CrofAI’s cheap inference model allegedly hid a 20x markup
The exposé presents reproducible tests and GitHub attestations suggesting CrofAI routed requests advertised as premium or self-hosted models to cheaper OpenRouter backends, sometimes at dramatically higher prices. The operator reportedly disputed the findings, attempted fixes, then shut the service and removed its online presence. For anyone buying “独ependent” inference, the lesson is concrete: model identity and routing need verification, not just a low token price.