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The :nitro variant optimizes for speed. When you use :nitro, OpenRouter sorts the model’s providers by throughput (tokens per second) and also makes priority service tier endpoints eligible, so a provider’s priority tier can serve the request when it is genuinely the fastest option.

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Usage

Append :nitro to any model ID:

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How it works

:nitro does two things:
  1. Sorts all eligible endpoints by throughput, the same effect as setting provider.sort to "throughput".
  2. Admits priority service tier endpoints into the eligible pool. Unlike the service_tier: "priority" parameter, priority endpoints get no special treatment: they compete with every other endpoint on measured throughput, and win only when they are actually the fastest.
Because priority tier endpoints are billed at priority rates, a :nitro request served by a priority endpoint is charged that endpoint’s priority pricing. As always, billing follows the tier the provider actually serves: if the provider sheds the request to its default tier, you’re billed the default rate. See Service Tiers for the full comparison of tier-selection options. If you want throughput sorting without priority tier eligibility, set provider.sort to "throughput" instead of using :nitro.