Breaking Free from AI Subscriptions: Cost-Effective All-in-One Solution with OpenRouter

The author discusses the increasing importance of AI in software engineering to boost productivity. He rejects the fear of job displacement and instead emphasizes the need to adapt and learn AI tools. The subscription model of various AI services is seen as cumbersome and costly, especially for infrequent users. The article highlights OpenRouter as a solution, offering a unified API gateway with access to numerous AI models. The author prefers using AI as a collaborative companion instead of a code generator. OpenRouter's pay-per-use pricing and easy model switching are key benefits. The author describes integrating OpenRouter with VSCode, JetBrains, and Neovim using the Continue extension and CodeCompanion, respectively. The author shares configuration examples and emphasizes the advantages of this approach. The setup allows for adding coding context. The author states they no longer miss Copilot or Tabnine Chat, appreciating the added features. The cost-effectiveness of OpenRouter compared to subscriptions for occasional users is underscored. The approach offers flexibility and access to the latest models quickly.