Comparing AI gateways on price sounds simple until you read the fine print. The number on the pricing page is rarely the number on your invoice, because gateway fees hide in two separate places: a platform fee on the credits you buy, and a markup on the tokens you spend. Miss either one and your "cheap" gateway quietly costs more than the provider you were trying to save money on.
This guide breaks down what the major AI gateways actually charge in 2026, using each vendor's published pricing. LLM Gateway is one of them, so we're biased — but the table below is the real picture, including where others are cheaper for a given workload.
Every gateway makes money in one (or both) of two ways: The healthiest pricing model is zero token markup plus a transparent, predictable platform fee — and the option to drop even that by bringing your own provider keys.
| Gateway | Token markup | Platform / subscription fee | Bring your own keys | Self-host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLM Gateway | ||||
| None | 5% on credits (0% with your own keys) | Free | Free (AGPLv3) | |
| OpenRouter | None | 5.5% on card credits ($0.80 min; 5% crypto) | Free to 1M req/mo, then 5% | No |
| Vercel AI Gateway | None | Pay-as-you-go credits + payment fees | Free (paid tier) | No |
| Cloudflare AI Gateway | None | Free direct; +5% if you use Unified Billing | Yes | No |
| Eden AI | None | 5.5% on credits | Yes | No |
| Portkey | None | Free tier; Production $49/mo (+$9/100k logs) | Yes | Partial |
| LiteLLM | None | Free (you pay infra); Enterprise from ~$250/mo | Yes | Yes |
The good news: in 2026, none of the major gateways mark up tokens — they all pass provider rates through. The competition has moved to the platform fee, BYOK terms, and whether you can self-host to pay nothing at all.
A few line items are easy to miss when you're comparing:
Three levers, in order of impact:
In 2026, the major ones don't. LLM Gateway, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, Cloudflare, Eden AI, Portkey, and LiteLLM all pass provider token rates through without a per-token markup. They make money on a platform/credit fee or a subscription instead — so compare those, not the token rates.
For most teams, the cheapest path is bringing your own provider keys (0% fee on LLM Gateway) or self-hosting an open-source gateway (LLM Gateway or LiteLLM), which removes the platform fee entirely. On the managed tier, LLM Gateway's flat 5% credit fee is among the lowest, and lower than OpenRouter's 5.5%. A token markup is worse. It scales with every token you ever send, so it compounds as you grow. A flat platform fee on credits is a one-time percentage when you load funds — predictable and far smaller over time.
The whole point of a gateway is to save you money and effort, not add a tax. LLM Gateway passes provider token rates through with no markup, charges a flat 5% on credits (or 0% with your own keys), and is free to self-host if you'd rather pay nothing at all.
** Try LLM Gateway free** |