AWS AppSync Alternatives 2025: Top 10

Updated November 2025

If you’re evaluating AWS AppSync alternatives, this guide maps the landscape the way a builder would. First, we clarify what AppSync is—a fully managed GraphQL service that connects to AWS data sources (DynamoDB, Lambda, Aurora, OpenSearch, HTTP), supports real-time subscriptions over WebSockets, and is often used as an “AI gateway” pattern in front of Amazon Bedrock—then we 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).

What AWS AppSync is (and isn’t)

What AppSync is. AppSync is AWS’s managed GraphQL layer: it parses queries and mutations, resolves fields against configured data sources (DynamoDB, Lambda, Aurora, OpenSearch, HTTP), and can push updates in real time using GraphQL subscriptions over secure WebSockets. It also offers JavaScript resolvers so you can author resolver logic in familiar JS. In AI apps, many teams front Amazon Bedrock with AppSync—handling auth and throttling in GraphQL while streaming tokens to clients via subscriptions.

What AppSync isn’t. It’s not a model marketplace and it doesn’t unify access to many third-party AI providers under one API. You bring AWS services (and Bedrock). For multi-provider routing (pre-route transparency; failover across providers), pair or replace with an aggregator like ShareAI.

Why you hear “AI gateway for Bedrock.” AppSync’s GraphQL + WebSockets + resolvers make it a natural egress/governance layer in front of Bedrock for both synchronous and streaming workloads. You keep GraphQL as your client contract while invoking Bedrock in your resolvers or functions.

Aggregators vs Gateways vs Agent platforms

• LLM aggregators (ShareAI, OpenRouter, Eden AI, LiteLLM): one API across many models/providers with pre-route transparency (price, latency, uptime, availability, provider type) and smart routing/failover.
• AI gateways (Kong AI Gateway, Portkey, AppSync-as-gateway, Apigee/NGINX/APISIX/Tyk/Azure APIM/Gravitee): governance at the edge (keys, quotas, guardrails), observability, and policy — you bring providers.
• Agent/chatbot platforms (Unify, Orq): packaged evaluation, tools, memory, channels—geared to app logic rather than provider-agnostic aggregation.

In practice, many teams run both: a gateway for org policy + ShareAI for marketplace-guided routing and resilience.

How we evaluated the best AppSync alternatives

• Model breadth & neutrality: proprietary + open; easy switching; no rewrites.
• Latency & resilience: routing policies, timeouts, retries, instant failover.
• Governance & security: key handling, scopes, regional routing.
• 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/providers).

Top 10 AWS AppSync 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 of models and providers; compare price, latency, uptime, availability, provider type; and 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 · Releases

For providers: earn by keeping models online. Onboard via Windows, Ubuntu, macOS, 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 inference prices and gain preferential exposure. Provider Guide · Provider Dashboard

#2 — Kong AI Gateway

What it is. Enterprise AI/LLM gateway—governance, plugins/policies, analytics, and observability for AI traffic at the edge. It’s a control plane rather than a marketplace.

#3 — Portkey

What it is. AI gateway emphasizing guardrails, governance, and deep observability—popular in regulated environments.

#4 — OpenRouter

What it is. A unified API over many models; great for fast experimentation across a wide catalog.

#5 — Eden AI

What it is. Aggregates LLMs plus broader AI (image, translation, TTS), with fallbacks/caching and batching.

#6 — LiteLLM

What it is. A lightweight Python SDK + self-hostable proxy that speaks an OpenAI-compatible interface to many providers.

#7 — Unify

What it is. Evaluation-driven routing and model comparison to pick better models per prompt.

#8 — Orq AI

What it is. Orchestration/collaboration platform that helps teams move from experiments to production with low-code flows.

#9 — Apigee (with LLMs behind it)

What it is. A mature API management platform you can place in front of LLM providers to apply policies, keys, and quotas.

#10 — NGINX

What it is. Use NGINX to build custom routing, token enforcement, and caching for LLM backends if you prefer DIY control.

These are directional summaries to help you shortlist. For model catalogs, live pricing, or provider traits, browse the ShareAI marketplace and route based on real-time price/latency/uptime/availability.

AWS AppSync 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 and AWS-native GraphQL with real-time subscriptions, AppSync fits that lane—especially when fronting Amazon Bedrock workloads. 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
AWS AppSync	Teams wanting AWS-native GraphQL + real-time + Bedrock integration	BYO (Bedrock, AWS data services)	Centralized auth/keys in AWS	CloudWatch/OTel-friendly patterns	Conditional fan-out via resolvers/subscriptions	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
OpenRouter	Devs wanting one key to many models	Wide catalog	Basic API controls	App-side	Fallbacks	Partial	n/a

(Abridged table. Use the ShareAI marketplace to compare live price/latency/availability across providers.)

