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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Stars
53,237
Forks
9,661
Last commit
11 hours ago
Repository age
3 years

Activity score

98/100

View Repository

Portkey AI Gateway

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

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Stars
12,394
Forks
1,196
Last commit
2 months ago
Repository age
3 years
License
MIT

Activity score

83/100

View Repository

Detailed Comparison

Both LiteLLM and Portkey AI Gateway have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

LiteLLM wins

Community & Popularity

LiteLLM significantly outpaces Portkey AI Gateway in community adoption with 53,237 stars compared to 12,394 stars on GitHub. This 4.3x difference suggests LiteLLM has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, LiteLLM has 9,661 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

LiteLLM wins

Development Activity

LiteLLM shows more recent development activity with its last commit 11 hours ago, while Portkey AI Gateway was last updated 2 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. However, they also have distinct specializations: LiteLLM also focuses on AI Integration Platforms, AI API Key Protection.