The Best LLM Gateway Software in 2026
We researched LLM gateway software from official websites, including pricing pages, plan tables, and product documentation. Products are ranked on the category’s core job: routing and managing multi-provider LLM traffic, alongside value for money and verified features for production AI applications.
Our top picks
-
Top ranked
OpenRouter#1 of 349.2/10A broad LLM gateway for teams that need model choice without separate integrations.
Free plan
-
Runner-up
Cloudflare AI Gateway#2 of 349.1/10A free managed gateway for routing, monitoring, and governing multi-provider AI traffic.
Free plan
-
Top-ranked free plan
LiteLLM#4 of 348.8/10A complete open-source gateway for multi-provider routing, controls, and observability.
Free plan · 30-day trial
Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.
The full ranking 34 tools, best first
-
Best forUsers needing access to many hosted models
A broad LLM gateway for teams that need model choice without separate integrations.
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
9.2/10★★★★★Visit OpenRouter -
Best forTeams wanting a free managed gateway
A free managed gateway for routing, monitoring, and governing multi-provider AI traffic.
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
- Usage analytics
9.1/10★★★★★Visit Cloudflare -
Best forAlibaba Cloud-centric enterprise deployments
A broad AI gateway for enterprises standardizing LLM, agent, and MCP traffic.
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
9.0/10★★★★☆Visit Alibaba Cloud -
Best forTeams wanting a complete open-source gateway
A complete open-source gateway for multi-provider routing, controls, and observability.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
Free plan · 30-day trial Our LiteLLM verdict → Visit LiteLLMFor vendors Sponsor this spot · #4 · $69/mo →8.8/10★★★★☆Visit LiteLLM -
Best forSecurity-focused enterprise AI traffic governance
A security-focused gateway for governing enterprise AI traffic, agents, and model access.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Budget controls
8.6/10★★★★☆Contact Palo Alto -
Best forSelf-hosted Kubernetes gateway operators
A flexible self-hosted gateway for Kubernetes teams managing APIs, AI traffic, and multiple protocols.
8.4/10★★★★☆Visit Apache APISIX -
Best forEnterprises needing governed multi-provider traffic
A governed gateway for routing, securing, and analyzing multi-provider AI traffic.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
8.3/10★★★★☆Try Kong AI Gateway -
Best forTeams routing across many models and providers
A broad LLM gateway for teams balancing model choice, control, and deployment flexibility.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
8.2/10★★★★☆Visit Orq.ai -
Best forTeams combining gateway and model optimization
A feature-rich open-source gateway whose archived status limits its fit for new deployments.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
8.1/10★★★★☆Visit TensorZero -
Best forTeams prioritizing tracing and LLM observability
A strong observability-led gateway for teams tracing models, agents, and retrieval.
8.0/10★★★★☆Visit Helicone -
Best forKubernetes teams building an open gateway
A Kubernetes-native open gateway for routing, governing, and observing LLM traffic.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
7.9/10★★★★☆Visit Agent Router -
Best forEnterprises needing governed self-hosted routing
A governed gateway for routing LLM and MCP traffic across multiple providers.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
7.8/10★★★★☆Visit WSO2 -
Best forTeams needing enterprise-grade model governance
A broad LLM gateway for teams that need routing, controls, and private deployment.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
7.7/10★★★★☆Visit TrueFoundry -
Best forOrganizations needing gateway controls and extensibility
A self-hostable gateway for routing, budgets, fallbacks, observability, and provider access.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
7.6/10★★★★☆Visit Bifrost -
Best forTeams needing managed routing with EU residency
A managed, EU-resident gateway for routing, observing and controlling LLM usage.
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
7.5/10★★★★☆Visit Requesty -
Best forOpen-source teams needing advanced routing policies
A free, self-hosted gateway with unusually detailed routing and budget controls.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
7.4/10★★★★☆Visit Polyrouter -
Best forTeams wanting a simple free self-hosted gateway
A simple free gateway with failover, analytics, spend limits, caching, and self-hosting.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
7.3/10★★★★☆Visit LLM Gateway -
Best forSmall teams wanting an affordable self-hosted gateway
A low-cost gateway for teams routing models across cloud, local, and custom endpoints.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
7.2/10★★★★☆Visit Manifest -
Best forSelf-hosted teams wanting a straightforward AI proxy
A practical self-hosted proxy for multi-provider routing, controls, and AI traffic analytics.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
7.1/10★★★★☆Visit Tyk -
Best forTeams needing multimodal routing and spend control
A multimodal gateway combining provider routing, fallbacks, usage tracking, and spend controls.
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
- Usage analytics
7.0/10★★★★☆Visit Cortecs -
Best forTeams wanting managed routing with developer SDKs
A hosted gateway for routing LLM requests across providers through one API.
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
- Usage analytics
6.9/10★★★☆☆Visit UniterRouter -
Best forTeams wanting managed routing with clear tiering
A managed LLM gateway with routing, fallback, analytics, and tiered access.
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
- Usage analytics
6.8/10★★★☆☆Visit ZenMux -
Best forTeams wanting a lightweight self-hosted protocol bridge
A lightweight gateway for unifying provider APIs, with failover and key controls.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
6.7/10★★★☆☆Visit YoloRouter -
Best forZero-trust deployments with local and hosted models
A self-hosted gateway for zero-trust routing, failover, and local-model connectivity.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
6.6/10★★★☆☆Visit OpenZiti -
Best forDevelopers wanting a lightweight open-source router
A lightweight open-source router for multi-provider LLM traffic and budget control.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
6.5/10★★★☆☆Visit Routerly -
Best forTeams optimizing routing by cost and benchmarks
A cost- and benchmark-aware gateway for teams managing multiple LLM providers.
