[bangaladore]

Where the loading charge is amortized over all the calls made.

If you want to use precisely one API, paying directly for that API is cheaper. However, that's only true with closed-source providers. Anyone can host a server running llama 3.1 that OpenRouter could (in theory) use, bringing price competition to model cost. Closed-source models have a monopoly and can set their price wherever they want.

I'm okay with spending an extra 2$ every six months to access the APIs of any model I want.

[stavros]

Sure, but I only use the hosted APIs, so for me it doesn't make much sense to pay the extra premium. Maybe it doesn't for others either.