cadence: every rate re-checked against the provider's official pricing page weekly (Fridays); the "verified" date above moves only when checks pass
Sources: official rate cards only — no aggregator hearsay; CNY rates from open.bigmodel.cn with USD conversion noted
Corrections: if you find a stale number, it is a bug — the whole point of this page is that stale pricing tables are everywhere and this one is not
Per-model deep dives: Opus 5 · Haiku 4.5 · GPT-4o-mini · GLM family · market guide

LLM API Pricing Tracker — Verified Weekly, With a Price-Change Log (2026)

Current pricing (per million tokens, USD, verified 2026-08-26)

Price-change log — the part nobody else keeps

How to read this table like a router

Methodology

Ready to Reduce Your AI API Costs?

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Claude Haiku 4.5 API Pricing 2026: $1/$5 Per Million Tokens (Quick Reference)

Claude Opus 5 API Pricing 2026: $5/$25 Per Million Tokens (and Why That Is 3× Cheaper Than Opus 4)

GPT-4o-mini API Pricing 2026: Rates Per Million Tokens (Quick Reference)

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