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.

Setup Guide

Get ClawRouters running with your AI agent in under 60 seconds.

Pick how you'll pay for inference

Two paths — pick whichever fits:

Free (BYOK) — Bring your own provider API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, …). We route smartly across them. You pay each provider directly; we charge $0. Required: add at least one provider key after signup.
Basic ($29/mo) — 10M tokens/mo, we provide keys to all major models. No BYOK setup required.
Pro ($99/mo) — 20M tokens/mo + 500K Opus tokens, enhanced quality routing, all models including Opus.

View Plans →

Sign Up & Get Your API Key

Create your account and grab your ClawRouters API key (the cr_… key) from the dashboard. On Free? Also add a provider key at /dashboard/models — Free plan can't make calls until at least one BYOK provider key is configured. Paid plans skip this step.

Install in OpenClaw

Run this one-liner to configure your OpenClaw agent:

Setup command

curl -fsSL https://www.clawrouters.com/setup.sh | bash -s -- cr_YOUR_KEY_HERE

Or manually add to your OpenClaw config (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json):

Manual config

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      clawrouters: {
        baseUrl: "https://www.clawrouters.com/api/v1",
        apiKey: "cr_YOUR_KEY_HERE",
        api: "openai-completions",
        models: [{ id: "auto", name: "ClawRouters Auto" }]
      }
    }
  },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "clawrouters/auto" }
    }
  }
}

Test It

Verify everything works with a dry-run request:

cURL test

curl https://www.clawrouters.com/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cr_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Dry-Run: true" \
  -d '{"model":"auto","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'

If you get a 200 response, you're all set! 🎉

Need Help?

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