How to top up OpenRouter credits with your card
OpenRouter is one API account for many model providers. You buy credits first and usage is deducted from them; there is no monthly fee. Card purchases carry a fee, and checkout shows the total. Card number, expiry, CVC and billing address are in your card email.
Steps
- 1
Open the Credits page
Sign in at openrouter.ai, open Credits (openrouter.ai/settings/credits) and click Add Credits.
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Enter the amount and check the total
Enter the dollar amount of credits. Checkout shows the total including the fee — keep that total plus $1 on the card.
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Enter the card
Choose card and enter the card number, expiry, CVC and billing address from your card email. Submit once.
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Check your credits
Back on the Credits page, confirm the credits arrived. Auto top-up is set on the same page — leave it off if you don’t want automatic charges.
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Suggested balance (tax included)
- Real charges on our cards: $10 of credits cost $10.80, $24 cost $25.32, $94 cost $99.17 — matching OpenRouter’s 5.5% card fee with a $0.80 minimum.
- So keep: credits × 1.055 (at least $0.80 extra on small amounts), plus the $1 fee. The fee shown on the top-up page is what counts.
Credits and fees as stated by OpenRouter: OpenRouter FAQ
Common reasons it fails
What our cards show:
- All 14 OpenRouter charges on our cards (6 cards) succeeded; no failed sample yet. If declined, check the card holds credits + fee + $1, then the billing address.
- Across all our cards and platforms in October, about 69% of failed charges were a short balance (the charge was more than the card held), about 12% a cancelled card still being charged, about 9% a merchant type outside what the card supports, and about 9% a wrong expiry date (several wrong tries lock it for a while).
Check the balance and transactions, or top up this card: Card lookup & top-up
Card declined? Read: OpenRouter payment methods and card declined fixes
OpenRouter docs: FAQ (credits and fees)
Still stuck? Contact support
Tell us which step failed and what the page said — a screenshot helps.
