Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is AIOrouter? AIOrouter is a Canadian AI API proxy that gives BETA customers access to approved DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM, Kimi, Gemini, and Claude models through a single OpenAI-compatible API. It uses monthly subscription billing with a provider-cost indexed allowance, Canada-resident gateway infrastructure, and built-in privacy protection controls — including bidirectional PII pseudonymization, technical secret redaction, and an AI Firewall.

Who is AIOrouter for? Canadian developers and enterprises who want privacy protection when using AI models. Also great for any developer who wants predictable monthly AI costs.

Pricing & Billing

How much does it cost? $19/month (Explorer), $39/month (Developer), $79/month (Professional), or $149/month (Business). Customer billable API access requires an active subscription.

Is there a free tier? Not currently. Explorer is the lowest monthly subscription. Top-Up balance is available only as supplemental credit for active subscribers.

How does monthly billing work without per-token pricing? Your subscription includes a monthly provider-cost indexed allowance. Token-equivalent usage varies by model cost. If you exceed the allowance, the API returns 402 (Payment Required). All tiers hard-stop at quota — overage has been disabled system-wide (v3.0.6-beta). Top-Up balance is supplemental credit only.

Can I cancel anytime? Yes. Cancel from the Dashboard — cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period.

Security & Privacy

Where is my data processed? Primary gateway processing happens in Montreal, Canada. Requests pass through privacy filtering before protected content is forwarded to AI providers.

How does AIOrouter protect my data? AIOrouter provides layered privacy protection: bidirectional PII pseudonymization (detects and replaces personal data with template tags before routing to providers), technical secret redaction (API keys, passwords, tokens), and an AI Firewall (prompt injection and jailbreak detection). Privacy protection is configurable per API key via the Dashboard. All processing runs on Canada-resident infrastructure (GCP Montréal). See our Privacy Policy for details.

Can I disable privacy protection? Yes. You can configure an individual API key to bypass privacy filtering via the Dashboard "Disable Shield" toggle. When Shield is disabled, your raw prompts are sent directly to AI providers without filtering — you accept full responsibility for any data transmitted. See our Terms of Service §5.4 for details.

Do you store my prompts? API prompts are processed in memory and not persistently stored. Audit logs record metadata (timestamp, model, token count) but not prompt content. See our Privacy Policy for the full data flow.

Do the Chinese AI providers see my data? Yes — protected request content is forwarded to the selected AI provider (e.g., DeepSeek) after privacy filtering. This is inherent to API proxying. Review each provider's terms for their data handling policies.

Technical

Is the API OpenAI-compatible? Yes. Drop-in replacement — change base_url and api_key, keep everything else.

Which models are available? DeepSeek V4 Pro, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Qwen 3.7 Max, Qwen 3.6 Flash, Qwen 3.6 Plus, Qwen3-235B, GLM-5.1, Kimi K2.6, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Flash, and Gemini 3.5 Flash Preview are listed for BETA review. See Model Catalog.

Does AIOrouter support streaming? Yes. SSE streaming works exactly like OpenAI's — set stream: true.

Does AIOrouter support function calling? Yes. Most models support tool/function calling. See Model Catalog for per-model capabilities.

What happens if a provider is down? AIOrouter's intelligent router automatically falls back to an alternative provider. You can see which provider handled your request in the X-Provider response header.

What's the latency? ~15-50ms to Canadian developers (GCP Montreal). Provider response times vary by model and load.

Can I use multiple models with one API key? Yes. One API key gives BETA accounts access to the approved model catalog. Switch models by changing the model parameter.

Account & Support

How do I get an API key? Create an account at aiorouter.ca, verify your email, enroll MFA, start an active subscription, and then generate your API key.

What if I lose my API key? You can generate new keys from the Dashboard. Old keys can be revoked for security.

How do I contact support? Email support@aiorouter.ca. Response times: P2 within 24h, P1 within 4h, P0 within 15min.