How Zabio compares
All three are good products built for different jobs. Here is where each one fits, taken from their own public pages.
| Zabio | OpenRouter | LiteLLM | Portkey | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A hosted router that picks the model for you | A hosted marketplace for 500+ models | An open-source proxy you run yourself | An AI gateway for observability and security, now part of Palo Alto Networks |
| How it charges | Provider list price plus a (see the pricing page) service fee, and (see the pricing page) per auto request for automatic model choice. No cut of what routing saves, no subscription, no fee on top-ups | Provider list price, plus 5.5% on every credit purchase (0.80 USD minimum) | Free to self-host, enterprise license by quote. You pay the providers and your servers | Free developer tier and paid plans for the hosted platform. You pay the providers directly |
| Its fee is based on | The provider price of each call, plus a fixed fee per auto request. Never your saving | What you spend | Your license and your servers | Your plan and logged requests |
| Automatic model choice | Per request, the model and its reasoning setting, from public benchmark results by task and difficulty, on three lines you can name, with extra care on high-stakes jobs, and a request split across models when that is cheaper | Auto Router, powered by Not Diamond, with a cost and quality setting, and Jev Router, which also picks the reasoning setting | Auto routing between models you configure: simple prompts to cheaper models, hard ones to stronger models | Routing rules you write: conditions, load balancing and fallbacks |
| What you see per call | The model, why it was chosen, the cost and the saving, in the response itself | The model used, plus spend in the activity dashboard | Spend and logs in your own proxy | Detailed logs, traces and analytics |
| Your own provider keys | No service fee on those calls; auto requests pay (see the pricing page) each for automatic model choice | Free up to 25,000 USD a month of list-price usage, then 5% | Always your own keys | Always your own keys |
| Teams and spend limits | Unlimited organizations, member quotas, per-key caps and model allow lists, and an audit log, all included | Organizations (10 members by default), member and key budgets, model allow lists | Keys, teams and budgets; organizations, SSO and audit logs come with the enterprise license | Budgets, rate limits and access control; advanced governance on higher plans |
| Models | 114 chat models from 10 vendors | 500+ models | 140+ providers | 1,600+ models |
| Where it runs | Hosted by Zabio in the United States | Hosted by OpenRouter | On your own servers | Hosted, or the open-source gateway on your servers |
Pick OpenRouter for the widest catalog. Pick LiteLLM if the gateway must run inside your own infrastructure. Pick Portkey for deep observability and guardrails in a large company. Pick Zabio when you want the bill to go down and to see why each model was chosen.
One page for each
Zabio vs OpenRouter
The widest model marketplace against a router that picks the model and keeps none of the saving. Where each one fits, and how to switch.
Zabio vs LiteLLM
An open-source proxy you run yourself against a hosted router with one balance for eight vendors.
Zabio vs Portkey
An AI gateway built for observability and governance against a router built to lower the bill.
OpenRouter alternatives: 7 AI routers and gateways compared
Seven AI routers and gateways, compared on fees, routing and setup.
Questions
- How is Zabio different from OpenRouter?
- OpenRouter is a marketplace with the widest catalog, over 500 models, and it charges 5.5% on every credit purchase whatever you spend it on. Zabio covers fewer models and picks among them for you: it adds a small service fee to each call and a small fixed fee to each auto request, charges nothing on top-ups, and takes no cut of what routing saves you. Both have an automatic router; Zabio's shows the job, the line and the reason on every response.
- How is Zabio different from LiteLLM?
- LiteLLM is an open-source proxy that you host and operate yourself, with your own provider accounts and bills. Zabio is hosted: one key and one prepaid balance for eight vendors, routing that picks the model for each request, teams and quotas included, and nothing to run or patch.
- How is Zabio different from Portkey?
- Portkey, now part of Palo Alto Networks, is an AI gateway focused on observability, guardrails and governance for large companies, and it works with your own provider keys. Zabio focuses on lowering the bill: it picks the model for each request, gives you eight vendors from one prepaid balance, and charges a small service fee per call plus a small fixed fee per auto request, with no cut of what it saves you.
- How is Zabio different from other AI routers?
- It picks the model for you, to get you more right answers for less. Send auto and Zabio reads each request, picks the model and reasoning setting that fit the job, and shows why on every response, with what the call cost and what it saved. Pricing stays simple: the provider's list price, a small service fee on each call and a small fixed fee on each auto request. Zabio takes no cut of what routing saves, so every cent of the saving is yours.
Checked on 28 September 2026 from each company's public pages. Prices and features change. If something here is out of date, tell us at hello@zabio.ai and we will fix it. Sources: OpenRouter pricing, OpenRouter Auto Router, Jev Router on OpenRouter, LiteLLM, LiteLLM enterprise, Portkey.