Keywords AI

Cloudflare AI Gateway vs OpenRouter

Compare Cloudflare AI Gateway and OpenRouter side by side. Both are tools in the LLM Gateways category.

Quick Comparison

Cloudflare AI Gateway
Cloudflare AI Gateway
OpenRouter
OpenRouter
CategoryLLM GatewaysLLM Gateways
PricingFreemiumUsage-based
Best ForCloudflare users who want to add AI gateway capabilities to their existing edge infrastructureDevelopers who want easy access to a wide variety of LLM models through a single API
Websitedevelopers.cloudflare.comopenrouter.ai
Key Features
  • Edge-deployed AI gateway
  • Caching and rate limiting
  • Usage analytics
  • Provider failover
  • Cloudflare network integration
  • Access to 200+ models from 50+ providers
  • OpenAI-compatible API
  • Pay-per-use pricing with no commitments
  • Model comparison and benchmarking
  • Community-driven model rankings
Use Cases
  • Edge caching for AI API calls
  • Rate limiting AI usage per user
  • Cost management for AI APIs
  • Global AI traffic management
  • Cloudflare ecosystem AI integration
  • Accessing models not available through major providers
  • Quick model prototyping and comparison
  • Pay-per-use without provider commitments
  • Community and open-source model access
  • Building model-agnostic applications

When to Choose Cloudflare AI Gateway vs OpenRouter

Cloudflare AI Gateway
Choose Cloudflare AI Gateway if you need
  • Edge caching for AI API calls
  • Rate limiting AI usage per user
  • Cost management for AI APIs
Pricing: Freemium
OpenRouter
Choose OpenRouter if you need
  • Accessing models not available through major providers
  • Quick model prototyping and comparison
  • Pay-per-use without provider commitments
Pricing: Usage-based

About Cloudflare AI Gateway

Cloudflare AI Gateway is a proxy for AI API traffic that provides caching, rate limiting, analytics, and logging for LLM requests. Running on Cloudflare's global edge network, it reduces latency and costs by caching repeated requests. Free to use on all Cloudflare plans.

About OpenRouter

OpenRouter is an API aggregator that provides access to dozens of LLM providers through a unified OpenAI-compatible API. It offers model routing, price comparison, and rate limit management. OpenRouter is popular with developers who want to quickly switch between models or access models not available through major providers. The platform supports pay-per-use pricing and passes through provider-specific features.

What is LLM Gateways?

Unified API platforms and proxies that aggregate multiple LLM providers behind a single endpoint, providing model routing, fallback, caching, rate limiting, cost optimization, and access control.

Browse all LLM Gateways tools →

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