API7 AI Gateway Alternatives 2025: Top 10 API7 AI Gateway Alternatives
Updated November 2025
If you’re evaluating API7 AI Gateway alternatives, this guide maps the landscape like a builder would. First, we clarify what API7 AI Gateway is—an AI/LLM governance layer with policies, plugins, and observability—then compare the 10 best alternatives. We place ShareAI first for teams that want one API across many providers, a transparent marketplace with price/latency/uptime/availability before routing, instant failover, and people-powered economics (70% of spend goes to providers).
Quick links — Browse Models · Open Playground · Create API Key · API Reference · User Guide · See Releases
What API7 AI Gateway is (and isn’t)
API7 (creators behind Apache APISIX) offers an AI Gateway that focuses on governance and reliability for LLM traffic—centralizing credentials/policies, offering AI-oriented plugins (e.g., multi-LLM proxying, rate limiting), and integrating with popular observability stacks. In short: a gateway for AI egress, not a transparent multi-provider marketplace. If you already use APISIX/APIs, you’ll recognize the control-plane/data-plane approach and the plugin model.
If your priority is policy enforcement, security, and OpenTelemetry-friendly observability, an AI gateway like API7’s fits the lane. If you want provider-agnostic choice, pre-route transparency (see price/latency/uptime/availability before you call), and instant failover across many providers, you’ll want an aggregator (like ShareAI) alongside or instead of a gateway.
Aggregators vs Gateways vs Agent platforms
LLM aggregators: one API across many models/providers with pre-route transparency (price, latency, uptime, availability, provider type) and smart routing/failover. Examples: ShareAI, OpenRouter.
AI gateways: policy/governance at the edge (credentials, rate limits, guardrails) plus observability; you bring your providers. Examples: API7 AI Gateway, Kong AI Gateway, Portkey.
Agent/chatbot platforms: packaged UX for assistants (memory, tools, channels) — aimed at end-user experiences rather than provider-agnostic aggregation. Examples: Orq, certain orchestration suites.
TL;DR: Gateways are governance-first; aggregators are choice + resilience first. Many teams pair a gateway for org-wide policy with ShareAI for marketplace-guided routing.
How we evaluated the best API7 AI Gateway alternatives
- Model breadth & neutrality — proprietary + open; switch without rewrites.
- Latency & resilience — routing policies, timeouts, retries, instant failover.
- Governance & security — key handling, scopes, regional routing, guardrails.
- Observability — logs/traces and cost/latency dashboards.
- Pricing transparency & TCO — compare real costs before you route.
- Developer experience — docs, SDKs, quickstarts; time-to-first-token.
- Community & economics — whether your spend grows supply (incentives for GPU owners).
Top 10 API7 AI Gateway Alternatives
#1 — ShareAI (People-Powered AI API)
What it is. A multi-provider API with a transparent marketplace and smart routing. With one integration, browse a large catalog (150+ models) and compare price, latency, uptime, availability, provider type—then route with instant failover. Economics are people-powered: 70% of every dollar flows to providers (community or company) who keep models online.
Why it’s #1 here. If you want provider-agnostic aggregation with pre-route transparency and resilience, ShareAI is the most direct fit. Keep a gateway if you need org-wide policies; add ShareAI for marketplace-guided routing.
- One API → 150+ models across many providers; no rewrites, no lock-in.
- Transparent marketplace: choose by price, latency, uptime, availability, provider type.
- Resilience by default: routing policies + instant failover.
- Fair economics: 70% of spend goes to providers (community or company).
Quick links — Browse Models · Open Playground · Create API Key · API Reference · User Guide · See Releases
For providers: earn by keeping models online
Anyone can become a ShareAI provider—Community or Company. Onboard via Windows, Ubuntu, macOS, or Docker. Contribute idle-time bursts or run always-on. Choose your incentive: Rewards (money), Exchange (tokens / AI Prosumer), or Mission (donate a % to NGOs). As you scale, you can set your own inference prices and gain preferential exposure. Provider docs: Provider Guide.
#2 — Kong AI Gateway
Enterprise AI/LLM gateway—governance, policies/plugins, analytics, observability for AI traffic at the edge. It’s a control plane rather than a marketplace.
