A hands-on comparison of 10 AI API proxies — commercial gateways, open-source solutions, and self-hosted options — with real pricing data, working code examples, and a feature matrix.
An AI API proxy sits between your application and AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.), handling authentication, routing, rate limiting, caching, and failover. Instead of managing separate API keys and SDKs for each provider, you hit one endpoint.
Think of it as NGINX for AI models — but purpose-built for the unique challenges of LLM traffic: streaming responses, token-based billing, model-specific quirks, and multi-provider failover.
Why you need one:
| Proxy | Type | Models | Pricing | Self-Host | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crazyrouter | Commercial | 627+ | ~55% of official | ❌ | Cheapest multi-modal access |
| LiteLLM | Open Source | 100+ providers | Free | ✅ | Self-hosted LLM proxy |
| OpenRouter | Commercial | 300+ | Official + 10-30% | ❌ | Quick prototyping |
| Portkey | Commercial | 1,600+ (BYOK) | Free–$49/mo | ✅ | Enterprise governance |
| One API | Open Source | 40+ providers | Free | ✅ | Chinese dev community |
| Helicone | Commercial | BYOK | Free–$20/mo | ✅ | Observability layer |
| NGINX AI Proxy | Open Source | Config-based | Free | ✅ | Existing NGINX users |
| Cloudflare AI GW | Commercial | BYOK | Free | ❌ | Edge caching |
| Kong AI Gateway | Commercial | Plugin-based | Enterprise | ✅ | Existing Kong users |
| Unify AI | Commercial | 80+ | Pay-per-token | ❌ | Benchmark-driven routing |
Website: crazyrouter.com
Crazyrouter is the most aggressive on pricing: roughly 55% of official API prices across 627+ models. But what makes it unique among proxies is multi-modal coverage — it's the only gateway that handles LLM, image generation, video generation, and music generation through a single endpoint.
Models covered: