AI Gateway Buyer's Guide 2026
Compare 8 AI gateways across routing, caching, failover, observability, governance, and pricing. Use the evaluation checklist to choose the right one for your team.
Feature comparison matrix
| Gateway | Type | Models | Smart routing | Prompt caching | Auto failover | Observability | RBAC/Governance | MCP support | EU data residency | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Requesty | Managed SaaS | 400+ | $10 credits | |||||||
| Kong AI Gateway | Self-hosted + Cloud | 20+ | ||||||||
| Portkey | Managed SaaS | 250+ | 10K req | |||||||
| LiteLLM | Open-source | 100+ | OSS | |||||||
| Cloudflare AI | Managed (Cloudflare) | 50+ | 10K req | |||||||
| OpenRouter | Managed SaaS | 300+ | ||||||||
| Helicone | Managed SaaS | 100+ | 100K req | |||||||
| AWS Bedrock | Cloud (AWS) | 30+ |
Updated May 2026. Features verified against public documentation.
Evaluation checklist
Ask these questions when evaluating any AI gateway for your team.
Routing
- ▢Does it support cost-based routing?
- ▢Can it route by latency in real time?
- ▢Can you define custom routing policies per API key?
- ▢Does it support weighted load balancing?
Reliability
- ▢Does it support automatic failover across providers?
- ▢How many retry attempts before failing?
- ▢Does it use exponential backoff with jitter?
- ▢What is the gateway uptime SLA?
Caching
- ▢Does it support automatic prompt caching?
- ▢Is semantic caching available?
- ▢Can you cache across providers?
- ▢What is the cache TTL range?
Observability
- ▢Per-request cost and latency tracking?
- ▢Team and user level breakdowns?
- ▢Session reconstruction for debugging?
- ▢Custom metadata tagging?
Governance
- ▢RBAC with multiple permission levels?
- ▢Budget caps per team and API key?
- ▢Model whitelisting/approved lists?
- ▢Audit logs for compliance?
Security
- ▢SOC2 and GDPR compliance?
- ▢PII detection and masking?
- ▢Zero data retention option?
- ▢EU data residency?
Try the top-rated gateway free
Requesty checks every box. 400+ models, smart routing, caching, failover, RBAC, MCP, EU data residency. Start with $10 free credits.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI gateway in 2026?
The best AI gateway depends on your priorities. For the broadest model support (400+ models) with built-in routing, caching, failover, and governance, Requesty is the most complete managed solution. Kong AI Gateway suits teams that need to self-host. LiteLLM is the leading open-source option. Portkey is strong on observability. Cloudflare AI Gateway works if you are already on Cloudflare.
How do I choose between AI gateways?
Evaluate six dimensions: routing intelligence (cost, latency, and quality routing), reliability (failover chains, retry logic, uptime SLA), caching (automatic prompt caching, semantic caching), observability (per-request cost tracking, team breakdowns), governance (RBAC, budget caps, model whitelisting), and security (SOC2, GDPR, PII masking). Prioritize based on whether you need managed or self-hosted, and whether you need EU data residency.
Do I need an AI gateway for production LLM apps?
Yes, if you use more than one LLM provider or need any of: automatic failover, cost optimization, usage tracking, or access control. Without a gateway, you build and maintain this infrastructure yourself. Direct API calls have roughly 85% success rates. An AI gateway with failover achieves 99.25% success rates. The infrastructure cost of building these capabilities in house typically exceeds the gateway cost within 2 to 3 months.