OpenRouter's staggering token chart is the AI bubble debate in a single image
OpenRouter weekly token consumption surged 25,000% since January 2025, but reasoning-model 'thinking' tokens inflate the metric beyond real adoption.
OpenRouter data shows weekly token consumption grew from 0.5 trillion to 126.2 trillion tokens since January 2025, a rise of over 25,000%. The Decoder argues the surge reflects inflated token metrics from reasoning models' 'thinking' tokens and unoptimized agentic workloads rather than proportional growth in usage or business value. OpenAI's GPT 5.6 Luna dominates token consumption while Astra leads revenue, and Chinese models Kimi, GLM, and DeepSeek saw monthly spending grow tenfold in 2026 from a small base.
- OpenRouter weekly token usage rose from 0.5T to 126.2T tokens since January 2025
- Reasoning and agentic models generate massive 'thinking' tokens, inflating usage counts
- GPT 5.6 Luna leads token consumption; OpenAI's Astra leads in revenue
- Chinese models Kimi, GLM, and DeepSeek grew monthly spending tenfold in 2026
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On OpenRouter, a platform developers use to plug AI models into their products, weekly token consumption has surged more than 25,000 percent since January 2025, from 0.5 trillion to 126.2 trillion tokens. Tokens are the basic unit of AI processing, like gallons of gas for a car. But this chart says less about booming AI adoption than about how inflated token metrics have become.
The surge shouldn't be confused with a matching jump in actual usage or business value. Reasoning models generate massive amounts of "thinking" tokens before producing an answer, inflating the count dramatically. A small uptick in usage can mean a huge spike in token consumption, especially from unoptimized agentic AI systems that burn through tokens at staggering rates.
OpenAI's GPT 5.6 Luna recently dominated token consumption on OpenRouter, though that doesn't necessarily mean more people are using it. The model may simply generate more tokens per prompt. On the revenue side, OpenAI's Astra leads. Chinese models like Kimi, GLM, and DeepSeek are growing fast too, with monthly spending up tenfold in 2026, though from a much smaller base.
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