#3 — Portkey
AI gateway emphasizing guardrails, observability, and governance—popular in regulated industries. If you were searching Portkey alternatives, note that ShareAI covers the multi-provider use case with marketplace transparency and failover, which complements gateway features.
#4 — OpenRouter
Unified API over many models; great for fast experimentation across a wide catalog.
#5 — Eden AI
Aggregates LLMs plus broader AI capabilities (image, translation, TTS), with fallbacks/caching and batching.
#6 — LiteLLM
A lightweight Python SDK + self-hostable proxy that speaks an OpenAI-compatible interface to many providers.
#7 — Unify
Quality-oriented routing and evaluation to pick better models per prompt.
#8 — Orq AI
Orchestration/collaboration platform that helps teams move from experiments to production with low-code flows.
#9 — Apigee (with LLMs behind it)
A mature API management/gateway you can place in front of LLM providers to apply policies, keys, and quotas.
#10 — NGINX
Use NGINX to build custom routing, token enforcement, and caching for LLM backends if you prefer DIY control.
API7 AI Gateway vs ShareAI
If you need one API over many providers with transparent pricing/latency/uptime and instant failover, choose ShareAI. If your top requirement is egress governance—centralized credentials, policy enforcement, OpenTelemetry-friendly observability—an AI gateway like API7 fits that lane. Many teams pair them: gateway for org policy + ShareAI for marketplace routing.
Quick comparison
| Platform | Who it serves | Model breadth | Governance & security | Observability | Routing / failover | Marketplace transparency | Provider program |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShareAI | Product/platform teams needing one API + fair economics | 150+ models, many providers | API keys & per-route controls | Console usage + marketplace stats | Smart routing + instant failover | Yes (price, latency, uptime, availability, provider type) | Yes — open supply; 70% to providers |
| API7 AI Gateway | Teams wanting egress governance | BYO providers | Centralized credentials/policies | OpenTelemetry metrics/tracing | Conditional routing via plugins | No (infra tool, not a marketplace) | n/a |
| Kong AI Gateway | Enterprises needing gateway-level policy | BYO | Strong edge policies/plugins | Analytics | Proxy/plugins, retries | No (infra) | n/a |
| Portkey | Regulated/enterprise teams | Broad | Guardrails & governance | Deep traces | Conditional routing | Partial | n/a |
| OpenRouter | Devs wanting one key | Wide catalog | Basic API controls | App-side | Fallbacks | Partial | n/a |
| Eden AI | Teams needing LLM + other AI services | Broad | Standard controls | Varies | Fallbacks/caching | Partial | n/a |
| LiteLLM | DIY/self-host proxy | Many providers | Config/key limits | Your infra | Retries/fallback | n/a | n/a |
| Unify | Quality-driven teams | Multi-model | Standard API security | Platform analytics | Best-model selection | n/a | n/a |
| Orq | Orchestration-first teams | Wide support | Platform controls | Platform analytics | Orchestration flows | n/a | n/a |
| Apigee / NGINX | Enterprises / DIY | BYO | Policies | Add-ons / custom | Custom | n/a | n/a |
Pricing & TCO: compare real costs (not just unit prices)
Raw $/1K tokens hides the real picture. TCO shifts with retries/fallbacks, latency (which affects usage), provider variance, observability storage, and evaluation runs. A transparent marketplace helps you choose routes that balance cost and UX.
TCO ≈ Σ (Base_tokens × Unit_price × (1 + Retry_rate))
+ Observability_storage
+ Evaluation_tokens
+ Egress
- Prototype (~10k tokens/day): Optimize for time-to-first-token (Playground, quickstarts).
- Mid-scale (~2M tokens/day): Marketplace-guided routing/failover can trim 10–20% while improving UX.
- Spiky workloads: Expect higher effective token costs from retries during failover; budget for it.
Migration guide: moving to ShareAI
From API7 AI Gateway
Keep gateway-level policies where they shine; add ShareAI for marketplace routing + instant failover. Pattern: gateway auth/policy → ShareAI route per model → measure marketplace stats → tighten policies.
From OpenRouter
Map model names, verify prompt parity, then shadow 10% of traffic and ramp 25% → 50% → 100% as latency/error budgets hold. Marketplace data makes provider swaps straightforward.
