Compare AI tools

	OpenRouter S	Claude Code S	DALL-E 3 B	Gemini A
Tagline	One API, every model. Pay-as-you-go, no subscriptions.	Anthropic's CLI agent. Opus-powered, operates on your repo directly.	OpenAI's image model. Built into ChatGPT Plus.	Google's answer. Best integrated with Workspace + free for a lot.
Category	Dev Platform	Coding	Image	Chatbots
Pricing	Pay per token — model-dependent	Part of Claude Pro/Max/Team plans	Included with ChatGPT Plus $20/mo	Free + $20/mo Advanced (bundled with 2TB Drive)
Best for	Developers experimenting across models. Apps that want fallback logic.	Developers who want an agent, not autocomplete. Large refactors, tests, docs.	ChatGPT Plus users who want images without paying extra.	Anyone already on Google, research tasks, summarizing long documents.
Strengths	300+ models from one endpoint Automatic fallbacks between providers No subscription — just pay what you use	Runs locally, edits your actual files Strong on large codebases with 1M context Great at multi-step tasks	Excellent prompt understanding Built into ChatGPT — no extra subscription Good at composition + concepts	Native Google Workspace integration Very long context (1M+) Deep Research feature Free tier is generous
Weaknesses	Slight markup over direct API Some provider features not exposed	Terminal-based — learning curve Can't be used without Claude subscription	Aesthetic ceiling below Midjourney + Ideogram Text rendering worse than Ideogram No fine control	Writing quality trails Claude Over-refusals on edge content UI is cluttered
Kai's verdict	S-tier for model-shopping. I use this for every prototype before committing.	S-tier if you live in the terminal. Different shape than Cursor — complementary, not replacement.	B-tier standalone, A-tier value if you already pay ChatGPT. Don't pay for it separately.	A-tier. The Deep Research feature is genuinely useful. Don't sleep on it if you're already paying Google.
Link	Open →	Open →	Open →	Open →