# Cut your Claude Code bill by routing routine turns to cheaper models

_Published 2026-07-05 · KeepRouter_

Claude Code is a joy to use — and, if every turn runs through the top-tier model, a fast way to burn credit. The good news: most turns don't need the top tier. Here's how to cut a Claude Code bill by 10–30× on the bulk of your work, without giving up Claude for the turns that matter.

## The idea

A coding session is a mix of turns. A few are genuinely hard — a tricky refactor, a subtle bug. Most are routine — run the tests, rename a symbol, write a docstring, read a file. Routing the routine turns to a cheaper model and keeping a top-tier model for the hard ones captures most of the savings with almost none of the quality loss.

Claude Code speaks Anthropic's Messages API, and KeepRouter serves that API natively — so you can point Claude Code at KeepRouter and switch models with a single command.

## Setup (two lines)

```bash
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://keeprouter.com
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=sk-kr-your-key
```

Run `claude` as usual, then switch models inside Claude Code with `/model <id>`.

## The math

Take a typical turn: about 10,000 tokens of prompt (your repo context) and a 2,000-token reply. At KeepRouter's at-cost prices:

- `claude-opus-4-8` — about **$0.10** per turn
- `claude-sonnet-4-6` — about **$0.06**
- `glm-4.6` — about **$0.010**
- `deepseek-v3.2` — about **$0.003**
- `free` — **$0**

Do the routine two-thirds of your turns on `glm-4.6` or `deepseek-v3.2` and you've cut that portion of the bill by 10–30×. The turns that need Opus still get Opus.

## A rule of thumb

- **Reading, renaming, tests, boilerplate, docstrings** → a cheap model (`glm-4.6`, `deepseek-v3.2`).
- **Design, tricky bugs, large refactors** → `claude-opus-4-8` or `claude-sonnet-4-6`.
- **Just trying it out** → `free` ($0).

Switching is one command, so you can change per turn as the work changes.

## Try it

You'll need a KeepRouter key — new accounts get free trial credit, and the `free` model is always $0. Full setup guide with the model table: [Run Claude Code on KeepRouter](/use-cases/claude-code). Copy-paste examples: [github.com/keeprouter/keeprouter-examples](https://github.com/keeprouter/keeprouter-examples).

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