Honest comparison
RelayPlane vs LiteLLM
LiteLLM is a gateway for a team. RelayPlane is a ledger and a brake for one machine.
LiteLLM routes 100+ providers behind one API with virtual keys and per-tenant budgets, and it is very good at that. RelayPlane does not compete on breadth or scale. It runs on localhost, prices every request into a local ledger, enforces a hard daily cap before the request leaves, and has a kill switch. Both are MIT licensed.
Pick RelayPlane if
- You want to see exactly what one machine or one agent spends, per request, without running a database
- You want a hard daily cap the proxy enforces (429 budget_exceeded), with block, downgrade, or warn
- You want a one-command kill switch that halts every routed request
- You are on Node.js and want npm install, no Python, no service to operate
Pick LiteLLM if
- You need 100+ providers behind one OpenAI-format API
- You need virtual keys and budgets per team, project, or user
- You need load balancing, retries, and fallbacks across many deployments
- You want an enterprise license or a hosted proxy you can buy today
Feature by feature
A check means the feature ships and is documented. Text is a neutral note on how each tool handles it. Where LiteLLM is stronger, the table says so.
| Feature | RelayPlane | LiteLLM |
|---|---|---|
| What it is LiteLLM describes itself as a centralized gateway you deploy for your team. RelayPlane runs on your laptop or one server and watches what that machine spends. | Local cost proxy for one machine | Open source AI gateway for a team or org |
| Install LiteLLM needs Python. RelayPlane needs Node.js. Neither is better, pick the runtime you already have. | npm install -g @relayplane/proxy | pip or uv, then run the proxy (litellm[proxy]) |
| Providers supported LiteLLM wins on breadth by a wide margin. If you need a long-tail provider, that decides it. | 6 native (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, xAI, Ollama) + OpenRouter (300+ models) | 100+ providers in the OpenAI format |
| Per-request ledger on your machine RelayPlane prices every request and writes it to a local ledger with model, tokens, cost, agent, and session. LiteLLM records spend too, but in the database behind the proxy server. | Spend logs live in the proxy database | |
| Hard daily cap enforced before the request is forwarded relayplane cap set --day 50 returns 429 budget_exceeded once the next request would pass $50. onBreach can be block, downgrade, or warn. LiteLLM budgets are richer per-tenant but need the proxy server and its database. | Budgets per virtual key, team, and user via the proxy | |
| Kill switch relayplane kill makes every /v1 request return 503 kill_switch_active until relayplane resume. It survives a proxy restart. | Block a virtual key through the admin API | |
| Price table validated in CI against provider pricing pages RelayPlane keeps one price table with a verification date and source per row. A test parses the table and fails the build if any constant disagrees. LiteLLM ships a large community price file that covers far more models. | Community-maintained model price JSON | |
| Virtual keys and multi-tenant spend LiteLLM wins. Per-project, per-user, per-key spend and access control is its core gateway job. RelayPlane tracks per agent and per session on one machine and has no tenant keys. | ||
| Load balancing and fallbacks across deployments LiteLLM routes across many deployments with retries and fallbacks. RelayPlane fails over between Anthropic accounts in a token pool and does not load balance a fleet. | Multi-account failover only | |
| Routing by task complexity RelayPlane classifies each request and picks a model tier. LiteLLM offers router strategies you configure per deployment. | Routing strategies by latency, cost, and load | |
| Admin dashboard Both have one. LiteLLM's is for a team. RelayPlane's shows this machine. | Local dashboard at localhost:4100 | Admin UI in the proxy |
| Where your data lives RelayPlane keeps prompts and cost data local by design and needs no account. LiteLLM can be fully self-hosted too; the difference is you operate a service. | Your machine only | Wherever you deploy the proxy and its database |
| Hosted or enterprise offering LiteLLM has a mature commercial offering. RelayPlane's hosted layer (run history, team dashboards, alerts) is a waitlist, not a product you can buy today. | Hosted team layer in early access | Enterprise license and hosted proxy available |
| License | MIT | MIT |
What RelayPlane does that a gateway does not
Local-first cost visibility and control. Each line below is a real command and the documented result.
