LiteLLM review 2026: open-source AI gateway unifying 100-plus LLM providers behind one OpenAI-compatible API. Features, pricing, and alternatives compared.
Category
AI Infrastructure & MLOps
Pricing
Open Source / Freemium (Enterprise custom pricing), from Free (open source); Enterprise pricing on request
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 18, 2026
Founded
2023
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States
APIOpen SourceAIFreemiumSelf-Hosted
Overview
LiteLLM is an open-source AI gateway and Python SDK built by BerriAI, a company founded in 2023 by Krrish Dholakia and Ishaan Jaffer through Y Combinator's W23 batch, headquartered in San Francisco. It provides a single, unified, OpenAI-compatible interface for calling more than 100 LLM providers.
The project solves the problem of provider-specific SDK fragmentation: instead of writing custom integration code for each LLM provider, teams call one consistent completion() interface and can switch or fail over between providers without changing application code.
Key Features
LiteLLM ships as a Python SDK for direct integration and as a self-hosted Proxy Server (AI Gateway) offering virtual keys, budgets and rate limits, multi-tenant cost tracking, load balancing, automatic fallback across providers, guardrails, and an admin dashboard.
It integrates with observability tools like Langfuse, Arize Phoenix, Langsmith, and OpenTelemetry, and has scaled to over 45,000 GitHub stars, 240 million-plus Docker pulls, and over one billion production requests served.
Pricing
The core open-source SDK and self-hosted proxy are completely free with no licensing cost, including all core gateway features like provider routing, virtual keys, budgets, and load balancing.
An Enterprise plan adds custom pricing with enterprise support, SLAs, JWT authentication, SSO, audit logs, and self-hosted or fully air-gapped deployment options for regulated organizations.
Key Features
Unified OpenAI-compatible API — Call 100-plus LLM providers through one consistent completion() interface, eliminating provider-specific SDK code.
Provider load balancing and fallback — Automatically routes requests across multiple model deployments and fails over to backup providers during outages or rate limits.
Virtual keys and spend tracking — Issues revocable virtual API keys with per-key, per-user, per-team, and per-project cost tracking and budget enforcement.
Self-hosted AI Gateway (Proxy Server) — Deployable as centralized infrastructure between applications and LLM providers, with an admin dashboard for monitoring.
Guardrails and governance — Built-in content safety guardrails and policy enforcement for regulated or production-sensitive deployments.
Observability integrations — Connects to Langfuse, Arize Phoenix, Langsmith, and OpenTelemetry pipelines for logging and monitoring.
Enterprise authentication — JWT authentication and SSO support for enterprise identity and access management requirements.
Air-gapped deployment — Enterprise tier supports fully self-hosted, air-gapped deployments for regulated or high-security environments.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Core gateway and SDK are completely free and open source with no feature paywall
Extremely wide provider coverage (100-plus LLMs) through one consistent API
Proven at large scale with over one billion production requests and major enterprise users like Netflix and Adobe
Automatic fallback and load balancing improve reliability across providers
Strong observability integrations fit into existing monitoring stacks rather than forcing a new one
Cons
Self-hosting and configuring the proxy for production requires real infrastructure and DevOps effort
Enterprise features (SSO, audit logs, SLAs) require a custom-priced paid plan
Rapidly evolving open-source project can introduce breaking changes between versions
Governance features add complexity that may be unnecessary for small teams using a single provider
Community support model means response times can vary compared to a dedicated commercial vendor
Pricing
Open Source Free N/A
Enterprise Custom pricing Annual (typical for enterprise contracts)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is LiteLLM free
Yes, the core open-source SDK and self-hosted proxy server are completely free, including provider routing, virtual keys, budgets, and load balancing. An Enterprise plan with custom pricing adds SSO, audit logs, and SLAs.
Who built LiteLLM
LiteLLM is built by BerriAI, founded in 2023 by Krrish Dholakia and Ishaan Jaffer, a Y Combinator W23 company headquartered in San Francisco.
How many LLM providers does LiteLLM support
LiteLLM supports over 100 LLM providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, Google Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Cohere, Hugging Face, and self-hosted engines like vLLM.
What is the difference between the LiteLLM SDK and the Proxy Server
The SDK is a Python library for direct in-application integration, while the Proxy Server (AI Gateway) is a standalone, self-hosted service that centralizes routing, cost tracking, and governance across an organization's LLM usage.
Who uses LiteLLM in production
LiteLLM reports enterprise usage by companies including Netflix, Adobe, Stripe, and Lemonade, alongside more than one billion API requests served in production and over 45,000 GitHub stars.
How does LiteLLM compare to OpenRouter
LiteLLM is open source and self-hostable, giving teams full control of their infrastructure and data, while OpenRouter is a hosted, multi-provider API marketplace without a self-hosted deployment option.