Keywords AI
OpenRouter vs Portkey
Compare OpenRouter and Portkey side by side. Both are tools in the LLM Gateways category.
Quick Comparison
| Category | LLM Gateways | LLM Gateways |
| Pricing | Usage-based | Freemium |
| Best For | Developers who want easy access to a wide variety of LLM models through a single API | Engineering teams who need a reliable, observable gateway for production LLM applications |
| Website | openrouter.ai | portkey.ai |
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When to Choose OpenRouter vs Portkey
- Accessing models not available through major providers
- Quick model prototyping and comparison
- Pay-per-use without provider commitments
- Enterprise LLM deployment with reliability
- Multi-provider failover and load balancing
- Cost reduction through semantic caching
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.
About Portkey
Portkey is an AI gateway that provides a unified API for 200+ LLMs with built-in reliability features including automatic retries, fallbacks, load balancing, and caching. The platform includes observability with detailed request logs, cost tracking, and performance analytics. Portkey also offers guardrails, access controls, and virtual keys for managing LLM usage across teams.
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 →