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Portkey vs LiteLLM
Quick verdict
Portkey and LiteLLM are closely matched on licensing, self-hosting and OpenTelemetry support — the decision comes down to pricing and framework integrations below.
Side-by-side comparison from the Agent Observability Index: licensing, self-hosting, pricing model and integrations — no vendor copy, primary sources linked.
| Portkey | LiteLLM | |
|---|---|---|
| One-liner | AI gateway routing 1,600+ models with built-in logging, cost tracking, caching and guardrails; observability comes as a side effect of the proxy layer. | Open-source LLM proxy/SDK that normalizes 100+ providers behind the OpenAI format with per-key budgets, spend tracking and rate limits. |
| Category | Observability & Tracing | Cost & FinOps |
| OpenTelemetry-native | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Pricing notes | OSS gateway free (MIT); cloud free tier + paid plans; enterprise via Palo Alto Networks | MIT OSS proxy free; enterprise tier adds SSO/audit features |
| Frameworks | openai-sdk, anthropic, langchain, llamaindex, vercel-ai, litellm | openai-sdk, anthropic, langchain, llamaindex |
| GitHub stars | 12.1k | 50.2k |
| Maturity (GitHub signal) | 100/100 (Mature) | 90/100 (Mature) |
| Funding / ownership | $15M Series A (Elevation, Feb 2026); acquired by Palo Alto Networks (May 2026) | YC W23 (BerriAI) |
How to choose
- Both link to primary pricing sources below — verify current tiers before committing; this market shifts monthly.
Frequently asked questions
Is Portkey or LiteLLM open source?
Portkey: Yes. LiteLLM: Yes.
Can Portkey and LiteLLM be self-hosted?
Portkey: Yes. LiteLLM: Yes.
Portkey vs LiteLLM: which should I choose?
Portkey and LiteLLM are closely matched on licensing, self-hosting and OpenTelemetry support — the decision comes down to pricing and framework integrations below.