How Cheaper's cost-cutting router compares to rtk's usage tooling.
The short version: usage tools tell you what you spent; Cheaper spends less. It's a router with a monitor, not a dashboard alone.
| Capability | Cheaper | rtk |
|---|---|---|
| Shows spend / usage | Yes | Yes |
| Reduces spend by routing models | Yes | — |
| Auto-escalates hard tasks (concurrency, security, proofs) | Yes | — |
| Works via the Anthropic API (any client) | Yes | varies |
| Self-hostable / open source | MIT | varies |
| Menu-bar app + CLI | Yes | varies |
Competitor capabilities are summarized at a category level and marked “varies” where they differ by version or plan — verify specifics against rtk's own docs before publishing. This page states Cheaper's differentiator (routing that lowers cost), not a knock on rtk.