Use this if you are comparing an OpenRouter alternative and you want the published facts, not a winner. Router is SignalOrange's LLM gateway. OpenRouter is a service of OpenRouter, Inc.
Every Router sentence comes from signalorange.ca or from meridian.signalorange.ca/router, read on 30 September 2026. Every OpenRouter sentence comes from its FAQ, guides, or privacy policy, read the same day. If a number is missing, it was not on those pages.
What it is
Router
Router is an AI gateway from SignalOrange Inc. in Montreal. It powers Meridian and it is also sold on its own. One URL replaces the OpenAI URL, with failover between providers and a bill in Canadian dollars.
OpenRouter
OpenRouter's FAQ describes one API for the major models on the market, billing in one place, and fallbacks when a provider fails. The privacy policy (last updated 31 August 2026) names the company as OpenRouter, Inc.
API shape
Router
OpenAI-compatible, by changing the URL. The product page shows POST https://router.signalorange.ca/v1/chat/completions, and describes chat (including streaming), JSON mode, vision, function calling, embeddings, and a /models catalogue. This site says more than 40 models, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Mistral, and Cohere. On 30 September 2026 the product page also names Meta, xAI, Perplexity, Groq, Together AI, Fireworks, DeepSeek, and Qwen.
OpenRouter
The FAQ says the API implements the OpenAI specification for /completions and /chat/completions, and that it is a drop-in for OpenAI SDKs. A /api/v1/models endpoint is documented too. The FAQ does not fix a model count. It points at the catalogue.
What happens to the prompt
Router
Guard is described as on by default. The request is scanned before the provider: personal information, credit cards, tokens, secret keys, and .env files are redacted. The product page says about 11 ms is added to an average response. That figure is the one published there, not a measurement repeated for this page. signalorange.ca describes the same filter for personal information, secrets, .env values, and tokens.
OpenRouter
The pages we read describe routing controls: zero data retention (account, guardrail, or per request) and a data-collection deny setting. They do not describe a step that redacts personal information, secrets, or .env values inside the prompt before it is forwarded.
What is kept
Router
The product page says Router does not keep request or response bodies, and that it selects only providers with the same contractual guarantee. This site also says logs are hosted in Montreal. This page does not itemize what those logs contain.
OpenRouter
The data-collection guide says OpenRouter does not store prompts or responses unless you turn on private logging, or allow OpenRouter to use your inputs and outputs (the FAQ ties that option to a 1% discount on usage). Metadata is stored, for example token counts and latency. The request is sent to the model provider, and provider rules differ. The FAQ says providers that log, or whose policy is unconfirmed, are not used unless the training toggle is on.
Where it runs
Router
The product page says hosting is in Quebec, with PIPEDA and Law 25 in view. This site says logs are in Montreal. The data-centre name is not on those pages, so it is not repeated here.
OpenRouter
The Sovereign AI guide (read on 30 September 2026) describes in-region routing in the European Union and the United States, on Business and Enterprise plans, through eu.openrouter.ai and us.openrouter.ai. It does not describe a Quebec region. The privacy policy is OpenRouter, Inc.'s.
Billing
Router
On signalorange.ca: one monthly bill in Canadian dollars, usage-based or a flat plan. On the product page: billed after the month at actual cost, a fixed margin, one invoice, per-organization caps, Net 30, and no minimum commitment.
OpenRouter
The FAQ describes a credit balance whose base currency is the US dollar. Inference is passed through at the provider's price, with no markup. A fee is charged when you buy credits. The percentage was not readable in the FAQ's HTML on the day we checked, so it is not quoted. Unused credits may expire one year after purchase, under their terms.
When a provider fails
Router
Automatic failover to a compatible alternative, described on signalorange.ca and on the product page.
OpenRouter
The FAQ says OpenRouter falls back to the next provider if the first returns an error, with options to configure that routing.
What this page does not say
- No bake-off was run for this page. There is no winner and no score.
- Illustrative dashboard figures on the Router product page (requests per minute, provider mix) are not repeated.
- This page does not claim Router has the field to itself in Canada. That was not checked.
- Both products change. The check date is 30 September 2026.