diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.test.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.test.tsx
index 8069e7a0504..8c6dae07ddc 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.test.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.test.tsx
@@ -210,6 +210,25 @@ describe("AddAutoRouterTab", () => {
     expect(toast.success).toHaveBeenCalledWith(`Configured with ${openAiPreset.label}`);
   });
 
+  it("mixes available models from the preferred tier catalog when no complete template fits", async () => {
+    mockFetchAvailableModels.mockResolvedValue(
+      ["gpt-5.6-luna", "claude-sonnet-5", "gpt-5.6-sol"].map((model_group) => ({
+        model_group,
+        mode: "chat",
+      })),
+    );
+    mockFetchAllModelDeployments.mockResolvedValue([]);
+    renderWithProviders(<Harness />);
+
+    const button = screen.getByTestId("configure-automatically-button");
+    await waitFor(() => expect(button).toBeEnabled());
+    await userEvent.click(button);
+
+    expect(
+      screen.getByText(/Simple: gpt-5.6-luna.*Medium: claude-sonnet-5.*Complex: gpt-5.6-sol.*Reasoning: gpt-5.6-sol/),
+    ).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
   // Nothing is filled in, so there is nothing to submit. The button reports that itself instead of
   // accepting a click and answering with a toast.
   it("offers no submit at all until every tier has a model", async () => {
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx
index d671403717b..8510e1ad8c2 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/add_auto_router_tab.tsx
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ import {
 } from "@/lib/autorouter_presets";
 import { useAutoRouterPresets } from "@/app/(dashboard)/hooks/autoRouter/useAutoRouterPresets";
 import { Dialog, DialogContent, DialogFooter, DialogHeader, DialogTitle } from "@/components/ui/dialog";
-import { buildAutomaticRouterConfig } from "./auto_setup";
+import { buildAutomaticRouterConfig, buildPreferredTierModels } from "./auto_setup";
 
 interface AddAutoRouterTabProps {
   handleOk: () => void;
@@ -319,9 +319,11 @@ const AddAutoRouterTab: React.FC<AddAutoRouterTabProps> = ({
   };
 
   const handleAutomaticSetup = () => {
-    const matchingPreset = AUTO_SETUP_PRESET_PRIORITY.map((key) => presets.find((preset) => preset.key === key)).find(
-      (preset) => preset && presetAvailability(preset).kind === "available",
-    );
+    const prioritizedPresets = AUTO_SETUP_PRESET_PRIORITY.flatMap((key) => {
+      const preset = presets.find((candidate) => candidate.key === key);
+      return preset ? [preset] : [];
+    });
+    const matchingPreset = prioritizedPresets.find((preset) => presetAvailability(preset).kind === "available");
     if (matchingPreset) {
       const presetState = presetAvailability(matchingPreset);
       setSelectedPreset(matchingPreset.key);
@@ -331,7 +333,8 @@ const AddAutoRouterTab: React.FC<AddAutoRouterTabProps> = ({
       return;
     }
 
-    const generatedConfig = buildAutomaticRouterConfig(modelInfo, deployments ?? [], modelCostMap);
+    const preferredTierModels = buildPreferredTierModels(prioritizedPresets, availability);
+    const generatedConfig = buildAutomaticRouterConfig(modelInfo, deployments ?? [], modelCostMap, preferredTierModels);
     if (generatedConfig === null) {
       toast.fromError("Add at least one chat model before configuring an Auto Router");
       return;
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.test.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.test.ts
index b5340dbad2e..978cdf09217 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.test.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import type { AutoRouterDeployment } from "@/app/(dashboard)/hooks/models/useModels";
-import { buildAutomaticRouterConfig } from "./auto_setup";
+import { buildAutomaticRouterConfig, type PreferredTierModels } from "./auto_setup";
 
 const models = (...names: string[]) => names.map((model_group) => ({ model_group, mode: "chat" }));
 
@@ -24,6 +24,68 @@ const tierModels = (config: ReturnType<typeof buildAutomaticRouterConfig>) =>
   ];
 
