# Portkey vs OpenRouter: which do AI models recommend for LLM gateways, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, LLM gateways and observability. Seven of fourteen models named Portkey first on the direct prompt; one named OpenRouter. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/it-data/llm-gateways-and-observability/portkey-vs-openrouter/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portkey | 31% | #2 of 8 | 11% | 53 | 14 of 14 |
| OpenRouter | 9% | #3 of 8 | 17% | 42 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- GLM 4.7 FlashX: both first (first choices: OpenRouter, Portkey) (alternatives: Kong AI Gateway, LiteLLM)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: portkey first (first choices: Portkey) (alternatives: Bifrost, LiteLLM, Nexos.ai, OpenRouter)
- Perplexity Sonar: portkey first (first choices: Portkey) (alternatives: Bifrost, LiteLLM)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: portkey first (first choices: Portkey) (alternatives: Helicone, LiteLLM, OpenRouter)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: portkey first (first choices: Portkey) (alternatives: Amazon Bedrock, Azure AI, LiteLLM)
- Kimi K2: portkey first (first choices: Portkey) (alternatives: Cloudflare AI Gateway, Kong AI Gateway, LiteLLM)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: portkey first (first choices: Portkey) (alternatives: LiteLLM, OpenRouter)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: LiteLLM) (alternatives: Portkey)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: LiteLLM) (alternatives: Bifrost, Cloudflare AI Gateway, Portkey)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither named (first choices: Portkey AI Gateway) (alternatives: Bifrost, Cloudflare AI Gateway, LiteLLM)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Nexos.ai) (alternatives: Cloudflare AI Gateway)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: Helicone, Portkey.ai) (alternatives: Cloudflare AI Gateway, Kong AI Gateway)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither named (first choices: Portkey, now branded PRISMA AIRS AI Gateway) (alternatives: Cloudflare AI Gateway, LiteLLM)

## What the models said about Portkey

- "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)

## What the models said about OpenRouter

- "It is considered a high-risk option for data residency as its default catalog includes Chinese-hosted models." (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "avoid OpenRouter for anything with sensitive/PII data" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "OpenRouter, for confidential or regulated prompts: Not a blanket "avoid," but check both the gateway settings and the selected model provider." (GPT-6 Luna, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "For most mid‑market B2B companies, I’d start with OpenRouter or Portkey to get a managed gateway quickly" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, direct prompt, first choice)
- "Start with OpenRouter. It is the easiest way to get access to multiple models with zero setup." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt, first choice)
- "and OpenRouter if you want the lowest-ops path with immediate access to many models" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt, first choice)

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. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.