Cloudflare AI Gateway vs LiteLLM
Updated March 10, 2026
Overview
Cloudflare AI Gateway is a proxy for AI API traffic that provides caching, rate limiting, analytics, and logging for LLM requests. Running on Cloudflare's global edge network, it reduces latency and costs by caching repeated requests. Free to use on all Cloudflare plans.
LiteLLM is an open-source LLM proxy that translates OpenAI-format API calls to 100+ LLM providers. It provides a standardized interface for calling models from Anthropic, Google, Azure, AWS Bedrock, and dozens more. LiteLLM is popular as a self-hosted gateway with features like spend tracking, rate limiting, and team management.
Key features
Core capabilities each platform advertises.
- Edge-deployed AI gateway
- Caching and rate limiting
- Usage analytics
- Provider failover
- Cloudflare network integration
- Open-source LLM proxy
- OpenAI-compatible API for 100+ providers
- Budget management and rate limiting
- Self-hostable
- Automatic retries and fallbacks
Strengths and tradeoffs
What each tool does well, and the limitations to keep in mind.
Pros
- Core features free with Cloudflare plans—no per-call gateway fees
- Tightly integrated with Cloudflare global network for low-latency routing
- One-line integration for major LLM providers
- Built-in caching, rate limiting, and fallbacks improve reliability
Cons
- Adds 10-50ms proxy latency to every request
- Lacks token-level tracing and prompt analysis
- Strict log retention caps require manual management at scale
- No enterprise governance features like RBAC or audit trails
Pros
- Free open-source core with MIT license
- Unified interface to 100+ LLM providers
- 18k+ GitHub stars with strong community
- Trusted by major enterprises
Cons
- Hidden operational costs (USD 200-500/mo infrastructure)
- Production latency overhead (20-40ms typical)
- Enterprise features require USD 30k annual fee
- Operational burden for self-hosting teams
Cloudflare AI or LiteLLM — which should you choose?
Choose Cloudflare AI if you wantChoose if you want
- Edge caching for AI API calls
- Rate limiting AI usage per user
- Cost management for AI APIs
- Global AI traffic management
- Cloudflare ecosystem AI integration
Choose LiteLLM if you wantChoose if you want
- Self-hosted LLM gateway for data control
- Standardizing LLM access across teams
- Budget enforcement per team or project
- Provider migration without code changes
- Open-source LLM infrastructure
Compare Cloudflare AI Gateway and LiteLLM on your own traffic
Respan lets you trace LLM and agent calls across any model or framework, A/B test prompts on production traffic, and route requests across 500+ models through one gateway.