head to head · open source
LiteLLM vs agentgateway
LiteLLM has 59,036 GitHub stars, 11,545 forks, 5,022 open issues and last shipped today. agentgateway has 4,900 stars, 854 forks, 258 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LiteLLM leads on adoption by 1,105% (59,036 vs 4,900 stars). LiteLLM is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; agentgateway is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. LiteLLM has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, agentgateway 17%. LiteLLM was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-gateway, mcp-gateway), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| LiteLLM | agentgateway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 59K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 854 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LiteLLM if
- You weight community size — 59K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agentgateway if
- You want the agentgateway feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and agentgateway fits your workflow better
About LiteLLM
LiteLLM is an open source AI gateway that provides a unified interface to call over 100 large language model (LLM) providers—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, Google VertexAI, and vLLM—using the OpenAI compatible API format. It runs as both a Python SDK for direct integration and as a standalone proxy server for centralized, team or organization wide use.
read the full LiteLLM overview →
About agentgateway
Agentgateway is an open source proxy written in Rust and licensed under Apache 2.0. It is a next generation agentic proxy for AI agents and MCP servers, and it operates inside the Developer Tools, API gateway, Kubernetes, service mesh, and AI gateway ecosystem. The project is built on the MCP and A2A protocols.
read the full agentgateway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LiteLLM or agentgateway more popular?
LiteLLM has 59,036 GitHub stars and agentgateway has 4,900. LiteLLM has the larger community by that measure.
Are LiteLLM and agentgateway free?
Both are open source. LiteLLM has no licence declared in this registry, and agentgateway is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LiteLLM and agentgateway?
LiteLLM is written in Python and agentgateway in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LiteLLM or agentgateway?
Choose LiteLLM if you want the larger community (59,036 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose agentgateway if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.