LiteLLM vs Portkey: which AI gateway should you use?
Choose LiteLLM for a free gateway you host and control yourself, and Portkey, now Palo Alto Networks' Prisma AIRS AI Gateway, for a hosted control plane with enterprise security, priced by logged requests from $49 a month. Both use your own provider keys. For coding agents there is a third option: Standard Compute, a hosted flat plan with compute included and routing that picks an efficient model per request.
LiteLLM and Portkey side by side
| LiteLLM | Portkey (Prisma AIRS AI Gateway) | |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | BerriAI, open source (MIT outside the enterprise folder) | Palo Alto Networks since May 2026; open-source gateway under MIT |
| Price | Free self-hosted; Enterprise annual license, no public price | Developer free (10k logs a month); Production $49 a month for 100k logs, +$9 per extra 100k; Enterprise custom |
| Tokens | Your provider keys | Your provider keys |
| Hosting | Self-hosted; air-gapped on Enterprise | Hosted; hybrid and VPC on Enterprise |
| Spend caps | max_budget per key, user, team and customer (needs a database) | Budget limits on Enterprise and select Pro customers; the key expires at the limit and the budget can't be edited |
| Routing | Shuffle, latency, usage and cost strategies; beta complexity router with tiers you assign | Fallbacks, load balancing and conditional routing on metadata or parameters you define |
| Claude Code | Your proxy as the base URL, with a virtual key | Base URL api.portkey.ai, provider in a custom header |
From litellm.ai, docs.litellm.ai, portkey.ai/pricing and portkey.ai/docs, checked October 13, 2026. Portkey's open-source gateway repository was last updated May 25, 2026.
What each costs for a team of coding agents
Neither sells tokens, so the provider bill is the same: about $71 a month per developer on Claude Sonnet 5.5 for typical working days at list price, and $579 for busy ones, measured in our Agent Burn Index. LiteLLM adds hosting and your time; Portkey adds $49 a month once you pass 10,000 logged requests: a 20-developer team at our median of 94 requests a day logs about 37,600 a month, and about 196,000 if every day is a busy one, which adds $9.
Which to choose
- Choose LiteLLM when everything must run in your own infrastructure, you want no license fee, and a platform team will operate and patch it.
- Choose Portkey when you want a hosted control plane, already buy Palo Alto security, or need guardrails, HIPAA and a VPC data plane on Enterprise.
- Choose Standard Compute for coding agents on a fixed monthly price with no provider accounts: compute included, routing for cost, a plan per key for teams and agencies, and requests that stop at the budget.
The catch
Both are control planes, not compute. You still sign up with each provider, pay their list prices, and choose the model for every route yourself.
Where Standard Compute fits
Nothing to host and no provider accounts: one key for Claude Code on /v1/messages and Codex on /v1/responses, with a router that chooses an efficient model for routine steps. Plans start at $19 with the compute included, stop at their budget with no overage, and come as a plan per key for teams and agencies, with Europe or US rules on any plan.
FAQ
Is Portkey still available after the Palo Alto acquisition?
Yes. Palo Alto Networks closed the acquisition in May 2026 and made Portkey generally available as Prisma AIRS AI Gateway on July 16, 2026. portkey.ai still lists its Developer, Production and Enterprise plans.
Is LiteLLM or Portkey cheaper?
LiteLLM's open-source gateway has no license fee but you host it. Portkey's Production plan is $49 a month for 100,000 logged requests plus $9 per extra 100,000. Both leave the provider bill to you.
Is Portkey open source like LiteLLM?
Portkey's gateway is open source under MIT, while its hosted control plane is a paid product. LiteLLM is MIT outside its enterprise folder, with Enterprise features unlocked by a license key.
Do LiteLLM and Portkey both work with Claude Code?
Yes. Both document setting ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN; Portkey also sets the provider in ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS and can route Claude to Anthropic, Bedrock or Vertex.