# Portkey: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 55 judge labels across 2 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/portkey

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [LLM gateways and observability](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/llm-gateways-and-observability/index.md) | 32% | 2 | 9% | 53 |
| [AI governance platforms](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/ai-governance-platforms/index.md) | 0% | 49 | 0% | 2 |

## What the models said for it

- "the "best" LLM gateway typically comes down to a choice between the open-source standard, LiteLLM, or the observability-first solution, Portkey" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, LLM gateways)
- "consider starting with self-hosted open-source options (like Portkey's MIT-licensed tier or Envoy AI Gateway) where you control the data plane" (Kimi K2, LLM gateways)
- "Portkey has long been the mid-market pick for teams that want guardrails, caching and logging in one product" (Claude Haiku 4.5, LLM gateways)
- "Portkey is my top recommendation for a mid-sized B2B company needing both LLM observability and routing." (Grok 4.20, LLM gateways)

## And against it

- "Avoid percentage-fee gateways until your monthly model spend exceeds $10,000–$35,000, as the fees become cost-prohibitive" (MiniMax M2.5, LLM gateways)
- "Providers like standard versions of OpenRouter or Portkey typically process logs across public infrastructure." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, LLM gateways)
- "It eliminates the subscription cost associated with commercial gateways (like Merge.dev or Portkey)." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, LLM gateways)
- "Exercise caution with OpenRouter, Portkey, Vercel AI Gateway, and similar services" (Perplexity Sonar, LLM gateways)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Grok 4.20 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Mistral Small | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Kimi K2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Portkey, from 156 of the 169 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- getmaxim.ai: 90
- dev.to: 85
- github.com: 52
- respan.ai: 39
- portkey.ai: 37 (its own site)
- requesty.ai: 37
- gane.ai/index: 34
- llmgateway.io: 31
- fastrouter.ai: 27
- litellm.ai: 26

### Pages cited

- https://dev.to/ericthompson21/when-is-a-managed-llm-gateway-worth-its-cost-5959: 34
- https://requesty.ai/blog/best-managed-llm-gateway: 26
- https://respan.ai/articles/best-llm-gateways: 25
- https://cloudzero.com/blog/llm-gateways: 24
- https://concentrate.ai/blog/the-9-best-llm-gateways-in-2026-grouped-by-the-job-they-do: 22
- https://dataiku.com/blog/best-llm-gateways: 22
- https://arize.com/resources/best-llm-gateways-comparison: 20
- https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/llm-gateways-and-observability/smb: 17

## In its own words

What Portkey's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Production Stack for Gen AI Builders (https://portkey.ai/)
- For: AI teams (https://portkey.ai/)
- Price stated: Free Forever; $49/month; Custom Pricing (https://portkey.ai/pricing)
- Starting price: $49/month (https://portkey.ai/pricing)
- Free plan or trial: Get started for free (https://portkey.ai/)
- Certifications: HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, ISO 27001
- Customers named: Figg, Haptik, Qoala, Ario, Internet2, RVO Health, Snorkel AI, QA.tech

## What it publishes

Every page portkey.ai exposes, read 2026-09-29: 2282 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 45 pages, 2 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-15
- case study: 8 pages, 8 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-15
- conference or event: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- report or ebook: 70 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- comparison: 5 pages, 4 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-15
- template or tool: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2023-07-01
- glossary or explainer: 8 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-05-04
- Recent: 2026-09-15 comparison: Portkey vs litellm https://portkey.ai/lp/portkey-vs-litellm
- Recent: 2026-09-15 case study: All https://portkey.ai/case-studies/all
- Recent: 2026-09-15 case study: Leading delivery platform https://portkey.ai/case-studies/leading-delivery-platform
- Recent: 2026-09-15 blog: Portkey ai info page https://portkey.ai/portkey-ai-info-page
- Recent: 2026-09-15 comparison: Openrouter alternatives https://portkey.ai/alternatives/openrouter-alternatives
- Recent: 2026-09-15 comparison: Litellm alternatives https://portkey.ai/alternatives/litellm-alternatives

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.