OpenRouter vs unoblox: India's ₹-native API

OpenRouter vs unoblox: the choice for India

OpenRouter: global LLM aggregator (200+ models) with best-in-class rate shopping. unoblox: OpenAI-compatible endpoint, 40+ models, billed in ₹ rupees on a GST invoice. India-first, no international payment hassle.

Feature	OpenRouter	unoblox
Models	200+	40+
Billing	International only	₹ rupees only
Invoice	None	GST invoice
Input-tax credit	No	Yes
Endpoint	openrouter.ai	api.unoblox.ai/v1
OpenAI-compatible	Yes	Yes

When to pick OpenRouter

• Global SaaS (multi-currency billing)
• Model arbitrage across 200+ providers
• Teams paying internationally
• Custom rate negotiation needed

When to pick unoblox (India)

• Billing in ₹ rupees (GST invoice)
• No international payment friction
• Compliance: DPDP, RBI data residency
• Indian startups, fintech, edtech, agencies
• Teams on OpenAI-compatible stacks

₹ pricing: rupees only

• GPT-4o: ₹252 input / ₹1,008 output (per 1M tokens)
• Claude Sonnet: ₹201.6 input / ₹1,008 output
• DeepSeek V3.2: ₹26.21 input / ₹38.30 output
• Qwen3 Max: ₹120.95 input / ₹604.77 output
• Qwen3 1.7B: ₹0 (free, rate-limited)

See live ₹ pricing for 40+ models.

The swap: same SDK, one endpoint

Both are OpenAI-compatible, so migrating is a config change, not a rewrite:

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.unoblox.ai/v1",
    api_key="ub-gw-..."
)

3-step migration from OpenRouter

1. Create an unoblox key. Sign in, open Playground → Keys, generate ub-gw-….
2. Swap two lines. Replace base_url (openrouter.ai/api/v1 → https://api.unoblox.ai/v1) and api_key. Model IDs stay the same shape (provider/model-name).
3. Check the model list. Confirm your target models are in unoblox's 40+ catalog at /models; if one isn't, most teams find a close substitute (e.g., DeepSeek V4 Flash for a cheap general-purpose model, Qwen3 Max for multilingual).

No code changes beyond that. Streaming, tools, and JSON mode work unchanged.

Where OpenRouter still makes sense

Being honest about trade-offs: if your business is genuinely global and you need the full long tail of 200+ models, OpenRouter's breadth is hard to beat. unoblox is not trying to out-catalog it — it's optimized for the 40+ models most India-first teams actually run in production, with rupee billing and GST paperwork OpenRouter doesn't offer.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Is unoblox an aggregator? No. It's a single, curated endpoint: 40+ models, one key, one monthly invoice in rupees. The trade-off for less catalog breadth is simpler billing and GST compliance built in from day one.

Q: Can I use unoblox globally? Yes. ₹ prices apply to any team, anywhere — you don't need an Indian entity to use it, just a preference for rupee billing over routing through an international card.

Q: Does unoblox have 200+ models? No, and that's deliberate. unoblox focuses on the 40+ models teams actually put into production — GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Qwen, Llama, Gemma, Kimi — rather than every fine-tune and community checkpoint OpenRouter lists.

Q: I'm a global SaaS — should I pick OpenRouter? Probably, if you bill customers in multiple currencies and want maximum model choice. OpenRouter's rate shopping and long-tail catalog suit multi-region teams better than a rupee-first gateway.

Q: Can I claim GST input credit? Yes — unoblox issues a GST invoice from an Indian entity every month, and most registered businesses can claim it as input tax credit. Confirm the specifics with your CA.

Q: How do I migrate from OpenRouter without breaking anything? Run both endpoints side by side at first: point a staging key at unoblox, confirm output quality and latency on your top 2-3 models, then swap base_url and api_key in production. Since both are OpenAI-compatible, no request/response code changes.

Get started in rupees → https://unoblox.ai/sign-in