Tokencost Dev vs Openrouter
A side-by-side look at the Tokencost Dev and Openrouter MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Tokencost Dev for conversational ai work as a local process; choose Openrouter for conversational ai as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Tokencost Dev when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Conversational AI domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
get_model_details, calculate_estimate, compare_models.
Choose Openrouter when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Conversational AI domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
list_models, get_model, compare_models.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Conversational AI | Conversational AI |
| Quality signal | 60/100 · Good | 56/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 1 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 4 | 3 |
| Full listing | View Tokencost Dev | View Openrouter |
Tools & capabilities
Tokencost Dev tools 4
get_model_detailsLook up pricing, context window, and capabilities for an LLM model. Uses fuzzy matching so you don't need the exact model key.calculate_estimateEstimate the cost for a given number of input and output tokens on a specific model. Supports optional cached_tokens for prompt caching discounts.compare_modelsFilter and compare models by provider, minimum context window, or mode. Returns top 5 most cost-effective matches.refresh_pricesForce a re-fetch of pricing data from the LiteLLM registry. Use this if you suspect the cached data is stale.
Openrouter tools 3
list_modelsList LLMs from the OpenRouter catalog (~340 models across all major providers) with normalized $/1M-token pricing, context windows, and modality. Filter by search, free-only, minimum context, or modality (e.g. "image" for vision models). Sorted cheapest-first by completion price. Keyless.get_modelGet full details for one OpenRouter model by id — normalized $/1M pricing (prompt, completion, plus per-request/image/web-search costs), context window, modality, supported parameters, tokenizer, knowledge cutoff. e.g. id "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5". Keyless.compare_modelsSide-by-side comparison of pricing ($/1M tokens), context window, and modality for 2-5 OpenRouter models. Answers "is claude-sonnet-4.5 cheaper than gpt-4o". Keyless.
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Tokencost Dev
{
"mcpServers": {
"tokencost-dev": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"tokencost-dev"
]
}
}
}
Openrouter
{
"mcpServers": {
"openrouter": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-openrouter"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Tokencost Dev is categorized under Conversational AI and uses a local stdio subprocess. Openrouter belongs to Conversational AI and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Tokencost Dev for conversational ai work and Openrouter for conversational ai.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Tokencost Dev has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. Openrouter has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add tokencost-dev and openrouter as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Tokencost Dev has a quality signal of 60/100 (Good) with 1 views, 0 installs and 1 GitHub stars. Openrouter has 56/100 (Good) with 1 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.