OpenRouter adds Batch API with generally 50% lower per-token pricing
OpenRouter’s asynchronous Batch API lets providers complete requests within a 24-hour window in exchange for generally charging 50% or less of normal per-token prices. It supports chat completions, responses, messages, and embeddings, with timing varying by batch and submission hour.
SessionWatcher editorial · Published · Updated · Source announcement: 2026-09-22
An asynchronous option for deferred work
OpenRouter says its Batch API is for requests that do not need immediate completion. Providers choose when to finish within a 24-hour window; in exchange, they generally charge 50% or less of normal per-token pricing. The discount is per-token, varies by model, and does not apply to web-search calls, which bill at standard rates.
OpenRouter reports that across more than 230,000 batches completed during its two-week beta, the median completion time was 7 minutes and 90% finished within an hour. These are observed beta timings, not a completion-time guarantee. The post also says timing depends on submission hour: batches submitted between 5 a.m. and noon Pacific were significantly slower.
Sources: Batch API: half-price inference by bundling requests
Supported requests and trade-offs
The API accepts chat completions, responses, messages, and embeddings request shapes. Each batch runs on a single provider. Results are returned independently per request, so a few bad rows do not fail the rest of the job, and inputs and results are retained for 30 days or until the batch is deleted.
The announcement lists limits: images and files must use public URLs, while audio, video, and OpenRouter’s own web-search plugin are unavailable in batch. This makes the feature most suitable for deferred text or embedding workloads where variable response times are acceptable.
Sources: Batch API: half-price inference by bundling requests
AI assisted reporting, checked against the linked official sources. Source pages checked 2026-09-30. Editorial process and corrections.