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
- Vendors
- OpenRouterOpenAI
- Products
- GPT 5.6 LunaAstra
- Organizations
- OpenRouterOpenAI
- AI models
- GPT 5.6 LunaAstraKimiGLMDeepSeek
From the original article
1 min read at the-decoder.com
On OpenRouter, weekly token consumption has surged more than 25,000 percent since January 2025, from 0. 5 to 126. 2 trillion tokens.
By Matthias Bastian · the-decoder.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.