Stripe Acquires OpenRouter for $7B Amid AI Model Routing Convergence

Stripe has acquired OpenRouter for over $7 billion, marking its latest move to integrate AI model routing into its global billing and payment settlement infrastructure. The deal is six times larger than Stripe's previous purchase of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure firm acquired for $1.1 billion.

The integration follows a sequence of strategic acquisitions by the payment processor, including the acquisition of crypto wallet provider Privy and the integration of usage-based billing platform Metronome in January 2026.

OpenRouter operates as an intermediary layer between 8 million developers and over 400 AI models, charging a 5% fee on inference operating expenses routed through its architecture. With this acquisition, Stripe will now manage billing and tax services for OpenRouter under a single operational framework.