OpenRouter: model labs per $100+/mo customer reach 7.3 in October 2026

OpenRouter says the average number of model labs used per customer paying $100 or more per month rose to 7.3 in October 2026, its highest reading yet.

The median rose from 3 to 6 and the top 10% rose from 7 to 14, and the company says the figure has climbed every quarter since a turning point it does not date in these posts.

By spend tier, OpenRouter reports a median of 5 labs per month for customers spending $100 to $1K, 8 for $1K to $10K, and 12 for $10K and above. Among the $10K-plus customers, 97% use three or more labs and 90% use five or more. OpenRouter also says fewer than 4% of users of any major lab use only that lab, among customers spending $100 or more per month.

OpenRouter says it sees the trend as a sign of "model neurodiversity," which it defines as different models thinking differently so that combining them can make a system stronger than any one model. It also reports that multi-model use among these customers fell through the first half of 2025, bottoming at 3.8 families in June, before rising again. A separate OpenRouter post says the median number of model families used by $100-plus customers doubled over the past year to six.