Ramp launches its own AI model router, called Router
TechCrunch

Ramp launches its own AI model router, called Router

Corporate expense management platform Ramp is hot on the heels of Stripe in setting up toll houses for AI inference. On Wednesday evening, Ramp launched its own AI model routing service, dubbed Router, that lets users and companies use and switch between various large language models through an API. The company says it has been using the router it built for its own AI usage needs over the past three years.

Pricing and availability

The service is only available in the United States. Itโ€™s free to use for the remainder of 2026 (users will still have to pay for AI model inference costs), and it comes with a $26 credit launch offer. The company did not say how much the service will cost next year.

How Router works

In its function, Router is pretty similar to how OpenRouter operates, though the latter offers many more AI model options than Rampโ€™s current offerings. Router offers access to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Moonshot, Minimax, Nvidia, xAI, and Z.ai.

Router also provides several โ€œstrategiesโ€ to help its customers route AI requests to models based on their preferences. For example:

  • One lets users set a preference for model providersโ€™ flex usage tiers.
  • Another lets Router choose which model to route queries to based on up to three user-specified benchmarks.

Users can also choose to route only difficult problems to expensive models or test models easily without having to switch.

Dashboard and data retention

Users get a dashboard, too, that lets them see token spend, cost, latency, fallback attempts, and other details.

Notably, Router has an opt-out data retention policy: it will record model inputs, outputs and tool calls for one year by default, though the company says it will remove โ€œpersonally identifiable information before using that content to improve the product.โ€

Business opportunity

For Ramp, entering the model routing business offers a two-pronged opportunity: it gets to tap the booming AI inference market and also offer its existing clients a model routing service that fits in neatly with its existing products, which includes AI token usage monitoring and token spend management.

And, if Router proves as attractive of a model testing arena as OpenRouter has, Ramp may also be able to build long-standing relationships with AI labs and inference providers worldwide. That could help Ramp, which raised $750 million at a $44 billion valuation in June, gain new customers and a new point of entry for selling its expense management products.

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