Science & Tech · AI · 4 hrs ago
Open-weight AI models gain share of Vercel gateway use and spending
Open-weight AI models handled 71.5% of Vercel gateway tokens in September and took nearly a quarter of spending.
Vercel's AI Gateway lets customers buy tokens from different AI providers through one service.
Open-weight models' share of gateway spending rose from 5% in June, while average token prices were about 47% lower than in December 2025.
Nearly one in three teams changed its most-used provider in September, suggesting customers can switch among competing services.
US models from Anthropic and OpenAI still received the largest individual shares of spending, while DeepSeek V4.1 Flash ranked third.
Chinese models are increasingly part of the market, but more than two-thirds of September spending on them went to US providers serving those models.
China proposed adding 40 technology items, including 23 related to AI, to its export control list, raising uncertainty for US businesses that host or rely on Chinese models.
Possible export controls and US policy decisions could change access to these models, but the sources describe no final policy decision.
Open-weight models processed 71.5 percent of tokens on Vercel’s AI Gateway in September and accounted for nearly a quarter of estimated spending.
Their share of gateway spending more than quadrupled between June and September, according to Vercel.
Gateway spending in September was about 13 times higher than in December 2025, while the average price per token was about 47 percent lower.
Almost one in three teams changed its most-used AI provider in September.
US models from Anthropic and OpenAI drew the largest individual shares of September spending, while Chinese models also gained ground.
- Who
- Open-weight AI models and the customers using Vercel’s AI Gateway.
- What
- Open-weight models gained share of gateway token use and spending.
- When
- From June to September; the figures are for September.
- Where
- Vercel’s AI Gateway.
- Why
- Not stated.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Vercel recorded gateway spending at about one-thirteenth of its September level.
Open-weight models accounted for one in twenty gateway dollars.
Open-weight models processed most of AI Gateway token volume for the first time.
Open-weight models handled 71.5 percent of gateway tokens and nearly a quarter of estimated spending.
- Open-weight share of tokens
- 71.5 percent in September
- Open-weight share of spending
- Nearly one-quarter in September, up from one in twenty in June
- Gateway spending
- About 13 times higher in September than in December 2025
- Average price per token
- About 47 percent lower in September than in December 2025
- Top-spending model
- Claude Opus 5.5, at 11.03 percent of September spending
What people are saying
In August, open-weight models processed the majority of AI Gateway token volume for the first time,
The money is now following. Open weight's share of spend has more than quadrupled over the last three months, from one in twenty gateway dollars in June to nearly one in four in September.
This introduces significant uncertainty for US businesses that host or rely on Chinese models,