OpenRouter Says New Auto Code Matches Claude Opus 5.5 at 74% Lower Cost
Summary
OpenRouter launches a rebuilt Auto Router and a new Auto Code router, which it says outperform the old router by up to 4× on benchmarks and cut routing time to 0.65s at p90 from 1.96s. OpenRouter says Auto Code scores in line with Claude Opus 5.5 across five benchmarks at 74% lower cost per task.
Key Points
- OpenRouter says the new routers weigh eleven factors per request, including task type, difficulty, and cache status, alongside live pricing.
- OpenRouter reports invalid tool calls fall 4× and agentic responses are cut off half as often in beta versus the previous router.
- OpenRouter keeps the openrouter/auto slug unchanged, and setting cost_tier to low restores the older cost behavior.