Pricing & TCO: compare real costs (not just unit prices)

Raw $/1K tokens hides reality. TCO shifts with retries/fallbacks, latency (affecting 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 notes: moving to ShareAI

• From AWS AppSync (as gateway for Bedrock): Keep gateway-level policies where they shine; add ShareAI for marketplace routing + instant failover across multiple providers. Pattern: AppSync auth/policy → ShareAI per-model route → measure marketplace stats → tighten policies.
• From OpenRouter: Map model names, verify prompt parity; shadow 10% of traffic and ramp 25% → 50% → 100% as latency/error budgets hold.
• 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.

#!/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);

Prefer not to code right now? Open the Playground and run a live request in minutes.

Security, privacy & compliance checklist (vendor-agnostic)

• Key handling: rotation cadence; minimal scopes; environment separation.
• Data retention: where prompts/responses are stored, 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.
• Incident response: escalation paths and provider SLAs.

FAQ — AWS AppSync vs other competitors

AWS AppSync vs ShareAI — which for multi-provider routing?
ShareAI. It’s built for marketplace transparency (price, latency, uptime, availability, provider type) and smart routing/failover across many providers. AppSync is AWS-native GraphQL with Bedrock integrations and subscriptions. Many teams use both: AppSync for GraphQL/policy; ShareAI for provider-agnostic access and resilience.

AWS AppSync vs OpenRouter — quick multi-model access or GraphQL controls?
OpenRouter makes multi-model access quick; AppSync centralizes policy and real-time GraphQL subscriptions on AWS. If you also want pre-route transparency and instant failover across providers, add ShareAI behind your API.

AWS AppSync vs LiteLLM — self-host proxy or managed GraphQL?
LiteLLM is a DIY proxy/SDK; AppSync is managed GraphQL with WebSocket subscriptions and AWS data-source integrations. For marketplace-driven provider choice and failover, route via ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs Portkey — who’s stronger on guardrails?
Both emphasize governance; ergonomics differ. If your main need is transparent provider choice and failover across multiple vendors, add ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs Unify — evaluation-driven selection vs GraphQL egress?
Unify focuses on evaluation-driven model selection; AppSync focuses on GraphQL egress + AWS integrations. For one API over many providers with live marketplace stats, choose ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs Orq — orchestration vs GraphQL?
Orq orchestrates flows; AppSync is a GraphQL data-access layer with real-time + Bedrock ties. Use ShareAI for transparent provider selection and failover.

AWS AppSync vs Apigee — API management vs AI-specific GraphQL?
Apigee is broad API management; AppSync is AWS’s GraphQL service with subscriptions and AWS service integrations. If you want provider-agnostic access with marketplace transparency, plug in ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs NGINX — DIY vs turnkey?
NGINX offers DIY filters and policies; AppSync offers a managed GraphQL layer with WebSockets/subscriptions. To avoid low-level plumbing and still get transparent provider selection, route via ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs Kong 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.

AWS AppSync vs Apache APISIX — GraphQL vs API gateway
APISIX is a powerful API gateway for policies and routing; AppSync is managed GraphQL for AWS data + Bedrock. For model neutrality and live price/latency/uptime comparisons, add ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs Tyk — policy engine vs GraphQL resolver layer
Tyk centralizes policies/quotas/keys; AppSync centralizes GraphQL and real-time delivery. For provider-agnostic AI routing and instant failover, choose ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs Azure API Management — cloud choice
Azure APIM is Microsoft’s enterprise gateway; AppSync is AWS’s GraphQL service. If you also want multi-provider AI with marketplace transparency, use ShareAI.

AWS AppSync vs Gravitee — open-source gateway vs managed GraphQL
Gravitee is an API gateway with policies, analytics, and events; AppSync is purpose-built for GraphQL + realtime. For pre-route price/latency/uptime visibility and failover, add ShareAI.

When AppSync shines (and when it doesn’t)

• Shines for: AWS-centric stacks that want GraphQL, real-time via subscriptions, and tight Bedrock ties — all within AWS auth/IAM and CloudWatch/OTel flows.
• Less ideal for: multi-provider AI routing across clouds/vendors, transparent pre-route comparisons (price/latency/uptime), or automatic failover across many providers. That’s ShareAI’s lane.

How AppSync patterns map to Bedrock (for context)

• Short, synchronous invocations to Bedrock models directly from resolvers — good for quick responses.
• Long-running/streaming: use subscriptions/WebSockets to stream tokens progressively to clients; combine with event-driven backends when needed.

Try ShareAI next

• Open Playground — run a live request in minutes.
• Browse Models — compare price, latency, availability.
• Read the Docs — get oriented and integrate.
• Create your API key — start building today.
• Sign in / Sign up — the Console auto-detects login or registration.