LiteLLM vs Kong AI Gateway

LiteLLM8.8Visit Kong AI Gateway8.3Visit

Higher score LiteLLM #4 in LLM Gateway Software 8.8/10 Free plan · 30-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 5 of 5 features Visit LiteLLM

vs

Kong AI Gateway #7 in LLM Gateway Software 8.3/10 30-day trial Free trial✓ 5 of 5 features Try Kong AI Gateway

• LiteLLM fits best

  Teams wanting a complete open-source gateway

• Kong AI Gateway fits best

  Enterprises needing governed multi-provider traffic

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Side by side

Feature	LiteLLM 8.8/10 Visit ↗	Kong AI Gateway 8.3/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.8	8.3
Ranking	#4 in LLM Gateway Software	#7 in LLM Gateway Software
Best for	Teams wanting a complete open-source gateway	Enterprises needing governed multi-provider traffic
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	—	—
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	30 days	30 days
Free trial length	30 days · no card needed	30 days · no card needed
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Community, Docs · 24/7	Email, Tickets
Integrations	11 integrations	14 integrations
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features LiteLLM 5/5 · Kong AI Gateway 5/5
Fallback routing	✓	✓
Usage analytics	✓	✓
Self-hosted deployment	✓	✓
Budget controls	✓	✓
Virtual API keys	✓	✓
Specs
Provider count	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	OpenAI-compatible API across 100+ providers Routing, retries, fallbacks, budgets, and rate limits Self-hosting with virtual keys and usage analytics	Routes and fails over traffic across multiple LLM providers Tracks usage, tokens, costs, latency, and errors Supports managed, cloud, and self-hosted deployments
Cons	Enterprise pricing is quote-based SSO and SCIM are part of the Enterprise edition The platform is geared toward teams managing multiple providers	Paid pricing is not presented as a single flat AI Gateway price No perpetual free plan is offered Plus limits gateway and model counts
Our verdict	LiteLLM is an open-source LLM gateway and Python SDK for platform teams and developers managing access to multiple model providers. Its OpenAI-compatible API translates requests to provider endpoints, while routing, retries, fallbacks,… Read the review →	Kong AI Gateway is an API gateway for platform, infrastructure, and enterprise teams managing production AI connectivity. It governs traffic between applications, agents, MCP servers, and large language model providers through a unified… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• LiteLLM — where it wins

  • OpenAI-compatible API across 100+ providers
  • Routing, retries, fallbacks, budgets, and rate limits
  • Self-hosting with virtual keys and usage analytics

  Where it doesn't

  • Enterprise pricing is quote-based
  • SSO and SCIM are part of the Enterprise edition
  • The platform is geared toward teams managing multiple providers

• Kong AI Gateway — where it wins

  • Routes and fails over traffic across multiple LLM providers
  • Tracks usage, tokens, costs, latency, and errors
  • Supports managed, cloud, and self-hosted deployments

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid pricing is not presented as a single flat AI Gateway price
  • No perpetual free plan is offered
  • Plus limits gateway and model counts

• LiteLLM8.8/10 · Free plan · 30-day trial

  A complete open-source gateway for multi-provider routing, controls, and observability.

  Visit LiteLLMFull verdict →
• Kong AI Gateway8.3/10 · 30-day trial

  A governed gateway for routing, securing, and analyzing multi-provider AI traffic.

  Try Kong AI GatewayFull verdict →