4 ms·

It's discounted if used via OpenRouter, not the official API.

by mirzap 2mo ago

oblio 2mo ago
That's weird.
- not-kinsale-joe 2mo ago
  Why is that weird?
  - Mattrou 2mo ago
    How is that not weird? Has OpenAI struck a deal with openrouter and that's why we're seeing preferred pricing? Is openrouter taking a loss on sol API calls to grow adoption? How temporary is the reduction in price?
  - oblio 2mo ago
    Selling cheaper through what should be a minor third party, than through the first, party is super weird in commerce.
- JCharante 2mo ago
  Maybe they (oai) want to pump their marketshare on openrouter lol
  - cute_boi 1mo ago
    Any benefit of pumping marketshare on open router?
    - JCharante 1mo ago
      if I was going to IPO I'd want higher marketshare and openrouter is the most popular way to measure model usage (not saying it's the most accurate b/c it's not)
londons_explore 2mo ago
Doesn't seem like a smart business move. You're literally encouraging someone else to come in and steal your customer base,
- podgorniy 2mo ago
  This imbalance of exchange means that OpenAI is getting something from this deal. Question what is exactly.
  - SyneRyder 2mo ago
    Seems reasonably clear to me? Potentially bringing in more customers who use OpenRouter for trying out all the models with rapid switching, enticing them to use Sol. And anyone being routed on price will immediately be switched to OpenAI's servers instead. It also seems to be providing a vastly better user experience - Azure has less than 99% uptime (Azure USA only has 87% uptime), latency of 20 - 30 seconds, and a mere 8 tokens per second. OpenAI is offering 32 tokens per second (4x faster), 4 seconds latency (5x faster), and all for half the price of what Microsoft is charging for a vastly inferior experience. Data taken from this page: https://openrouter.ai/openai/gpt-5.6-sol#providers https://openrouter.ai/openai/gpt-5.6-sol#providers
  - sdesol 1mo ago
    I think being able to A/B test price is invaluable for them. They can't cut prices by 50% and hike it again. By letting others slash the price, they can tell if it is worth it or not to do this officially.
- ywvcbk 2mo ago
  Or it's "normal" market segmentation. OpenRouter users are more price sensitive in general, also a lot of enterprise users who can't switch easily are using the official API (or Bedrock or Azure) and you want to squeeze them as much as you can.
- rafaelmn 2mo ago
  Literally all OEMs do this, if you go to Apple site you won't see any sales, but Amazon and other retailers will have stuff at 20% off regularly
krzyk 2mo ago
So the title is misleading, intentionally.
mirzap 2mo ago
And it's not just on OpenRouter; Vercel offers the same: https://vercel.com/changelog/gpt-5-6-sol-is-50-off-on-ai-gateway-for-the-next-month https://vercel.com/changelog/gpt-5-6-sol-is-50-off-on-ai-gat...

It's discounted if used via OpenRouter, not the official API.

by mirzap 2mo ago

It's discounted if used via OpenRouter, not the official API.

oblio 2mo ago

That's weird.

not-kinsale-joe 2mo ago
Why is that weird?
- Mattrou 2mo ago
  How is that not weird? Has OpenAI struck a deal with openrouter and that's why we're seeing preferred pricing? Is openrouter taking a loss on sol API calls to grow adoption? How temporary is the reduction in price?
- oblio 2mo ago
  Selling cheaper through what should be a minor third party, than through the first, party is super weird in commerce.
JCharante 2mo ago
Maybe they (oai) want to pump their marketshare on openrouter lol
- cute_boi 1mo ago
  Any benefit of pumping marketshare on open router?
  - JCharante 1mo ago
    if I was going to IPO I'd want higher marketshare and openrouter is the most popular way to measure model usage (not saying it's the most accurate b/c it's not)

londons_explore 2mo ago

Doesn't seem like a smart business move. You're literally encouraging someone else to come in and steal your customer base,

podgorniy 2mo ago
This imbalance of exchange means that OpenAI is getting something from this deal. Question what is exactly.
- SyneRyder 2mo ago
  Seems reasonably clear to me? Potentially bringing in more customers who use OpenRouter for trying out all the models with rapid switching, enticing them to use Sol. And anyone being routed on price will immediately be switched to OpenAI's servers instead. It also seems to be providing a vastly better user experience - Azure has less than 99% uptime (Azure USA only has 87% uptime), latency of 20 - 30 seconds, and a mere 8 tokens per second. OpenAI is offering 32 tokens per second (4x faster), 4 seconds latency (5x faster), and all for half the price of what Microsoft is charging for a vastly inferior experience. Data taken from this page: https://openrouter.ai/openai/gpt-5.6-sol#providers https://openrouter.ai/openai/gpt-5.6-sol#providers
- sdesol 1mo ago
  I think being able to A/B test price is invaluable for them. They can't cut prices by 50% and hike it again. By letting others slash the price, they can tell if it is worth it or not to do this officially.
ywvcbk 2mo ago
Or it's "normal" market segmentation. OpenRouter users are more price sensitive in general, also a lot of enterprise users who can't switch easily are using the official API (or Bedrock or Azure) and you want to squeeze them as much as you can.
rafaelmn 2mo ago
Literally all OEMs do this, if you go to Apple site you won't see any sales, but Amazon and other retailers will have stuff at 20% off regularly

krzyk 2mo ago

So the title is misleading, intentionally.

mirzap 2mo ago

And it's not just on OpenRouter; Vercel offers the same: https://vercel.com/changelog/gpt-5-6-sol-is-50-off-on-ai-gateway-for-the-next-month https://vercel.com/changelog/gpt-5-6-sol-is-50-off-on-ai-gat...