Comparisons

LLM Gateway vs the alternatives

LLM Gateway is an open-source AI gateway that routes requests to 40+ providers and 250+ models through one OpenAI-compatible endpoint. These 7 breakdowns show where it differs from the gateways, cloud platforms, and coding assistants teams usually evaluate alongside it.

  • 7comparisons
  • 40+providers
  • 250+models
  • AGPLv3open source

Every alternative at a glance

Licensing and hosting are what separate these products fastest. Everything else — routing, pricing, model coverage — is covered in each deep dive.

LLM Gateway compared with seven alternatives by open-source licensing and self-hosting
ProductCategoryOpen sourceSelf-hostableDeep dive
LLM GatewayAI gateways & routersCore AGPLv3; Enterprise commercialYes—
OpenRouterAI gateways & routersNoNoCompare
PortkeyAI gateways & routersGateway (MIT)OSS gateway; enterprise private deploymentsCompare
LiteLLMAI gateways & routersCore (MIT); commercial EnterpriseYesCompare
Vercel AI GatewayAI gateways & routersAI SDK is open source; gateway is managedNoCompare
AWS BedrockCloud model platformsNoNoCompare
Microsoft FoundryCloud model platformsNoNoCompare
GitHub CopilotCoding assistantsSelected clients and SDKs; hosted service is proprietaryHosted service: no; local BYOK varies by clientCompare

AI gateways & routers

LLM Gateway vs OpenRouter

What OpenRouter is
A hosted model marketplace with routing, analytics, workspaces and prepaid credits. Standard and Business have different fees and regional controls.
Where LLM Gateway differs
LLM Gateway offers a self-hostable core and no BYOK platform fee; OpenRouter offers a managed marketplace with plan-dependent BYOK allowances.
Pick OpenRouter if
You want a hosted marketplace, its routing tools and regional controls, with no gateway infrastructure to operate.
Read the comparisonMigration guide

LLM Gateway vs Portkey

What Portkey is
An AI gateway and operations platform with prompt management, tracing, guardrails and MCP governance. Palo Alto Networks acquired Portkey in May 2026.
Where LLM Gateway differs
Both can be self-hosted. Compare licensing, deployment scope, prompt operations and log-volume pricing against LLM Gateway's credit or BYOK model.
Pick Portkey if
You want prompt operations, semantic caching and agent governance alongside routing, with hosted or enterprise private deployment options.
Read the comparisonMigration guide

LLM Gateway vs LiteLLM

What LiteLLM is
An open-source Python SDK and gateway with an Admin UI, virtual keys, budgets, a playground and observability integrations.
Where LLM Gateway differs
LLM Gateway offers managed hosting and prepaid inference; LiteLLM gives you a Python SDK and a gateway you operate with your own providers.
Pick LiteLLM if
Your team wants Python-level extensibility and can operate the gateway, database, monitoring and upgrades.
Read the comparisonMigration guide

LLM Gateway vs Vercel AI Gateway

What Vercel AI Gateway is
A managed gateway with AI SDK and standard API support, media generation, budgets, zero inference markup and separately metered add-ons.
Where LLM Gateway differs
Both work across application hosts. LLM Gateway adds a self-hostable core; Vercel offers a managed gateway integrated with its developer platform.
Pick Vercel AI Gateway if
You want AI SDK integration, managed routing and Vercel observability without operating a gateway.
Read the comparisonMigration guide

Cloud model platforms

LLM Gateway vs AWS Bedrock

What AWS Bedrock is
Amazon's managed model and agent platform, with AWS billing, IAM, OpenAI-compatible APIs on supported models, and regional inference options.
Where LLM Gateway differs
LLM Gateway routes across independent providers, including supported Bedrock mappings. Bedrock combines inference with AWS-native agents and governance.
Pick AWS Bedrock if
AWS billing, IAM and private networking are central requirements and its supported models and services cover your workload.
Read the comparison

LLM Gateway vs Microsoft Foundry

What Microsoft Foundry is
Microsoft's model and agent platform, with Azure governance, deployment options and a model router with fallback and preview session affinity.
Where LLM Gateway differs
LLM Gateway provides a common API across providers. Foundry integrates model deployments, agents and governance with Azure; BYOK still follows Azure quotas.
Pick Microsoft Foundry if
Your team needs Azure identity, networking, managed agent services and integrated governance.
Read the comparison

Coding assistants

LLM Gateway vs GitHub Copilot

What GitHub Copilot is
A coding assistant across editors, GitHub, CLI and agents, with included AI credits, cached-token pricing, spend controls and client-dependent BYOK.
Where LLM Gateway differs
Copilot provides the coding experience. LLM Gateway provides model routing and usage controls for compatible tools, including supported Copilot BYOK clients.
Pick GitHub Copilot if
You value integrated completions, next-edit suggestions, repository context and GitHub workflows.
Read the comparisonMigration guide

Which one should you choose?

If you need one endpoint across many providers, want the routing layer to be inspectable and self-hostable, and care about paying provider rates rather than a marked-up bill, LLM Gateway is built for that. If your models all live in one cloud you are already committed to, that cloud's own platform is the shorter path — and LLM Gateway can still sit in front of it with your own keys at 0% markup.

The comparisons above are written to help you rule LLM Gateway out as readily as in. Each one names what the other product does better.

Choosing an AI gateway, answered

What is the best OpenRouter or Portkey alternative?
LLM Gateway is an open-source AI gateway that routes requests to multiple providers and 200+ models through one OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Unlike hosted-only alternatives, the core is AGPLv3 licensed, with separate commercial Enterprise features, so you can run it on your own infrastructure or use the managed service.
How does LLM Gateway price against other AI gateways?
You pay providers their per-token rates plus a 5% platform fee on credits, or you bring your own provider keys and pay 0% markup. There are no per-seat licences and no request-volume tiers for standard inference. Request logs are metadata-only by default; full request and response retention is an Enterprise feature billed at $0.01 per 1M tokens.
Do I have to rewrite my code to switch?
Standard OpenAI-compatible calls usually need endpoint, key and model changes. Translate platform-specific routing, headers, tool integrations and policies, then test the workflow. Our migration guides cover the supported paths.
Can LLM Gateway sit in front of AWS Bedrock or Azure?
Yes. Bedrock and Azure are providers inside LLM Gateway rather than things it replaces. You can keep those contracts and route through them with your own keys at 0% markup, while gaining failover, caching, and cross-provider cost analytics.
Is LLM Gateway actually open source?
Yes. The core platform — gateway, dashboard, and worker — is licensed under AGPLv3 and free to self-host forever. Some enterprise features live under a separate commercial licence in the ee/ directory.

Try it against your own workload

Change the base URL and API key, send a request, and compare the numbers yourself.

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