Envoy AI Gateway
aigateway.envoyproxy.ioruntimeself-hosted
Envoy AI Gateway is a self-hosted runtime in the Routing & Gateways layer of the AI stack. CNCF-track gateway for LLM traffic on an Envoy data plane.
By Lattice editorial · Facts verified · method
- licence
- Apache-2.0
- language
- Go
- cost
- free
- owned by
- ML PlatformAI Infrastructure
Verified 2026-09build refuses it from 2027-04
Use Envoy AI Gateway when
A Kubernetes shop that already runs Envoy and needs the gateway in-cluster.
Skip Envoy AI Gateway when
You want a gateway configurable without a data plane.
Decides which model answers, and what it costs. — that is what this layer of the stack is answerable for. See the full Routing & Gateways section for the rest of the options.
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[](https://lattice.kunjshah.in/routing-gateways/envoy-ai-gateway)Quick answers
- Is Envoy AI Gateway open source?
- Yes. Envoy AI Gateway is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. It is free to use.
- What are the alternatives to Envoy AI Gateway?
- The closest alternatives to Envoy AI Gateway are LiteLLM and Cloudflare AI Gateway.
Compared in
Reading on routing
- The gateway is the productThe interesting engineering is not calling a model. It is deciding which model, failing over safely, and staying inside a budget while you do it.
- Build a cost model before you optimiseTeams optimise the thing they can see in the dashboard. The dashboard shows tokens. The number that matters is cost per successful outcome, and nobody is measuring it.
- Choosing a model is a routing problemThere is no best model. There is a best model for a task, at a quality bar, within a latency and cost budget — and that decision is a routing policy, not a benchmark.
Alternatives to Envoy AI Gateway
Listed as an alternative to
- LiteLLMLiteLLMOpenAI-format proxy translating across 100+ model providers.Use when The widest provider coverage, deployed the least committal way.Skip when You want routing policy to live in a SaaS console.MIT · self-hosted · free
- Cloudflare AI GatewayCloudflare AI GatewayEdge gateway adding caching, retries and rate limiting.Use when Edge caching and latency dominate, on Cloudflare already.Skip when Requests must not transit a third party's network.proprietary · saas · free-tier
Also in routing
- LiteLLMLiteLLMOpenAI-format proxy translating across 100+ model providers.Use when The widest provider coverage, deployed the least committal way.Skip when You want routing policy to live in a SaaS console.MIT · self-hosted · free
- PortkeyPortkeyAI gateway with routing, caching and guardrails in one layer.Use when A managed gateway with guardrails and analytics already bundled.Skip when Prompts cannot leave your infrastructure.proprietary · saas · usage-based
- Cloudflare AI GatewayCloudflare AI GatewayEdge gateway adding caching, retries and rate limiting.Use when Edge caching and latency dominate, on Cloudflare already.Skip when Requests must not transit a third party's network.proprietary · saas · free-tier
- OpenRouterOpenRouterSingle API key and billing across many hosted models.Use when One key and one bill across many hosted models, while experimenting.Skip when You need self-hosting or per-provider SLAs.proprietary · saas · usage-based
- MartianMartianModel router that optimizes for quality, cost and latency.Use when Routing tuned on your own traffic rather than a public benchmark.Skip when You want the routing rule to be plain config you can read.proprietary · saas · usage-based
- BifrostBifrostHigh-throughput LLM gateway with drop-in OpenAI compatibility.Use when A high-throughput OpenAI-compatible proxy with a small footprint.Skip when You need the breadth of a full routing stack.proprietary · self-hosted · free
- RouteLLMRouteLLMLearned router that cuts cost by matching difficulty to model size.Use when Cutting cost by matching query difficulty to model size, with a learned router.Skip when You cannot evaluate the quality you would be trading away.Apache-2.0 · self-hosted · free
- Not DiamondNot DiamondRouting and prompt optimisation tuned on your own traffic.Use when Routing and prompt optimisation tuned on your own traffic.Skip when Self-hosting or auditability is a requirement.proprietary · saas · usage-based
- TrueFoundryTrueFoundryGateway plus observability and guardrails as one deployment.Use when Gateway, observability and guardrails as one managed deployment.Skip when You want to adopt the pieces independently.proprietary · managed · subscription