Current documented limits
| Constraint | Current value | Scope | Verified source |
|---|---|---|---|
| free-model allowanceThe purchased-credit threshold changes the documented daily free-model allowance, and free model variants are also limited to 20 requests per minute. | 50 requests/day below $10 credits; 1,000/day after $10+ purchased | Free model variants | OpenRouterSep 17, 2026 |
| routed model contextOpenRouter model metadata also exposes provider-specific per-request limits when available. | Varies by model; exposed as context_length | Per model | OpenRouterSep 17, 2026 |
| rate-limit scopeRouting cannot guarantee identical capacity across different upstream model providers. | Account, model, and upstream-provider dependent | All accounts | OpenRouterSep 17, 2026 |
How to apply OpenRouter limits safely
The monitored baseline covers free-model allowance, routed model context, rate-limit scope. Treat these as separate constraints rather than one platform-wide capacity number: a workload can fit one row and still fail another because the plan, model, endpoint, runtime, region, invocation mode, or account scope differs.
- Match the production workload to the exact scope printed beside each value and confirm it in the active OpenRouter console, configuration, or response headers.
- Measure the serialized request, token volume, duration, concurrency, storage, or connection demand at realistic percentiles, then preserve headroom for bursts and retries.
- Check every adjacent layer—client, SDK, gateway, proxy, queue, database, and downstream service—for a smaller effective limit before changing architecture.
Specific limit pages
These pages exist because the constraint has a distinct implementation or troubleshooting intent. Closely related keyword variations stay consolidated.
OpenRouter Free Model Request Limits
OpenRouter Free Model Request Limits, verified against OpenRouter's official documentation with scope, implementation impact, caveats, and a direct check.
OpenRouter Model Context Limits
OpenRouter Model Context Limits, verified against OpenRouter's official documentation with scope, implementation impact, caveats, and a direct check.
OpenRouter Provider Rate-Limit Scope
OpenRouter Provider Rate-Limit Scope, verified against OpenRouter's official documentation with scope, implementation impact, caveats, and a direct check.