RelayPlane vs Cloudflare AI Gateway
Cloudflare AI Gateway routes your AI traffic through their cloud. RelayPlane is npm-native, local-first, and agent-aware. No account. No cloud dependency. 30-second setup.
TL;DR
Choose RelayPlane if you want:
- npm install in 30 seconds, zero cloud accounts
- All data stays on your machine — nothing sent to third parties
- Per-request, per-agent USD cost tracking in local SQLite
- Smart routing that optimizes for cost, not just availability
- Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any OpenAI-compatible tool
Cloudflare AI Gateway may fit if you need:
- Semantic response caching at the edge via Cloudflare KV
- You are already deep in the Cloudflare Workers ecosystem
- Global edge routing for latency-sensitive production deployments
Feature Comparison
| Feature | RelayPlane | Cloudflare AI Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Installation method RelayPlane is a single npm command. Cloudflare AI Gateway requires signing up, configuring a Worker, and pointing your app at Cloudflare's cloud endpoint. | npm install -g @relayplane/proxy | Cloudflare account + Workers setup + dashboard config |
| Setup time RelayPlane runs on localhost:4100 immediately after install. Cloudflare requires DNS/Workers configuration before a single request goes through. | ~30 seconds | 15–30 minutes (account, Workers, routing config) |
| Where requests are routed RelayPlane proxies locally. Cloudflare AI Gateway sends all traffic through Cloudflare servers before forwarding to the LLM provider. | localhost:4100 — never leaves your machine | Cloudflare's cloud edge network |
| Cloud account required RelayPlane works fully offline for local development. Cloudflare AI Gateway requires a Cloudflare account to function at all. | ||
| Data privacy RelayPlane stores logs in ~/.relayplane/ and nothing leaves your machine. Cloudflare AI Gateway logs pass through their infrastructure. | All data stays on your machine (SQLite + JSONL) | Request metadata processed by Cloudflare cloud |
| Per-request cost tracking RelayPlane computes exact USD cost per request using live pricing tables. Cloudflare shows basic cost estimates but has no per-agent attribution or automatic model routing. | Basic cost estimates (no per-agent attribution) | |
| Per-agent cost breakdown RelayPlane fingerprints system prompts to attribute spend to individual agents. Cloudflare has no agent-awareness concept. | ||
| Smart model routing (cost-optimized) RelayPlane can route simple tasks to Haiku and complex ones to Opus based on task complexity. Cloudflare AI Gateway does not route — it proxies to a fixed endpoint. | ||
| Runaway loop detection RelayPlane detects and stops runaway agent loops before they exhaust your budget. Cloudflare has no agent-loop awareness. | ||
| Rate limiting RelayPlane enforces spend budgets per agent. Cloudflare AI Gateway rate-limits by request count, not dollar spend. | Budget-based enforcement per agent | Request-count rate limiting |
| Response caching Cloudflare has a semantic cache built on their KV store. RelayPlane caching is on the roadmap but not yet shipped. | Planned | ✓ (Cloudflare KV-backed semantic cache) |
| Vendor lock-in RelayPlane uses the standard OpenAI API format. Cloudflare AI Gateway requires staying on their platform for routing to work. | None — OpenAI-compatible, switch anytime | Tied to Cloudflare Workers + account |
| Node.js / npm native RelayPlane is a standard npm package. Cloudflare AI Gateway is a Workers product and does not integrate via npm install. | Workers runtime (not npm-native) | |
| Works with Claude Code / Cursor RelayPlane is a drop-in local proxy. Using Cloudflare AI Gateway with Claude Code or Cursor requires routing your IDE through Cloudflare's cloud. | Requires manual base URL override + cloud routing | |
| Pricing model RelayPlane's pricing is predictable and flat. Cloudflare AI Gateway pricing scales with Cloudflare Workers usage tiers. | Flat — part of OpenClaw Max or standalone | Free tier with limits; scales with Workers paid plans |
| Offline / air-gapped support RelayPlane works fully offline for local development. Cloudflare AI Gateway requires internet access to Cloudflare's network. | ||
| Docker required Neither tool requires Docker, but Cloudflare requires cloud account setup while RelayPlane needs only npm. | ||
| Target audience | Solo devs, AI agent developers, Claude Code / Cursor users | Teams already running Cloudflare infrastructure |
Why Agent Developers Choose RelayPlane
Truly local-first — no cloud in the critical path
RelayPlane runs on localhost:4100. Your LLM requests go: your app → localhost:4100 → LLM provider. Nothing touches a third-party server. Cloudflare AI Gateway inserts Cloudflare's cloud between you and your LLM provider on every single request.
Zero-dependency setup for npm developers
npm install -g @relayplane/proxy && relayplane start. That's it. No Cloudflare account, no Workers configuration, no DNS changes. Cloudflare AI Gateway requires account creation, Workers setup, and dashboard configuration before it handles a single request.
Agent-native cost intelligence, not just proxying
RelayPlane knows about agents. It tracks spend per agent by fingerprinting system prompts, detects runaway loops, and routes by task complexity to minimize cost. Cloudflare AI Gateway is a cloud proxy — it logs tokens and rate-limits by request count, but has no concept of agents or cost optimization.
No vendor lock-in, no cloud dependency
RelayPlane uses the standard OpenAI API format and stores all data as SQLite and JSONL in ~/.relayplane/. Switch providers, switch tools, take your data anywhere. Cloudflare AI Gateway ties your AI traffic to Cloudflare's network and Workers platform.
When Cloudflare AI Gateway is the right fit
Cloudflare AI Gateway is a solid choice if your team is already committed to the Cloudflare Workers ecosystem. The built-in semantic cache, global edge routing, and native integration with Cloudflare's rate-limiting infrastructure are genuine advantages for production deployments that already live on Cloudflare.
If you are a developer working with Claude Code, Cursor, or building AI agents locally, Cloudflare AI Gateway is the wrong tool: it requires a cloud account, routes all traffic through Cloudflare's servers, and has no concept of per-agent cost tracking or runaway loop detection. RelayPlane is purpose-built for the agent developer workflow: npm install, localhost proxy, cost intelligence out of the box.