From LiteLLM
Replace the self-hosted proxy on production routes you don’t want to operate; keep LiteLLM for dev if desired. Compare ops overhead vs. managed routing benefits.
From Unify / Portkey / Orq / Kong
Define feature-parity expectations (analytics, guardrails, orchestration, plugins). Many teams run hybrid: keep specialized features where they’re strongest; use ShareAI for transparent provider choice and failover.
Developer quickstart (copy-paste)
The following use an OpenAI-compatible surface. Replace YOUR_KEY with your ShareAI key—get one at Create API Key. See the API Reference for details. Try a model instantly in the Playground.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# cURL (bash) — Chat Completions
# Prereqs:
# export SHAREAI_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY"
curl -X POST "https://api.shareai.now/v1/chat/completions" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SHAREAI_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "llama-3.1-70b",
"messages": [
{ "role": "user", "content": "Give me a short haiku about reliable routing." }
],
"temperature": 0.4,
"max_tokens": 128
}'
// JavaScript (fetch) — Node 18+/Edge runtimes
// Prereqs:
// process.env.SHAREAI_API_KEY = "YOUR_KEY"
async function main() {
const res = await fetch("https://api.shareai.now/v1/chat/completions", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.SHAREAI_API_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
model: "llama-3.1-70b",
messages: [
{ role: "user", content: "Give me a short haiku about reliable routing." }
],
temperature: 0.4,
max_tokens: 128
})
});
if (!res.ok) {
console.error("Request failed:", res.status, await res.text());
return;
}
const data = await res.json();
console.log(JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));
}
main().catch(console.error);
Security, privacy & compliance checklist (vendor-agnostic)
- Key handling: rotation cadence; minimal scopes; environment separation.
- Data retention: where prompts/responses are stored, for how long; redaction defaults.
- PII & sensitive content: masking; access controls; regional routing for data locality.
- Observability: prompt/response logging; ability to filter or pseudonymize; propagate trace IDs consistently (OTel).
- Incident response: escalation paths and provider SLAs.
FAQ — API7 AI Gateway vs other competitors
API7 AI Gateway vs OpenRouter — quick multi-model access or gateway controls?
OpenRouter makes multi-model access quick; API7 centralizes policy and observability. If you also want pre-route transparency and instant failover, ShareAI combines multi-provider access with a marketplace view and resilient routing.
API7 AI Gateway vs Traefik AI Gateway — two gateways?
Both are gateways (policies, plugins, analytics), not marketplaces. Many teams pair a gateway with ShareAI for transparent multi-provider routing and failover.
API7 AI Gateway vs Kong AI Gateway — which for deep edge policy?
Kong is strong on plugins and edge policy; API7 focuses on AI/LLM governance and APISIX lineage. For provider choice + resilience, add ShareAI.
API7 AI Gateway vs Portkey— who’s stronger on guardrails?
Both emphasize governance and observability; depth and ergonomics differ. If your main need is transparent provider choice and failover, use ShareAI. (Also relevant if you’re searching Portkey alternatives.)
API7 AI Gateway vs Eden AI— many AI services or egress control?
Eden AI aggregates several AI services (LLM, image, TTS). API7 centralizes policy/credentials with AI plugins. For transparent pricing/latency across many providers and instant failover, choose ShareAI.
API7 AI Gateway vs LiteLLM — self-host proxy or managed governance?
LiteLLM is a DIY proxy you operate; API7 is managed governance/observability for AI egress. If you’d rather not run a proxy and want marketplace-driven routing, choose ShareAI.
API7 AI Gateway vs Unify — best-model selection vs policy enforcement?
Unify focuses on evaluation-driven model selection; API7 on policy/observability. For one API over many providers with live marketplace stats, use ShareAI.
API7 AI Gateway vs Orq — orchestration vs egress control?
Orq helps orchestrate workflows; API7 governs egress traffic. ShareAI complements either with marketplace routing.
API7 AI Gateway vs Apigee — API management vs AI-specific egress
Apigee is broad API management; API7 is AI-focused egress governance. If you need provider-agnostic access with marketplace transparency, use ShareAI.
API7 AI Gateway vs NGINX — DIY vs turnkey
NGINX offers DIY filters/policies; API7 offers a packaged layer with AI plugins and OTel-friendly observability. To avoid custom Lua and still get transparent provider selection, layer in ShareAI.
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