The best LLM gateways, according to hackers
8 LLM gateways were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 3 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended LLM gateways with the badge. Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Fast and lightweight
Recommended as a fast, lightweight, drop-in OpenAI-compatible router with failover and a free tier; the most common caveat is that advanced features like virtual keys are paywalled.
Virtual models swap backing models easily
Self-hosted AI gateway people praise for its lightweight footprint, request debugging dashboard, and virtual models that swap backing models without reconfiguring tools. Some critics doubt its benchmarks.
Routes Claude Code to other models
Lets Claude Code send requests to other models, including local ones, and shows what they do. Critics find it bloated and flaky, with tool names sometimes double-translated.
All 8 LLM gateways, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LiteLLM | 72 | 94 | 43% | 12 | — | — |
| 2 | Bifrost by Maxim | 17 | 6 | 74% | 10 | — | Approved |
| 3 | GoModel | 13 | 2 | 87% | 6 | — | Approved |
| 4 | Claude Code Router | 11 | 3 | 79% | 5 | — | Approved |
| 5 | CLIProxyAPI | 7 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
| 6 | Tailscale Aperture | 6 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | agentgateway | 5 | 2 | 71% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | TensorZero | 5 | 3 | 63% | 2 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same LLM gateway in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to LLM gateways that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.