LiteLLM alternatives (2026)

LiteLLM is a MCP & infra tool: Open-source AI gateway and Python SDK that calls 100+ LLM providers in the OpenAI format, with cost tracking, guardrails, load balancing and logging. Pricing, as the maker states it: Open source + cloud. Its GitHub repo has 61,465 stars. We found 289 tools in the directory that do overlapping work (building AI agents, building voice agents, connecting tools with MCP); 166 of them are open source and 24 list a free or freemium plan. Below are the 10 closest, ranked by how many tasks and sub-tasks they share with LiteLLM, then by GitHub stars.

1. agentgateway (Open source): Proxy for AI agents and MCP servers with security and observability. Consider it because it also covers MCP servers.
2. Metorial (Source-available + cloud): Open-source identity and access layer that connects AI agents to 1,200+ integrations via MCP, CLI or API with auth, permissions and observability. Consider it because it also covers identity, auth and secrets and terminal and CLI agents.
3. ToolHive (Open source): Stacklok platform that runs MCP servers in isolated containers with per-request identity, access policy and observability. Consider it because it also covers sandboxes and secure execution and identity, auth and secrets.
4. NVIDIA Open Agent Safety Platform (Open source): Reference stack pairing OpenShell with NVIDIA Sentry on BlueField-4 DPUs for hardware-level agent monitoring. Consider it because it also covers terminal and CLI agents.
5. Headroom (Open source): Library, proxy and MCP server that compresses tool outputs, logs, files and RAG chunks locally before they reach the LLM, cutting tokens for coding agents. Consider it because it also covers RAG and documents and MCP servers; it has more GitHub stars (75,629 vs 61,465).
6. Portkey AI Gateway (Open source + cloud): Fast open-source AI gateway that routes requests to hundreds of LLMs through one API with fallbacks, load balancing and built-in guardrails. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (open source + cloud).
7. Open Connector (Open source): Open-source auth gateway connecting SaaS apps to AI agents via SDK, CLI and MCP. Consider it because it also covers identity, auth and secrets and terminal and CLI agents.
8. Archestra (Open source + cloud): Enterprise AI platform with guardrails, an MCP registry, gateway and orchestrator. Consider it because it also covers multi-agent orchestration.
9. Jarvis Registry (Open source): Open-source MCP and A2A agent gateway that connects copilots and agents to enterprise tools with identity, access control and observability. Consider it because it also covers identity, auth and secrets.
10. Manifest (Open source): Open-source LLM gateway that routes each request from agents and apps to the right model across API keys, subscriptions and local models, with spend tracking. Consider it because it also covers local and self-hosted.

LiteLLM vs alternatives at a glance

More: LiteLLM listing · All MCP & infra tools · All alternatives pages

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Alternatives are picked from directory data only: same category plus shared tasks and sub-tasks. Pricing is as each maker states it; GitHub stars as recorded on each listing.