OpenZiti LLM Gateway review
A self-hosted gateway for zero-trust routing, failover, and local-model connectivity.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
OpenZiti LLM Gateway is an open-source, self-hosted proxy for developers and teams running private, distributed, or self-hosted inference infrastructure. It exposes an OpenAI-compatible chat completions API and routes requests across OpenAI, Anthropic, and compatible local backends, including Ollama, vLLM, llama-server, and SGLang. The gateway is distributed as a Go binary and supports Linux, macOS, Windows, and API-based deployments. Its strongest fit is an organization that needs local and hosted models connected through zero-trust networking rather than a broad, managed gateway service.
Routing is the product’s standout capability. Semantic routing can use heuristics, embeddings, or an LLM classifier, while weighted multi-endpoint load balancing distributes requests across available endpoints. Health checks and automatic failover add continuity across providers or private backends. Anthropic API translation can also help applications work through the gateway while retaining an OpenAI-compatible interface. Virtual API keys support model restrictions, and Prometheus-exported OpenTelemetry metrics provide an observability path for teams operating the gateway themselves.
The ecosystem fit is clear but deliberately focused: integrations include OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, vLLM, llama-server, SGLang, zrok, and OpenZiti. zrok and OpenZiti provide the zero-trust connectivity layer that distinguishes this gateway from a basic provider router. Choose OpenZiti LLM Gateway when self-hosting, private connectivity, fallback routing, usage analytics, budget controls, and virtual keys matter. It is less suitable for teams seeking the widest provider coverage or a broader gateway feature set, since its provider and feature scope is narrower than leading alternatives.
OpenZiti LLM Gateway pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Routes requests across OpenAI, Anthropic, and local backends
- Adds semantic routing, load balancing, health checks, and failover
- Supports virtual keys, metrics, and OpenZiti zero-trust connectivity
- Where it doesn't
- Provider and feature coverage is narrower than leading gateways
- Self-hosting places deployment and operations responsibility on your team
- The gateway is focused on routing rather than a broad platform ecosystem
OpenZiti LLM Gateway fact sheet, pricing and score →
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