- 01
A per-request ledger you can read without a database
Every request through localhost:4100 is priced and written locally with model, tokens, cost, agent fingerprint, and session. No Postgres, no service to run.
relayplane kills --last 7devery blocked request, with agent, session, and cost saved - 02
A hard cap the proxy enforces, not a report you read later
Set a daily dollar limit. The request that would cross it is refused before it reaches the provider. Choose block, downgrade to a cheaper model, or warn.
relayplane cap set --day 50429 budget_exceeded on the request that would pass $50 - 03
A kill switch that stops everything in one command
When an agent goes wrong at 2 a.m., you want one verb. Kill halts every routed request until you resume. Passthrough mode is different: traffic still flows.
relayplane kill503 kill_switch_active until relayplane resume - 04
A price table the build refuses to let drift
Each row carries a source URL and a verification date. A test parses the table and fails CI if a constant disagrees with it. Models that cannot be verified are excluded rather than guessed.
pnpm --filter @relayplane/proxy test model-pricingfails if any price row and constant disagree
Where LiteLLM is the better tool
Provider breadth
LiteLLM claims 100+ providers behind one OpenAI-format interface. RelayPlane has 6 native integrations plus OpenRouter passthrough for 300+ models. If your stack touches a niche model host directly, LiteLLM is the safer bet.
Team gateway with virtual keys
Virtual keys, per-team and per-user budgets, guardrails, and an admin dashboard are what LiteLLM is for. RelayPlane has none of the tenant model.
Ecosystem and commercial support
A large Python community, an enterprise license, and a hosted proxy option. RelayPlane is a small MIT project with a waitlist for its hosted layer.
Questions people search
- Is RelayPlane a LiteLLM alternative?
- Only for one job. If you want a gateway for a team with virtual keys, 100+ providers, and load balancing, LiteLLM is the better tool and RelayPlane is not trying to replace it. If you want to see and cap what one machine spends on AI, with a local per-request ledger, a hard daily cap, and a kill switch, RelayPlane does that with a single npm install and no database.
- LiteLLM vs Bifrost: which should I pick?
- Both are gateways. LiteLLM is Python, MIT licensed, and claims 100+ providers with virtual keys and a large community. Bifrost is Go, Apache 2.0, claims 23+ providers, and its README leads with throughput numbers and enterprise features like OIDC and clustering. If breadth and ecosystem matter most, LiteLLM. If raw gateway performance and Go deployment matter most, Bifrost. RelayPlane compares against Bifrost on its own page.
- Helicone vs LiteLLM: what is the difference?
- LiteLLM is a gateway you deploy to route and govern traffic. Helicone is observability: logging, traces, and analytics for LLM calls, with its own gateway. RelayPlane sits closer to Helicone's cost view than to LiteLLM's routing, but it runs locally and enforces caps instead of only reporting. RelayPlane has separate comparison pages for Helicone and for the Helicone AI Gateway.
- Does LiteLLM track cost per request?
- Yes. LiteLLM's proxy records spend per key, team, and user in its database. The difference with RelayPlane is where that record lives and what it takes to get it: RelayPlane writes a local ledger on the machine running the proxy and needs no database or server to operate.
- Can I run RelayPlane and LiteLLM together?
- Yes. Point your client at RelayPlane on localhost and set RelayPlane's provider base URL to your LiteLLM gateway. RelayPlane keeps the local ledger, cap, and kill switch, and LiteLLM keeps doing team routing behind it. This is a supported pattern, not a benchmark, so test it on your own traffic.
Related comparisons
Try the free proxy. Nothing leaves your machine.
MIT licensed. No account. Runs on localhost:4100.
npm install -g @relayplane/proxy