# GateLLM vs LiteLLM, OpenRouter & Cloud AI Gateways

> Source-verified comparisons of GateLLM against LiteLLM, OpenRouter, Alibaba Cloud AI Gateway, Azure API Management, Apigee, Cloudflare AI Gateway, Kong AI Gateway, and Portkey.

Canonical: https://www.gatellm.io/compare/

## GateLLM vs the alternatives
A source-verified comparison library. Every page lists what only GateLLM does, what both do, and what differs in kind — so you can weigh the trade-offs on facts, not marketing.
Choosing an AI gateway is a procurement decision, not a developer decision. Five criteria separate the field: where it runs, what the bill anchors on, which SDKs it speaks natively, how finely you can govern it, and whether the vendor will still own it next year.
## Eight gateways, five criteria
Each cell is a one-line read of the matching comparison page — the cards below link to the full mechanism-level breakdown and migration path.
| Criterion | LiteLLM | OpenRouter | Alibaba Cloud AI Gateway | Azure API Management | Apigee | Cloudflare AI Gateway | Kong AI Gateway | Portkey (Prisma AIRS) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Deployment | Self-hosted OSS | SaaS only | Managed cloud (Higress) | Managed or self-hosted, Azure-attached | Data plane on your K8s, control plane on GCP | Managed edge | Self-hosted OSS (+ managed Konnect) | Hybrid: gateway self-hosted, control plane SaaS |
| Billing anchor | Free OSS; Enterprise usage-priced | Token pass-through + credit/BYOK fees | Usage-priced managed service | Azure subscription (gateway + control plane) | Usage-priced, GCP control plane | 5% fee on unified-billing credits | Free OSS; Enterprise-gated plugins | $49/mo + $9 per 100k recorded logs |
| Protocol entrypoints | OpenAI-centric | OpenAI-compatible | OpenAI-compatible | General API gateway + AI policies | General API gateway + AI policies | OpenAI-compatible edge | OpenAI-compatible + AI plugins | OpenAI-compatible |
| Governance | SSO (5-user cap) / RBAC in Enterprise | Per-key controls, no org RBAC | Cloud IAM + gateway policies | Azure RBAC + policies | GCP IAM + API policies | Cloudflare access + gateway policies | RBAC / SSO in Enterprise | RBAC / SSO / SCIM / guardrails |
| Vendor independence | Independent (BerriAI) | Independent (Series B) | Alibaba Cloud (in-house) | Microsoft (in-house) | Google Cloud (in-house) | Cloudflare (in-house) | Independent (Kong Inc.) | Acquired by Palo Alto Networks (2026-05-29) |

## Honest bar: you may not need a gateway at all
Single provider, single team, no compliance constraint, manageable monthly spend — call the provider APIs directly and skip the gateway. A gateway starts paying for itself when you need multi-provider failover, per-team cost attribution, compliance / data residency, or real-time visibility into runaway spend.
## Third-party head-to-heads
Comparisons where the question is not "why GateLLM" but "which of these two should I pick". Same source-verified matrix, a third column, and an honest answer when neither is the right choice.
- [LiteLLM vs Kong AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-kong.md)
- [LiteLLM vs OpenRouter](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-openrouter.md)
- [LiteLLM vs Portkey (Prisma AIRS)](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-portkey.md)

## Related
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- [Compare LiteLLM](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm.md)
- [Compare OpenRouter](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/openrouter.md)
- [Compare Alibaba Cloud AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/alibaba-cloud.md)
- [Compare Azure API Management](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/azure-apim.md)
- [Compare Apigee](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/apigee.md)
- [Compare Cloudflare AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/cloudflare.md)
- [Compare Kong AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/kong.md)
- [Compare Portkey](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/portkey.md)
- [LiteLLM vs Kong AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-kong.md)
- [LiteLLM vs OpenRouter](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-openrouter.md)
- [LiteLLM vs Portkey](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-portkey.md)
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- [Engineering Blog](https://www.gatellm.io/blog.md)
- [Your Agents Have More Permissions Than Your Employees: Governing MCP Tools at the Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/blog/mcp-tool-governance.md)
- [The $10k Invoice Problem: Five Ways to Cut LLM Spend Without Dumbing Down Your App](https://www.gatellm.io/blog/reduce-cost.md)
- [Your Vendor's List Price Is Not Your Cost: Applying Real FinOps to Token Spend](https://www.gatellm.io/blog/token-finops.md)
- [llms.txt](https://www.gatellm.io/llms.txt)