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
6.4/10★★★☆☆Visit Ramp Router -
Best forTeams comparing providers by cost and region
A managed gateway for comparing, routing, and monitoring multiple AI providers.
- Virtual API keys
- Fallback routing
- Budget controls
6.3/10★★★☆☆Visit Eden AI -
Best forDevelopers seeking broad model access and compatibility
A broad LLM gateway for developers who want compatible APIs and model choice.
- Usage analytics
6.2/10★★★☆☆Visit Martian -
Best forDevelopers needing an open-source local-provider gateway
A self-hosted OpenAI-compatible gateway with broad provider support but no fallback routing.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Usage analytics
6.1/10★★★☆☆Visit site -
Best forTeams experimenting with semantic model selection
A self-hosted gateway for teams shaping semantic, signal-driven model routing.
- Self-hosted deployment
- Usage analytics
6.0/10★★★☆☆Visit site -
Best forTeams prioritizing tracing over gateway operations
A tracing-led LLM platform with evaluations, prompt tools, and flexible hosting.
5.9/10★★★☆☆Visit LangSmith -
Best forEnterprises needing broader AI lifecycle tooling
A broad enterprise AI studio with gateway-relevant inference, endpoints, and lifecycle tools.
5.8/10★★★☆☆Visit IBM watsonx.ai -
Best forTeams needing deployment infrastructure alongside AI
A strong deployment platform, but not a complete LLM gateway for routing and fallback.
5.6/10★★★☆☆Visit Vercel -
Best forTeams serving open-source models themselves
A self-hosted inference framework with an OpenAI-compatible API, not a commercial multi-provider gateway.
- Self-hosted deployment
5.5/10★★★☆☆Visit SGLang
No tools match those filters.
Compare at a glance
| # | Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Fallback routing | Usage analytics | Self-hosted deployment | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenRouter | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 9.2 | |
| 2 | Cloudflare AI Gateway | Yes | Free | Yes | Yes | 9.1 | |
| 3 | Alibaba Cloud AI Gateway | No | $0.01/unit usage-based | Yes | Yes | No | 9.0 |
| 4 | LiteLLM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.8 | |
| 5 | Prisma AIRS AI Gateway | Yes | Yes | 8.6 | |||
| 6 | Apache APISIX | Yes | Free | 8.4 | |||
| 7 | Kong AI Gateway | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.3 | |
| 8 | Orq.ai | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.2 | |
| 9 | TensorZero | Yes | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8.1 |
| 10 | Helicone | Yes | $79/mo | 8.0 | |||
| 11 | Envoy AI Gateway | Yes | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.9 |
| 12 | WSO2 AI Gateway | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.8 | |
| 13 | TrueFoundry AI Gateway | Yes | $25/user/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.7 |
| 14 | Bifrost | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.6 | |
| 15 | Requesty | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 7.5 | |
| 16 | Polyrouter | Yes | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.4 |
| 17 | LLM Gateway | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.3 | |
| 18 | Manifest | Yes | $19/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.2 |
| 19 | Tyk AI Studio Proxy | Yes | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | 7.1 |
| 20 | Cortecs | Yes | Yes | 7.0 | |||
| 21 | UniterRouter | Yes | $500/yr | Yes | Yes | No | 6.9 |
| 22 | ZenMux | Yes | $20/mo | Yes | Yes | 6.8 | |
| 23 | YoloRouter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6.7 | |
| 24 | OpenZiti LLM Gateway | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6.6 | |
| 25 | Routerly | Yes | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6.5 |
| 26 | Ramp Router | No | Yes | Yes | 6.4 | ||
| 27 | Eden AI | No | Yes | Yes | No | 6.3 | |
| 28 | Martian Gateway | Yes | 6.2 | ||||
| 29 | Inference Gateway | Yes | Free | No | Yes | Yes | 6.1 |
| 30 | vLLM Semantic Router | Yes | Free | No | Yes | Yes | 6.0 |
| 31 | LangSmith | Yes | $39/seat/mo | 5.9 | |||
| 32 | IBM watsonx.ai | Yes | $1,110/mo | 5.8 | |||
| 33 | Vercel | Yes | $20/user/mo | 5.6 | |||
| 34 | SGLang | Yes | Free | No | Yes | 5.5 |
Head-to-head All 28 comparisons →
- OpenRouter vs Cloudflare AI Gateway
- OpenRouter vs Alibaba Cloud AI Gateway
- OpenRouter vs LiteLLM
- OpenRouter vs Prisma AIRS AI Gateway
- OpenRouter vs Apache APISIX
- OpenRouter vs Kong AI Gateway
- OpenRouter vs Orq.ai
- Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Alibaba Cloud AI Gateway
- Cloudflare AI Gateway vs LiteLLM
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How we rank LLM gateway software
Every tool on this page was researched by iTechGuides Editors from its official website — pricing pages, plan tables and product documentation. We rank on how well each one does this category's core job, what the free or entry plan includes, and where it falls short. Where we have enough verified facts, the score out of 10 is a rubric — job fit, value and how much we could verify — shown with its breakdown on every tool's page; a tool we have not verified enough to score yet shows its rank without a number. Scores are re-checked when a product changes its plans. Read the full editorial policy, or submit a tool we missed.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Last updated · How we research and update