Provider Tiers
How our intelligent routing system optimizes costs across economy, standard, and premium providers
What are provider tiers?
When you make a request, we don't just send it to one provider. We intelligently route through multiple upstream providers to ensure your request succeeds, even when some providers are down or overloaded.
Providers are organized into three tiers based on cost and reliability. The tier we route to affects your pricing:
- Economy providers: Best value - save money on every request
- Standard providers: Balanced cost and reliability (default)
- Premium providers: Official APIs with highest uptime
How we ensure reliability
Automatic fallback system
We use a smart fallback system that tries multiple providers automatically. If one provider is slow or down, we instantly switch to another. This happens in milliseconds - you never see an error.
Model Backup
Request fails? We try equivalent models (e.g., Claude → GPT → DeepSeek)
Provider Tiers
Try multiple provider tiers (Standard → Economy → Premium)
Health Checks
Avoid unhealthy providers automatically with circuit breakers
Result: 99.9% uptime even when individual providers fail. Your requests succeed, and you get the best price automatically.
Provider tier details
Economy Tier
What it is:
Lowest-cost providers serving the same models at 30-50% below official pricing. Routes tried first for maximum savings.
Pricing:
- With subscription: 70% tracked (30% savings)
- Pay-as-you-go: 30% of provider cost (70% off)
Best for:
High-volume workloads, development/testing, cost-conscious users. Same model quality, maximum value.
Standard Tier
What it is:
Balanced reliability and cost. Mix of official APIs and trusted aggregators. Default fallback when economy unavailable.
Pricing:
- With subscription: 100% tracked (baseline)
- Pay-as-you-go: 60% of provider cost (40% off)
Best for:
Production workloads where reliability matters. Automatic fallback when economy hits rate limits.
Premium Tier
What it is:
Official APIs from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google. Highest uptime, fastest response, full SLA support.
Pricing:
- With subscription: Uses separate $1-$10/month budget
- Pay-as-you-go: 100% of provider cost (no discount)
Best for:
Mission-critical workloads needing official SLAs or features exclusive to direct provider APIs.
How pricing works
With a subscription (Starter through Max plans)
Example: Request to Claude Sonnet ($0.10 provider cost)
✓ 30% savings - your cap goes further!
Full cost (baseline)
starsPremium providers
Premium providers use a separate monthly budget ($1-$10 depending on plan). They don't count against your standard cap at all.
Pay-as-you-go (No subscription or over-cap)
Without a subscription (or when your subscription cap runs out), you pay from your prepaid balance at discounted rates:
$0.10 → $0.03
$0.10 → $0.06
$0.10 → $0.10
💡 Same routing system - We still try economy first, then standard, then premium. You automatically get the best available price.
Common questions
Can I choose which tier to use?expand_more
Yes! You can configure tier preferences per model in your dashboard. The default order is [standard, economy, premium], but you can customize this. For example, if you want maximum savings, set [economy, standard].
Is model quality different across tiers?expand_more
No! All tiers serve the exact same models. A request to claude-sonnet-4-6 returns identical responses whether routed through economy, standard, or premium providers. The only differences are cost, latency, and reliability.
What happens when economy tier is unavailable?expand_more
The routing system automatically falls back to the next tier in your preference order (usually standard). Your request succeeds, but may track at a different rate against your cap. Circuit breakers prevent repeated attempts to unhealthy providers.
How does this affect over-cap pricing?expand_more
When your subscription cap is exhausted, pay-as-you-go rates apply from your prepaid balance: Economy 0.30x (70% off), Standard 0.60x (40% off), Premium 1.00x. The tier routing still happens the same way, but now charges your balance instead of subscription cap.
Ready to optimize your costs?
Start with predictable pricing and automatic provider routing that maximizes value.
View pricing plans