LiteLLMvsVercel AI Gateway

Full side-by-side comparison — features, pricing, platforms, and which one wins in 2026.

LiteLLM

LLM APIs & Inference

Unified API proxy for 100+ LLM providers — one interface, any model

Full review →Website ↗

Vercel AI Gateway

LLM APIs & Inference

Unified API gateway for routing app calls across hundreds of AI models

Full review →Website ↗
FeatureLiteLLMVercel AI Gateway
CategoryLLM APIs & InferenceLLM APIs & Inference
PricingFree (open-source), hosted proxy availableFree monthly credits; pay-as-you-go at provider list price with no markup
GitHub Stars
✓ More stars
16k
—
PlatformsLinux, macOS, DockerWeb, API
Key Features
  • ✓ Unified API for 100+ LLM providers
  • ✓ Load balancing across multiple API keys/providers
  • ✓ Automatic fallbacks when providers fail
  • ✓ Spend tracking and budget alerts per team/project
  • ✓ Rate limiting and retry logic built-in
  • ✓ OpenAI SDK compatible — zero code changes
  • ✓ Self-hostable proxy server
  • ✓ Supports streaming, function calling, vision
  • ✓ Single API key
  • ✓ Hundreds of models
  • ✓ Unified model API
  • ✓ Provider routing and fallbacks
  • ✓ Automatic retries
  • ✓ Usage and spend monitoring
  • ✓ Bring Your Own Key
  • ✓ AI SDK and OpenAI-compatible APIs
Pros
  • + One API for 100+ providers
  • + Built-in load balancing and fallbacks
  • + Spend tracking and rate limiting
  • + OpenAI SDK compatible
  • + One endpoint for many model providers
  • + Centralized usage, spend, and observability
  • + Automatic retries and fallbacks improve production resilience
  • + No token markup according to Vercel docs
  • + Works with AI SDK and OpenAI-compatible API clients
Cons
  • − Adds a proxy layer (slight latency)
  • − Complex config for advanced features
  • − Best fit for teams already building web apps or using Vercel/AI SDK
  • − Underlying provider terms and model limits still apply
  • − BYOK fallback can still consume AI Gateway credits
  • − Exact model pricing should be checked in the current Gateway model list
Tags
api-gatewaymulti-providerproxyopen-source
ai-gatewaymodel-routingvercelai-sdkllm-apibyokobservability

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