LiteLLM vs Portkey

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Both have one
Best fit: LiteLLM: Platform teams giving many internal developers governed access to several LLM vendors · Portkey: Teams calling several LLM providers who want a single API with fallbacks and caching
Platforms: LiteLLM: Linux · Portkey: Web
Trust score: About even — LiteLLM 87, Portkey 91

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

LiteLLMOpen-source gateway and Python SDK that put 100+ LLM providers behind one OpenAI-style API, with keys, budgets and spend tracking.

PortkeyAI gateway that routes requests to 1,600+ models through one API, with caching, fallbacks, guardrails and observability.

Side by side

Fact	LiteLLM	Portkey
Category	AI Gateways & Routing	AI Gateways & Routing
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	—	$49/mo
Public API	Yes	Yes
Trust score	87 / 100	91 / 100
Platforms	Linux, API	Web, API
Company	Berri AI (LiteLLM)	Palo Alto Networks
Launched	2023	2023
Last verified	Oct 2, 2026	Oct 2, 2026

What our research says

LiteLLM

LiteLLM is the default pick for a platform team that wants one OpenAI-compatible door to many model vendors, with per-team budgets and keys, without paying a hosted router a margin. The SDK is just as useful to a single developer who wants to swap providers with a one-line change. Running the gateway reliably, including its database and scaling, is your job, and the governance features that large companies ask for sit behind the Enterprise licence.

Pros

One OpenAI-style interface to 100+ providers, in an SDK and a self-hosted proxy
Virtual keys, spend tracking by key, user and team, budgets and rate limits in the free gateway
Retry and fallback routing across deployments, plus MCP and agent gateways
Self-hosted, so traffic and keys stay in your own environment

Cons

You run and scale the proxy yourself, including its database and upgrades
SSO, SCIM, audit logs and SLAs require the Enterprise licence, priced only by quote
The unified format can lag behind provider-specific features on new models

Portkey

Portkey is a mature way to put one gateway in front of many model providers, with failover, caching and logging included. It suits teams running LLM apps in production that want cost and reliability controls without writing them. The acquisition by a security vendor is likely to steer the roadmap toward enterprise governance, so small teams should watch pricing and packaging.

Pros

Open-source MIT-licensed gateway that can be self-hosted
Routing, fallbacks, load balancing and semantic caching in one place
Free developer tier and a $49 production tier with published overage pricing
Observability, guardrails and prompt management on the same platform

Cons

The free tier is limited to 10,000 logs and is not meant for production
Brand and packaging are shifting under Palo Alto Networks' Prisma AIRS
Advanced governance, SSO and VPC hosting need the Enterprise plan

Which one fits

Choose LiteLLM if you need

Platform teams giving many internal developers governed access to several LLM vendors
Developers who want to switch or fall back between model providers without rewriting code
Organisations that must keep prompts and keys inside their own infrastructure

Choose Portkey if you need

Teams calling several LLM providers who want a single API with fallbacks and caching
Platform teams that need guardrails, logs and access control around model usage