What is the main difference between LiteLLM and Portkey AI Gateway?

LiteLLM and Portkey AI Gateway are both ai gateways but differ in their approach, features, and target audience. Compare their GitHub stats, technology stack, and community adoption to make the best choice.

Which is better: LiteLLM or Portkey AI Gateway?

The choice between LiteLLM and Portkey AI Gateway depends on your specific needs, technical requirements, and team preferences. Both are quality open source solutions with active communities.

Can I migrate from LiteLLM to Portkey AI Gateway?

Migration between LiteLLM and Portkey AI Gateway is possible but requires careful planning. Consider data export/import capabilities, feature parity, and potential workflow changes.

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LiteLLM vs Portkey AI Gateway

Learn how LiteLLM and Portkey AI Gateway differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these ai gateways is best for you.

LiteLLM

Acts as a unified proxy across 100+ LLMs, normalizing them to the OpenAI format while handling virtual keys, budgets, rate limits, fallbacks, and cost tracking.

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62,946stars+2,048(+3.4%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
5 hours ago
Repository age
3 years
Version
v1.108.3
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
berriai/litellm

Portkey AI Gateway

Comprehensive AI platform with gateway, observability, guardrails, and prompt management. Access 1,600+ LLMs via unified API with enterprise-grade security.

Visit Portkey AI Gateway Read more

13,349stars+188(+1.4%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
6 months ago
Repository age
3 years
Version
v1.15.2
License
MIT
Repository
portkey-ai/gateway

Detailed Comparison

LiteLLM appears to have several advantages over Portkey AI Gateway, particularly in popularity, growth, activity and features. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

LiteLLM wins

Community & Popularity

LiteLLM significantly outpaces Portkey AI Gateway in community adoption with 62,946 stars compared to 13,349 stars on GitHub. This 4.7x difference suggests LiteLLM has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, LiteLLM has 13,128 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

LiteLLM wins

Growth Momentum

LiteLLM is growing faster, adding 2,048 stars in the last 30 days (+3.4%) against adding 188 stars for Portkey AI Gateway (+1.4%). LiteLLM is both larger and pulling further ahead.

LiteLLM wins

Development Activity

LiteLLM shows more recent development activity with its last commit 5 hours ago, while Portkey AI Gateway was last updated 6 months ago. This suggests LiteLLM is being more actively maintained.

Comparable

Technology Stack

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Typescript, JSX, Next.js. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: LiteLLM uses Bash, Python.

Comparable

Project Maturity

Both projects started around the same time, with LiteLLM beginning 3 years ago and Portkey AI Gateway 3 years ago.

Portkey AI Gateway wins

Licensing

Portkey AI Gateway is licensed under MIT, while LiteLLM's license terms are not publicly specified.

Comparable

Use Cases & Features

Both tools serve similar use cases in AI Gateways.

LiteLLM wins

Hosting & Deployment

LiteLLM provides self-hosting options for complete data control and customization, while Portkey AI Gateway may be primarily cloud-based or require different deployment approaches.

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