LLM Gateway Comparison
Requesty vs LiteLLM
LiteLLM is a solid open-source proxy. Requesty is the managed platform that replaces it. One API key, one invoice, 600+ models, zero servers to run.
$ docker-compose up -d litellm
$ # configure provider API keys...
$ # set up Postgres for logging...
$ # configure load balancers...
$ # set up monitoring...
$ # manage SSL certs...
$ # patch security vulns...
// You also need API keys for every provider$ export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://router.requesty.ai/v1"
$ export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-requesty-key"
// One key for every provider.
// One invoice at the end of the month.
// No provider accounts needed.
// 600+ models, routing, caching, governance.
// Zero infrastructure. Forever.Trusted by teams at
01Included
What you get out of the box
Every feature below is included, maintained, and scaled for you. With LiteLLM, you build and operate each one yourself.
One invoice, every provider
Access OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, and more without managing separate API keys or billing accounts. One Requesty key, one bill.
Multi-region deployment
Virginia, Frankfurt, Singapore. Automatic failover across regions. EU hosting available for teams that need it.
Real-time analytics
Cost, latency, TTFT, error rates. Per-model, per-team, per-key. No external monitoring stack needed.
Enterprise governance
5-layer policy engine. Org, group, service account, user, and API key hierarchy for granular control.
OpenAI-compatible API
Drop-in replacement. Works with any SDK, framework, or agent that uses the OpenAI format. Same as LiteLLM.
Auto-caching
Intelligent response caching saves up to 60% on token costs. Zero configuration required on your end.
02Compare
Side-by-side comparison
LiteLLM is a great proxy with model support and fallbacks. Requesty adds managed infrastructure, billing, governance, and analytics on top.
| Feature | Requesty | LiteLLM |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | ||
| Fully managed (zero ops) | Yes | NoSelf-host |
| Auto-scaling | Yes | NoManual |
| Multi-region (US, EU, APAC) | Yes | NoWhere you deploy |
| Sub-50ms overhead | Yes | PartialDepends on infra |
| 99.99% uptime SLA | Yes | No |
| Billing and access | ||
| Single API key for all providers | Yes | NoBYOK required |
| Consolidated invoicing | Yes | No |
| No provider accounts needed | Yes | NoBYOK required |
| Prepaid credits (no surprise bills) | Yes | No |
| Free $10 starting credits | Yes | No |
| Routing and intelligence | ||
| OpenAI-compatible API | Yes | Yes |
| 600+ model support | YesDay-1 | Yes100+ models |
| Smart cost/latency routing | Yes | PartialBasic LB |
| Auto-caching (zero config) | Yes | PartialRequires Redis |
| Automatic fallback chains | Yes | Yes |
| Rate limit handling | YesAuto-retry | PartialBasic |
| Governance and security | ||
| 5-layer policy hierarchy | Yes | No |
| SOC2 / GDPR / HIPAA | Yes | No |
| PII masking guardrails | Yes | No |
| Full audit trail | Yes | PartialBasic logs |
| Budget controls per team/user | Yes | PartialBasic limits |
| Analytics and observability | ||
| Real-time cost dashboard | Yes | PartialBasic UI |
| Per-user/team analytics | Yes | PartialBasic |
| Latency and TTFT tracking | Yes | Partial |
| Session reconstruction | Yes | No |
| Request logging | Yes | Yes |
03Cost of ownership
The true cost of self-hosting
LiteLLM is open source. But running it in production requires infrastructure, provider accounts, and engineering time.
Infrastructure
$8-15K/month
- Compute cluster (EKS/GKE)
- Load balancers and networking
- Postgres + Redis databases
- Monitoring and alerting
Provider management
Per provider
- Separate account per provider
- Separate billing per provider
- API key rotation and security
- Rate limit management
Engineering time
200+ hrs/month
- On-call rotation
- Security patching
- Scaling and optimization
- Debugging production issues
With Requesty, your total cost is
$0 to start
Pay only for tokens you use. One invoice. No infrastructure. No provider accounts needed.
Migrate in 5 minutes
Replace your LiteLLM endpoint. No more provider keys to manage. Shut down your servers.
# Step 1: Point to Requesty
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://router.requesty.ai/v1"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="$REQUESTY_API_KEY"
# Step 2: Verify
curl $OPENAI_BASE_URL/models -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"
# Step 3: Shut down LiteLLM
docker-compose down litellm
# No more provider API keys to manage.