LiteLLM vs OpenRouter vs Helicone vs Cloudflare AI Gateway
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
| LIT LiteLLM Open-source AI gateway: one OpenAI-format API for 100+ LLM providers Visit |
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Helicone
LLM observability via drop-in proxy
Visit
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Cloudflare AI Gateway
Free LLM proxy: caching, spend limits, logging across providers
Visit
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| RECATOOLS Score | 8 / 10 | 8.6 / 10 | 7.6 / 10 | 7.7 / 10 |
| Capability | — | |||
| Value for money | — | |||
| Ease of use | — | |||
| ASEAN readiness | — | |||
| API quality | — | |||
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium | Open Source | Freemium |
| Free tier | Full open-source proxy + SDK, free to self-host (MIT outside the enterprise/ directory) | — | — | — |
| Paid from | Custom (LiteLLM Enterprise — contact sales; 30-day evaluation key) | — | — | — |
| Has API | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Users | — | — | — | — |
| Founded | — | — | 2023 | 2024 |
| Maker | — | — | — | — |
| Verdict | What this is for: putting one OpenAI-format API in front of every model provider you use. LiteLLM ships as a Python SDK (litellm.completion) and a proxy/gateway server that adds virtual API keys, per-team budgets, rate l... |
OpenRouter solved a real headache: instead of holding a dozen provider keys and reconciling a dozen invoices, you point one OpenAI-compatible endpoint at around 400 models and get automatic fallback when a provider choke... |
Helicone is a developer-focused observability platform for LLM apps, providing request logging, tracing, cost and latency tracking, caching, and prompt management with a one-line proxy or async integration. It is open-so... |
AI Gateway is Cloudflare doing what Cloudflare does best: put a fast, free layer of caching, logging and rate limiting in front of a category of traffic — this time LLM API calls instead of HTTP. Point your app at one en... |
| Full review → | Full review → | Full review → | Full review → |
Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.