 describe("buildAutomaticRouterConfig", () => {
+  it("uses available preferred models before price ranking", () => {
+    const preferred: PreferredTierModels = {
+      SIMPLE: ["preferred-simple"],
+      MEDIUM: ["preferred-medium"],
+      COMPLEX: ["preferred-complex"],
+      REASONING: ["preferred-reasoning"],
+    };
+    const available = [...Object.values(preferred).flat(), "cheap-decoy", "expensive-decoy"];
+    const config = buildAutomaticRouterConfig(
+      models(...available),
+      available.map((name, index) => deployment(name, index + 1)),
+      {},
+      preferred,
+    );
+
+    expect(tierModels(config)).toEqual([
+      "preferred-simple",
+      "preferred-medium",
+      "preferred-complex",
+      "preferred-reasoning",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("reuses the nearest preferred model for tiers with no preferred match", () => {
+    const preferred: PreferredTierModels = {
+      SIMPLE: ["preferred-simple"],
+      MEDIUM: [],
+      COMPLEX: ["preferred-complex"],
+      REASONING: [],
+    };
+    const config = buildAutomaticRouterConfig(
+      models("preferred-simple", "preferred-complex", "cheap-decoy"),
+      [deployment("preferred-simple", 4), deployment("preferred-complex", 5), deployment("cheap-decoy", 1)],
+      {},
+      preferred,
+    );
+
+    expect(tierModels(config)).toEqual([
+      "preferred-simple",
+      "preferred-simple",
+      "preferred-complex",
+      "preferred-complex",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("uses price ranking when none of the preferred models are available", () => {
+    const unavailablePreferred: PreferredTierModels = {
+      SIMPLE: ["missing-simple"],
+      MEDIUM: ["missing-medium"],
+      COMPLEX: ["missing-complex"],
+      REASONING: ["missing-reasoning"],
+    };
+    const config = buildAutomaticRouterConfig(
+      models("expensive", "cheap", "premium", "middle"),
+      [deployment("cheap", 1), deployment("middle", 2), deployment("premium", 3), deployment("expensive", 4)],
+      {},
+      unavailablePreferred,
+    );
+
+    expect(tierModels(config)).toEqual(["cheap", "middle", "premium", "expensive"]);
+  });
+
   it("uses four different models when four are available", () => {
     const config = buildAutomaticRouterConfig(
       models("expensive", "cheap", "premium", "middle"),
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.ts
index 265a943e859..1540a2cd360 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/add_model/auto_setup.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { isAutoRouterDeployment, type AutoRouterDeployment } from "@/app/(dashboard)/hooks/models/useModels";
 import type { ModelGroup } from "@/components/llm_calls/fetch_models";
+import { resolveAvailableModel, type AutoRouterPreset, type ModelAvailability } from "@/lib/autorouter_presets";
 import type { ComplexityRouterConfigValue } from "./ComplexityRouterConfig";
 
 type ModelCost = {
@@ -9,6 +10,10 @@ type ModelCost = {
 
 export type ModelCostMap = Record<string, ModelCost>;
 
+const TIER_NAMES = ["SIMPLE", "MEDIUM", "COMPLEX", "REASONING"] as const;
+type TierName = (typeof TIER_NAMES)[number];
+export type PreferredTierModels = Record<TierName, string[]>;
+
 const price = (cost: ModelCost | null | undefined): number | undefined => {
   const input = cost?.input_cost_per_token;
   const output = cost?.output_cost_per_token;
@@ -56,10 +61,46 @@ const selectTierModels = (ranked: string[]): [string, string, string, string] =>
   return [ranked[0], ranked[Math.floor(last / 3)], ranked[Math.floor((2 * last) / 3)], ranked[last]];
 };
 
+export const buildPreferredTierModels = (
+  presets: AutoRouterPreset[],
+  availability: ModelAvailability,
+): PreferredTierModels =>
+  Object.fromEntries(
+    TIER_NAMES.map((tier) => [
+      tier,
+      Array.from(
+        new Set(
+          presets.flatMap((preset) =>
+            preset.complexity_router_config.tiers[tier].flatMap((model) => {
+              const resolved = resolveAvailableModel(model, availability);
+              return resolved ? [resolved] : [];
+            }),
+          ),
+        ),
+      ),
+    ]),
+  ) as PreferredTierModels;
+
+const selectPreferredTierModels = (
+  preferredByTier: PreferredTierModels,
+  usableNames: ReadonlySet<string>,
+): [string, string, string, string] | null => {
+  const preferred = TIER_NAMES.map((tier) => preferredByTier[tier].find((name) => usableNames.has(name)));
+  const candidates = preferred.flatMap((model, tier) => (model ? [{ model, tier }] : []));
+  if (candidates.length === 0) return null;
+
+  const nearest = (tier: number): string =>
+    [...candidates].sort(
+      (left, right) => Math.abs(left.tier - tier) - Math.abs(right.tier - tier) || left.tier - right.tier,
+    )[0].model;
+  return preferred.map((model, tier) => model ?? nearest(tier)) as [string, string, string, string];
+};
+
 export const buildAutomaticRouterConfig = (
   models: ModelGroup[],
   deployments: AutoRouterDeployment[],
   costMap: ModelCostMap,
+  preferredByTier?: PreferredTierModels,
 ): ComplexityRouterConfigValue | null => {
   const autoRouterNames: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set(
     deployments
@@ -75,6 +116,7 @@ export const buildAutomaticRouterConfig = (
     ),
   );
   if (names.length === 0) return null;
+  const usableNames: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set(names);
 
   const ranked = names
     .map((name) => ({ name, price: groupPrice(name, deployments, costMap) }))
@@ -88,7 +130,9 @@ export const buildAutomaticRouterConfig = (
     })
     .map(({ name }) => name);
 
-  const selected = selectTierModels(ranked);
+  const selected = preferredByTier
+    ? selectPreferredTierModels(preferredByTier, usableNames) ?? selectTierModels(ranked)
+    : selectTierModels(ranked);
 
   return {
     tiers: {
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/lib/autorouter_presets.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/lib/autorouter_presets.ts
index b01108f1631..2aafbfcfcd9 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/lib/autorouter_presets.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/lib/autorouter_presets.ts
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ export const deploymentRefsFromModelInfo = (
     return row.model_name && underlyingModels.length > 0 ? [{ modelGroup: row.model_name, underlyingModels }] : [];
   });
 
-const resolveAvailableModel = (requiredModel: string, availability: ModelAvailability): string | undefined => {
+export const resolveAvailableModel = (requiredModel: string, availability: ModelAvailability): string | undefined => {
   const { modelGroups, underlyingIndex } = availability;
   if (modelGroups.has(requiredModel)) return requiredModel;
   const normalized = normalizeModelName(requiredModel);