Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 vs Free Models Router: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (poolside/laguna-xs-2.1) vs Free Models Router (openrouter/free). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (poolside/laguna-xs-2.1) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1: Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0.03/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
Free Models Router (openrouter/free) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Free Models Router: Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (API ID: poolside/laguna-xs-2.1) vs Free Models Router (API ID: openrouter/free), Free Models Router offers lower standard input pricing at $0/1M tokens ($0/1M output), while Free Models Router leads in cached prefix economics at $0/1M tokens (50% discount). Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 achieves a 0ms faster P90 time-to-first-token latency (280ms vs 280ms).
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
| Specification / FinOps Dimension | Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 | Free Models Router | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | poolside/laguna-xs-2.1 | openrouter/free | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0.06 / $0.12 | $0 / $0 | Free Models Router |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0.03/1M (50% Off) | $0/1M (50% Off) | Free Models Router |
| Context Window / Max Output | 256K In / 32K Out | 195K In / 64K Out | Free Models Router |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (-0ms) |
Laguna XS 2.1 is the latest coding agent model in the 33B-A3B category from [Poolside](https://poolside.ai/) and a step forward from their Laguna XS.2 model (released in April 2026
The simplest way to get free inference. openrouter/free is a router that selects free models at random from the models available on OpenRouter. The router smartly filters for model
Real-Time Stack Cost & Hidden-Fee Simulator (MAU / Token / Egress / GMV)
Calibrated with Reddit r/FinOps & r/devops telemetry: Includes Context Caching, Bandwidth Egress, and MoR Tax
🛰️Switch from Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 to Free Models Router
The simplest way to get free inference. openrouter/free is a router that selects free models at random from the models available on OpenRouter. The router smartly filters for model Verified P90 latency of 280ms.