How I Built a Production AI Chatbot for $20/month Using Open Source + OpenRouter
Dev.to AI
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Generative AI
How I Built a Production AI Chatbot for $20/month Using Open Source + OpenRouter When I first started exploring AI chatbots, I quickly realized that the obvious path - throwing money at OpenAI's API or Claude's enterprise tier - would drain my side project budget faster than a leaky faucet. But here's what I discovered: you don't need to choose between cost and quality. By combining open-source frameworks with OpenRouter's intelligent LLM routing, I built a production-ready chatbot that handles thousands of requests monthly for just $20.