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.

Contact ClawRouters

Everything below reaches the same inbox: [email protected]. Naming the category in the subject line routes it faster.

Support and technical issues

Routing behaviour, unexpected model selection, gateway errors, embeddings, speech or routed web search.

Worth checking first: the LLM gateway error reference, indexed by exact error string.

Billing and account

Invoices, plan changes, credits, expiry, cancellation and refund requests.

Payments are processed by Stripe, and subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled before the renewal date. Refunds are handled case by case — see the terms.

Security disclosure

If you believe you have found a vulnerability, email us before disclosing publicly.

Include reproduction steps, and never put live credentials in the report.

Press and partnerships

Media enquiries, integration partnerships, and questions about how routing decisions are made.

What to include in a routing report

These four things turn a first reply into an answer instead of a request for details.

The agent framework and version — OpenClaw, LangChain, AutoGen, CrewAI, n8n, an SDK, or your own client.
The exact error string, verbatim, with the HTTP status. Paraphrased errors routinely point at the wrong layer.
Expected versus actual model — the dashboard shows which model handled each call and which task class was detected.
Whether it reproduces, and the shortest call that does. Never include your API key.

Other channels

Product changes are dated on the changelog.
Endpoint configuration is in the setup guide.
Data handling is answered in the privacy policy.