Warning signs detected
Legitimate AI API platform with 3.2-year-old domain but faces repeated complaints about payments and account access. Several risk indicators suggest caution. This site might be legitimate — but treat it as unverified until you can independently confirm.
Is openrouter.ai legit or a scam?
Legitimate AI API platform with 3.2-year-old domain but faces repeated complaints about payments and account access.
These checks passed — but they don't clear the site. A clean antivirus result, valid SSL, and a calm server only mean it isn't hosting malware; they say nothing about whether the business is real. This verdict is based on the site's conduct and content, not a malware detection.
Analysis Summary
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →
Visual analysis
We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.
Visual red flags detected in the screenshot
The page presents a professional and legitimate appearance for a technology service provider, with no visual indicators of scamming or phishing.
What our vision model saw
6 signalsProfessional layout with consistent branding and high-quality typography
Functional navigation menu with links to documentation, pricing, and rankings
Clear call-to-action buttons for API keys and model exploration
No fake urgency tactics, countdown timers, or intrusive pop-ups
Displays legitimate industry logos and technical metrics consistent with an LLM aggregator
Clean design without broken elements or placeholder text
Brand Impersonation
medium confidenceThe page mentions or styles itself as MetaMask, but is hosted on a domain that is not an official MetaMask property.
Intelligence
The domain registered in April 2023 and shows clean antivirus results with no malware detections. The page itself displays professional design, real company registration in New York, and major venture funding including a $113 million Series B. However, an independent review aggregator lists 46 reviews averaging 1.8 stars with multiple users describing locked accounts after deposits and difficulties recovering credits. Reddit threads contain both positive usage reports and warnings about the same payment issues. The combination of verified business existence with documented customer-service failures creates moderate risk for anyone sending money to the platform.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for openrouter.ai, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- Domain registered April 2023 (3.2+ years old as of July 2026); company OpenRouter, Inc. founded 2023 in New York.
- Trustpilot rating 1.8/5 from ~46 reviews (as of mid-2026); majority 1-star complaints focus on 24-hour refund policy, support delays, account lockouts, and credit issues.
- ScamAdviser rates site as 'very likely not a scam / legit and reliable' with high Tranco ranking and valid SSL.
- Raised $113 million Series B in May 2026 led by CapitalG (Alphabet/Google investment arm); prior $40M Series A; processes trillions of tokens weekly.
- Privacy policy and ToS reference OpenRouter, Inc., New York law, address 169 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016; supports Stripe, crypto (incl. MetaMask), bank transfers.
- Reddit users (r/LocalLLaMA, r/openrouter, r/SillyTavernAI) frequently discuss it positively for unified API access to 400+ models, free tiers, and convenience; some note fees and quantized models.
- No scam reports linking to MetaMask impersonation or phishing; MetaMask is offered as one of several login methods (GitHub, Google, email) on official sign-in page.
- Trustpilotopen
"They will steal your money! 24hr refund policy that’s buried in fine print! Stay away from the crooks! I could not get the openrouter API to work, kept crashing and just was not reliable. Yes they keep your money after 365 days of it sittin"
- Trustpilotopen
"Horrible experience. Signed up to try out OpenClaw, put in 50$, and then had my account locked out within a day of setup and typical use."
- Trustpilotopen
"Paid $55, received $0 in credits — three weeks of silence from support I tried to top up my OpenRouter balance and kept hitting payment ..."
- Reddit (r/LocalLLaMA)open
"OpenRouter is not only safe they provide much more than they should for free, you can get up to 1K messages a day for free to even Deepseek 0528 through API ..."
- Reddit (r/openrouter)open
"I use openrouter and i've used a lot of different LLMs on it. Pros: only have to top up in one place. Huge selection. A few "free" options."
OpenRouter, Inc. incorporated 2023, HQ New York, NY (169 Madison Avenue); founders Alex Atallah (ex-OpenSea), Louis Vichy, Chris Clark; raised $113M Series B led by CapitalG (Alphabet) in May 2026, prior $40M Series A; valuation ~$1.3B
an independent review aggregator hosts three visible negative reviews citing 24-hour refund policies, account lockouts within a day of setup, and three weeks of silence after failed credit top-ups. Reddit discussions in r/LocalLLaMA and r/our AI gateway contain both endorsements for model variety and warnings about payment reliability. The company maintains an active New York registration and has secured substantial venture funding, yet customer-service complaints remain consistent across review platforms.
Domain Timeline
- Apr 17, 2023Domain registered
First appeared in WHOIS records — 3.2 years old today.
- Jul 7, 2026Latest security review — Flagged as suspicious
This scan re-ran every check; the current findings are detailed above.
openrouter.ai is an established domain now carrying threat signals. An older domain that starts tripping security checks is a classic pattern for an asset that was sold, repurposed, or compromised — the age alone is not reassurance.
Threat Detection
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
Technical Details
domain · encryption · redirects · server reputation · referencedContact Verification
We fetched the page and looked for real-world contact details. Legitimate businesses almost always publish an email on their own domain, a phone number, and a postal address. Scam shops usually don't.
- No contact email found anywhere on the page.
- No phone number listed on the page.
- No postal address visible on the page.
- Page impersonates MetaMask on a non-official domain.
- Links to 5 social profiles.
Domain & Encryption
Server Reputation
Referenced Domains
Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.
What to do
Proceed with caution
Our automated review flagged enough risk that you should treat this site as unverified.
- Treat openrouter.ai as unverified
Do not enter credentials or send money until you have independently verified the business.
- Verify the business through independent channels
Check the company's social profiles, registry records, and search for recent news or reviews that are not hosted on the site itself.
- Never use irreversible payment methods
Crypto, gift cards, wire transfers, and cash apps offer zero buyer protection. Use a credit card or PayPal if you must pay.
- OpenShare your experience
If you have additional context, drop a comment below or post on the MalwareTips forum.
Final Verdict
our AI gateway is a real AI API aggregator that lets users access many language models through one interface. Multiple an independent review aggregator reviews report account lockouts, refund problems, and unresponsive support after payments. Users should test with small amounts and keep records of all transactions.
Safety FAQ
Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.
- Our automated security review marked openrouter.ai as suspicious. Several warning signs were detected; it may still turn out legitimate, but you should verify it through independent channels before trusting it with money or credentials.
- openrouter.ai currently scores 55/100 on our trust scale. We found enough warning signals to recommend caution. Verify the site through independent channels before entering credentials or money.
- Yes. openrouter.ai presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Google Trust Services · WE1, expiring in 89 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
- openrouter.ai is 3.2 years old, registered on 4/17/2023 through NameCheap, Inc.. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
- No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report openrouter.ai as clean.
- No. openrouter.ai is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
- openrouter.ai resolves to an IP operated by Cloudflare, Inc. in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
- Yes. openrouter.ai sits in the global top-100k on Cloudflare Radar, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. That does not automatically make it safe, but established brands almost always rank here and throwaway scam domains almost never do.
User reviews & comments(0)
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