LiteLLM vs Portkey
Two of fourteen models named LiteLLM first on the direct prompt; seven named Portkey. Both were named by all fourteen models and LiteLLM carries 58 labels and Portkey 53, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in four categories this edition.
Named in four categories this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the LLM gateways and observability page.
By framing
LiteLLMFirst choices, of fourteen modelsPortkey
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, LiteLLM and Portkey were named in the same answer 142 times, of the 193 answers naming LiteLLM and the 175 naming Portkey. In those answers Portkey took the first choice thirty times and LiteLLM forty-four.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | |||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | ||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | ||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | ||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | | |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
LiteLLM Portkey first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, LiteLLM on the left and Portkey on the right.The direct prompt
LiteLLM first, Portkey an alternative
2 of 14 modelsPortkey was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Portkey first, LiteLLM an alternative
7 of 14 modelsLiteLLM was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
2 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
3 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
LiteLLM31%#1 of 8Portkey31%#2 of 8LiteLLM26%#2 of 8Portkey26%#1 of 8What the models said about LiteLLM
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“High Caution/Avoid if Possible: LiteLLM (especially older/self-hosted versions): Suffered a major supply chain attack” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid: - LiteLLM in its current state (until security issues are fully resolved)” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid LiteLLM unless you have dedicated security engineering” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“For the most budget-conscious, LiteLLM (free, open-source) and OpenRouter (low-fee pay-as-you-go) are top choices.” Mistral Small · budget prompt · first choice
“If you are a Platform Engineer: Use LiteLLM. It allows you to standardize on one API key for the whole company” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
“If your engineering team is already familiar with Docker and prefers open-source, deploy LiteLLM + Langfuse.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
What the models said about Portkey
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“avoid Portkey hosted due to CVEs and black-box concerns” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“its paid plans start at $49/month, so it is usually less attractive than LiteLLM or OpenRouter for the tightest budgets” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · soft negative
“Acquired by Palo Alto Networks in May 2026, which introduces some roadmap uncertainty” MiniMax M2.5 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Go with Portkey if you want an all-in-one platform that's enterprise-ready with strong compliance certifications.” MiniMax M2.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“If you prefer a managed service so your team can focus strictly on building product features, choose Portkey.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Great all-rounder. Excellent balance between enterprise governance, prompt management, and observability.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.