Looking for an alternative to LiteLLM?

An open-source AI gateway you run in your own infrastructure: one OpenAI-format API to 100+ providers with virtual keys, budgets and rate limits per key, user and team, plus detailed Claude Code guides. You connect your own provider keys.

Pricing: Open Source is "$0, Free forever, self-hosted". Enterprise is an annual license sized to your gateway request capacity, deployment and support needs, "never per token", with a 30-day trial key. Model usage is billed by your providers on your own keys. (Verified 2026-10-13.)

TL;DR

LiteLLM is the default self-hosted gateway for a reason: free, open source, budgets per key and team, and the most thorough Claude Code guides of any proxy. The cost is running it and still paying providers per token. Standard Compute is the managed alternative for teams that would rather not operate infrastructure: one key per developer on a flat plan, smart routing, and region rules built in. The two also combine: LiteLLM can route to Standard Compute like any OpenAI-compatible provider.

Where LiteLLM shines

•Free and open source, with no fee on tokens: you pay providers directly
•Runs in your own infrastructure, air-gapped on Enterprise, so prompts and keys stay with you
•Virtual keys with budgets, RPM/TPM limits and spend by key, user, team and org
•Deep Claude Code guides: SSO sign-in, a budget status line, prompt cache routing, non-Anthropic models
•Works with existing cloud commitments and provider contracts (Bedrock, Vertex, Azure and others)

Why people look for an alternative

•You operate it: the gateway, its Postgres database and upgrades are your team's job
•Budgets depend on the database: on a database-less deployment "none of them cap anything", and the global budget is skipped
•SSO, audit logs and SLAs are Enterprise features priced by sales
•You still hold provider accounts and their per-token bills; the gateway tracks spend but doesn't change its shape

Standard Compute vs LiteLLM

Standard Compute is an OpenAI-compatible API with frontier-model compute at a flat monthly price (from $19/mo): no per-token billing and no 5-hour or weekly windows. Requests run at full speed until the monthly compute budget is used, then stop until renewal or an upgrade. There are no overage charges.

Pick Standard Compute when…

•You don't want to run a gateway: no servers, database or upgrades to own
•One fixed monthly price per developer key instead of provider contracts and per-token invoices
•Small teams and agencies that want a company workspace, plans per key and invoices
•Europe or US region rules enforced with exact provider endpoint allowlists, without building them

Stick with LiteLLM when…

•Prompts, keys and logs must stay inside your own infrastructure, or air-gapped
•You already have provider contracts, cloud commitments or negotiated rates to route through
•A platform team that wants full control of routing, logging and policy, with no per-token gateway fee
•Large organizations standardizing every LLM call, not only coding agents, on one internal gateway

Buying for a team: AI coding agent cost per developer · LLM API for agencies · EU LLM API for coding agents

Switching takes one config change

Standard Compute is OpenAI-compatible, so any tool or SDK that lets you set a custom base URL migrates in minutes:

Base URL  = https://api.stdcmpt.com/v1
API key   = your Standard Compute key
Model     = standardcompute

Setup guides for OpenClaw, Hermes, OpenCode, Cursor, Cline, Aider and more are on the integrations page. Free tier to test it, no card required.

FAQ

Is there a hosted LiteLLM?

LiteLLM's pricing page offers the open-source gateway to self-host and an Enterprise license that is also self-hosted, with air-gapped deployment available. If you want a managed endpoint instead of running one, that is the gap a hosted API like Standard Compute fills.

Can I use Standard Compute behind LiteLLM?

Yes. Add it as an OpenAI-compatible provider with base URL https://api.stdcmpt.com/v1 and model standardcompute. LiteLLM keeps your virtual keys and logging; the Standard Compute plan sets a fixed monthly cost for the traffic you send to it.

Which is cheaper for a team of developers?

LiteLLM adds no token fee, so you pay provider prices plus the cost of running the gateway and, for SSO and support, an Enterprise license. Standard Compute is a fixed monthly plan per key with a published compute budget. Our cost-per-developer guide works through team sizes with measured agent usage.

Sources: LiteLLM pricing; LiteLLM Enterprise; LiteLLM budgets docs; LiteLLM Claude Code quickstart

The flat-rate alternative to LiteLLM

Standard Compute

Current frontier models Claude Opus 5.5 · Claude Sonnet 5.5