# Envoy AI Gateway vs OpenRouter

**Leader by Vioscale score:** OpenRouter

| Attribute | Envoy AI Gateway | OpenRouter |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 48.7 (28% (low)) | 79.8 (36% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 65 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 0 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 1,961 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Provides routing and traffic management between applications and generative AI services, built on the open source Envoy Gateway. Supports multiple AI provider integrations and OpenAI-compatible APIs. | OpenRouter aggregates 500+ language models from 80+ providers through a single, OpenAI-compatible API interface. It offers automatic fallback routing, cost control, usage analytics, and data policy management for teams deploying AI applications at scale. |
| features.capabilities | - | `{"caching":"exact","open_source":true,"pricing_model":"usage-based-saas","rate_limiting":true,"deployment_model":"managed-SaaS","routing_strategy":"cost-based","streaming_support":true,"architecture_model":"managed_cloud_saas","automatic_failover":true,"budget_spend_controls":true,"openai_compatible_api":true,"virtual_key_management":true,"request_cost_observability":true,"bring_your_own_keys_byok_routing":true,"streaming_token_support_server_sent_events":true,"universal_api_key_for_100_plus_llm_providers":true,"zero_data_retention_and_prompt_logging_opt_out":true,"auto_fallback_routing_on_rate_limit_or_downtime":true,"organization_wide_cost_tracking_and_chargebacks":true,"semantic_caching_for_repeat_queries_and_cost_savings":false}` |
| integrations.count | 18 | 80 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"AWS Bedrock"},{"name":"Azure OpenAI"},{"name":"Google Vertex AI"},{"name":"Google Gemini"},{"name":"Anthropic"},{"name":"Groq"},{"name":"Together AI"},{"name":"Mistral"},{"name":"Cohere"},{"name":"DeepInfra"},{"name":"DeepSeek"},{"name":"Hunyuan"},{"name":"Tencent LLM Knowledge Engine"},{"name":"SambaNova"},{"name":"Grok"},{"name":"OIDC"},{"name":"cert-manager"}]` | `[{"name":"Vercel AI SDK"},{"name":"Claude Code"},{"name":"Cursor"},{"name":"OpenAI SDK"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Anthropic"},{"name":"Google"},{"name":"Meta"},{"name":"Mistral"},{"name":"Model Context Protocol (MCP)"},{"name":"Terraform"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aigateway.envoyproxy.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T13:42:04.915Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free tier, 50 requests/day, no card required","features":["25+ free models","4 free providers","Chat and API access","Community support"],"description":"Evaluation tier with limited access to test the platform","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"models":"25+ free models","providers":"4 free providers","rate_limit":"50 requests/day"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pay-as-you-go","summary":"5.5% platform fee on model usage, fee discounts available","features":["500+ models from 80+ providers","Automatic fallback routing","Activity logs and export","Auto-routing and preferred vendor selection","Budgets and spend controls","Prompt caching","Management API key","Email support","No minimum spend"],"components":[{"of":"usage","kind":"percentage","rate":5.5}],"description":"Usage-based pricing scaled by model and tokens consumed","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"models":"500+ models","providers":"80+ providers"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"$25k/month list price inference with no fees, then 5% on overage","features":["500+ models, 80+ providers","Custom data policies and model/provider routing policies","Managed policy enforcement","SSO/SAML authentication","Contractual SLAs","Support SLA with shared Slack channel","High global rate limits","Optional dedicated limits","Invoicing options","Volume commitment pricing"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":25000,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"of":"usage","kind":"percentage","rate":5}],"description":"Volume-based commitment with dedicated support and custom policies","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"free_inference_value":"$25,000 list price/month"}}],"summary":"Free tier available. Pay-as-you-go at 5.5% platform fee. Enterprise from $25k/month.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://openrouter.ai/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T13:44:21.104Z","billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 11 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2026-08-21T18:23:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v1.0.0","date":"2026-06-23T15:32:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc1","date":"2026-06-23T02:37:10Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.0.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.7.0","date":"2026-06-06T20:59:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.6.0","date":"2026-05-05T20:43:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.6.0-rc1","date":"2026-04-30T21:12:21Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.6.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.5.0","date":"2026-01-23T21:17:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.5.0-rc1","date":"2026-01-12T19:47:59Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.5.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.4.0","date":"2025-11-08T00:55:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.4.0-rc2","date":"2025-11-07T22:42:47Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.4.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.4.0-rc1","date":"2025-11-05T21:31:00Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.4.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.3.0","date":"2025-08-21T10:28:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.3.0-rc2","date":"2025-08-21T10:01:37Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.3.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.3.0-rc1","date":"2025-08-15T04:15:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.3.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.2.1","date":"2025-06-10T04:01:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.2.0","date":"2025-06-05T21:20:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.2.0-rc3","date":"2025-06-05T21:12:25Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.2.0-rc3"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.2.0-rc1","date":"2025-06-02T22:27:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.2.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.1.5","date":"2025-07-04T17:22:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/envoyproxy/ai-gateway/releases/tag/v0.1.4","date":"2025-03-20T20:37:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.1.4"}]` | - |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fenvoyproxy%2Fai-gateway&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` | - |

## Capabilities (Llm Gateways)

| Capability | Envoy AI Gateway | OpenRouter |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Openai compatible API | - | ✓ |
| Automatic failover | - | ✓ |
| Routing strategy | - | Cost based |
| Caching | - | Exact |
| Virtual key management | - | ✓ |
| Budget spend controls | - | ✓ |
| Rate limiting | - | ✓ |
| Guardrails moderation | - | - |
| Request cost observability | - | ✓ |
| Streaming support | - | ✓ |
| Deployment model | - | Managed SaaS |
| Open source | - | ✓ |
| Pricing model | - | Usage based saas |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:08:03.973Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*