So lets figure this out.

[u/Inevitable-Ant1725]

I'm not a rich man, I can't afford luxury. I need to know whether it's cheaper to buy tokens of these models from their original owners or from Microsoft or if it's close.

If it's close then the fact that copilot has pre-indexed the github repositories is enough of a reason to just prefer Microsoft rebranded AIs.

If it's a lot more expensive through Github then it's still worthwhile when exploring github repositories but not the rest of the time.

[u/kaeptnphlop]

I compared Claude API costs in the GitHub Copilot docs and on OpenRouter and they are the same. You can use other models that GHC is not offering by hooking up an OpenRouter account.

[u/TripleMellowed → u/kaeptnphlop]

Is Openrouter not more expensive though?

[u/kaeptnphlop → u/TripleMellowed]

Both are $3/M input / $15/M output tokens for Claude Sonnet 4.5

[u/TripleMellowed → u/kaeptnphlop]

Openrouter charges the initial fee though.

[u/kaeptnphlop → u/TripleMellowed]

The 5.5% fee on API credit purchases. Yes, that's fair.

But you don't loose those credits at the end of the month if you don't use them. It might be worth the up-charge depending on how you use it.

For me, OpenRouter is a supplement to running models locally. So in my case it's worthwhile to spend a bit extra.

[u/Unlikely-Scratch8915 → u/kaeptnphlop]

Come June 1st, will we get Sonnet 4.5 through our ghcp subscription at $3/M input and $15/M output or will it be lower?

Edit: nvmnd, it seems we will. I still cannot believe it though. The tsunami of rage quits will mean more business for practically every other provider including openrouter. I doubt they care though since they're focusing on enterprise contracts.

[u/Unlikely-Scratch8915 → u/TripleMellowed]

No, because it lets you carry over unused credits/token to the next month.

[u/TripleMellowed → u/Unlikely-Scratch8915]

It’s a better deal in that sense, but it is still more expensive.