RelayPlane vs Straitly
Straitly launched in August 2026 as a 0%-markup hosted AI gateway, positioned as an OpenRouter killer. RelayPlane is a free, local, MIT-licensed proxy. Here is an honest comparison for AI agent builders deciding between them.
TL;DR
Choose RelayPlane when you want:
- $0 cost, no metered spend, no account
- Routing by what the task actually needs, not just uptime
- Session budget caps and kill switches for runaway agents
- Local-first, open source, nothing leaves your machine
Straitly may work for you if you need:
- The widest model catalog through one hosted key (142+ models)
- A managed cloud gateway you don't have to run yourself
- High-uptime failover across many providers
Feature Comparison
| Feature | RelayPlane | Straitly |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment model RelayPlane runs locally alongside your agent. Straitly is a hosted gateway, every request routes through their infrastructure before reaching your LLM provider. | In-process, runs on your own machine (npm install) | Cloud-hosted AI gateway (network layer) |
| Price Straitly's 0% markup is a marketing claim on top of metered token spend you still pay for, and it is a launch-week promo (30% off first $10k + $100 in credits). RelayPlane has nothing to meter: it is free, MIT-licensed software you run yourself. | $0, always | 0% markup on token spend (launch pricing) |
| No account required Straitly requires filling out a form with your X username and creating an account at straitly.ai. RelayPlane starts with npm install, no signup. | ||
| Open source RelayPlane is MIT-licensed and auditable. Straitly is a closed, hosted product, self-reported at launch, not independently verified. | ||
| Uses your existing subscription (no metered billing) For Claude Code users, RelayPlane passes through your existing Claude Max plan OAuth session, no per-token billing at all. Straitly is still a metered gateway: you pay for tokens, just without their markup. | ||
| Task-complexity based routing RelayPlane classifies each request by complexity and sends simple tasks to cheap models, hard tasks to expensive ones. Straitly's "intelligent re-routing" (per their launch thread) re-routes on provider failure and cache hits, not on what the task actually needs. | Failure-based re-routing only | |
| Session-level budget caps / kill switches RelayPlane halts a runaway agent mid-loop when it crosses a budget threshold. Straitly's launch thread does not mention spend caps or kill switches, only routing and uptime. | ||
| Agent-loop / runaway detection RelayPlane ships a repetition detector and token explosion guard, it caught a real 72,900-token agent stuck in a 21-minute loop. Not a feature Straitly has announced. | ||
| Model catalog breadth Straitly leads on raw catalog size. If you need the widest model breadth through one hosted key, that is a real advantage for them. | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, OpenRouter passthrough | 142+ models, 20+ providers (self-reported at launch) |
| Data stays on your machine RelayPlane logs to local SQLite by default, nothing leaves your machine. Straitly is a cloud gateway, your prompts pass through their servers. |
Straitly figures are self-reported from its launch announcement (August 2026) and not independently verified.
Why AI Agent Builders Choose RelayPlane Over Straitly
0% markup on tokens you still pay for, vs $0 total
Straitly's headline is charging 0% markup on top of metered token spend, no Stripe fees, no credit card processing fees. That is a real improvement over OpenRouter's roughly 5% fee. But you are still paying for every token, to a hosted gateway, on launch-week promo pricing (30% off your first $10k plus $100 in free credits). RelayPlane is not a metered gateway at all: it is free, MIT-licensed software that runs on your machine. For Claude Code users specifically, it passes through your existing Claude Max plan, so there is nothing to meter in the first place.
Hosted gateway vs local proxy
Straitly is a cloud AI gateway: your traffic routes through their infrastructure with one API key across 142+ models. RelayPlane installs with npm and runs in-process on your own machine. No account, no signup form, no data leaving your machine by default.
Failure-based re-routing vs complexity-based routing
Straitly's launch thread describes intelligent re-routing that kicks in on provider failures, reaching a 99.98% success rate, plus optimizing for cache hit rates. That is reliability engineering, valuable, but it is not the same thing as deciding which model a given request actually needs. RelayPlane classifies every request by task complexity and sends simple work to cheap models, hard work to expensive ones, whether or not anything failed.
Spend caps and runaway detection
Straitly's pitch is about the price of tokens. RelayPlane's is about not spending on tokens you never needed to: session-level budget caps, real-time kill switches, and an agent-loop detector that caught a real production agent stuck burning 72,900 tokens in a 21-minute loop. Straitly's launch material does not mention spend guardrails.
Get Running in 30 Seconds
No account, no form, no credit card:
Stop metering tokens you don't need to spend
No account. No monthly fee. No markup, because there is nothing to mark up. MIT open source, running with Claude Code and Cursor in under 30 seconds.