LiteLLM Proxy
OpenAI-compatible proxy server for 100+ LLM providers with unified API, load balancing, fallbacks, and cost tracking for production AI applications.
Overview
LiteLLM Proxy is an open-source proxy server that provides a unified OpenAI-compatible API for 100+ LLM providers including Azure, Anthropic, Vertex AI, Bedrock, and more. It handles load balancing, automatic fallbacks, request retries, and cost tracking out of the box. With built-in spend tracking, virtual keys, and team management, LiteLLM simplifies multi-provider LLM deployment for production applications while maintaining full compatibility with existing OpenAI SDK code.
The Verdict
Who Should Use LiteLLM Proxy?
Best For
- Developers using multiple LLM providers who want a unified interface
- Teams migrating between providers or testing different models
- Production apps needing automatic fallbacks and load balancing
- Organizations wanting full control with self-hosted deployment
- Projects already using OpenAI SDK that want multi-provider support
Not Ideal For
- Single-provider applications that don't need routing
- Teams needing extensive prompt engineering and evaluation tools
What's Great
- Drop-in replacement for OpenAI API with zero code changes
- Extensive provider support (100+ models across major platforms)
- Built-in load balancing and automatic fallback handling
- Comprehensive spend tracking and budget alerts
- Active community with broad adoption
- Free and open-source with optional managed service
Watch Out For
- Configuration can be complex for advanced routing scenarios
- Self-hosted deployment requires infrastructure management
- Limited built-in observability compared to specialized tools
Team Budget & Governance
This is where LiteLLM Proxy earns its place in a team's stack. Each developer (or team) gets a virtual key with a dollar cap that's enforced in real time — requests are blocked the moment the budget is exhausted, not flagged after the invoice arrives. Because it's an OpenAI-compatible proxy, Claude Code, Cursor (via BYOK), and Gemini CLI can all route through one instance, giving you a single per-developer spend view across every tool.
- Enforced per-user / per-team caps — hard limits, not just observation
- Daily, weekly, or monthly windows — set
budget_duration: "1d"for a daily runaway-session circuit breaker (also7d,30d); resets at midnight UTC - Per-user dashboard — spend by developer, model, and request
- Self-hosted — keys and usage data stay on your infrastructure
Pricing
View all features & details
Key Features
- OpenAI-compatible API for 100+ LLM providers
- Load balancing across multiple deployments
- Automatic fallbacks and retry logic
- Virtual keys and team management
- Real-time spend tracking and budget alerts
- Request logging and caching
- Rate limiting per user/team
- Custom callbacks and webhooks
Platforms
- Python SDK and REST API
- OpenAI, Azure, Anthropic, Vertex AI, Bedrock
- Docker, Kubernetes deployment
- Self-hosted or managed cloud
How It Compares
| Feature | LiteLLM Proxy | Helicone | Portkey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Providers | 100+ | 100+ | 250+ |
| Load Balancing | Built-in | No | Yes |
| Enforced budget caps | Yes | No (observe only) | Yes (Enterprise) |
| Daily budget window | Yes | N/A | Yes (via API) |
| Free Tier | Unlimited (OSS) | 10K req/mo | 10K req/mo |
| Hosted Option | Pay-per-use | $20/mo | $99/mo |
| Best For | Multi-provider routing + governance | Cost tracking | Enterprise features |