OmniRoute vs LiteLLM: which AI gateway should developers use?

Developers searching for one endpoint that fronts every model provider keep landing on the same two names, and they solve different problems: OmniRoute is a free desktop-first gateway you run for yourself, LiteLLM is gateway infrastructure your team deploys. We pulled both repositories on 2026-09-02 and compared what the bytes actually say, starting from the OmniRoute Authentication skill we read line by line.

Key takeaways

• OmniRoute holds 60,112 GitHub stars and LiteLLM 57,827 as of 2026-09-02 (GitHub API), so neither is the obscure option.
• OmniRoute is fully MIT-licensed; LiteLLM is MIT at the core with an enterprise/ directory under a separate commercial license (both LICENSE files, read 2026-09-02).
• OmniRoute claims 352 providers and 1,200+ models in its README; LiteLLM's repo description claims 100+ LLM APIs with cost tracking, guardrails and load balancing. Both are author counts, not ours.
• OmniRoute ships 46 agent skills in its repo; its 20 most-installed on skills.sh carry 308 to 388 installs each (all-time, 2026-09-02), including the OmniRoute CLI Serve skill that runs the server.
• "omniroute" searches around Claude Code setup are Breakout risers in Google Trends this month (worldwide, past 30 days, captured 2026-09-02); LiteLLM is the incumbent the comparisons get measured against.

What is OmniRoute?

OmniRoute is a free, MIT-licensed AI gateway by diegosouzapw that exposes one OpenAI-compatible endpoint on your own machine, http://localhost:20128 by default. Its README (2026-09-02) claims 352 providers, over 150 of them free, quota-aware auto-fallback across 19 routing strategies, and token compression it claims cuts 20 to 40 percent of tool-result tokens. It installs with npm install -g omniroute, ships a dashboard and desktop app, and exposes both an MCP server it says carries 107 tools and an A2A endpoint. The repository holds 60,112 GitHub stars as of 2026-09-02.

What is LiteLLM?

LiteLLM, by BerriAI, is the established gateway in production stacks: a Rust-core proxy with a Python SDK that calls 100+ LLM APIs in OpenAI or native format, with cost tracking, guardrails and load balancing, per its own repository description on 2026-09-02. It installs with pip install litellm, runs as a shared proxy server for a team, and holds 57,827 GitHub stars as of the same date. The core is MIT; everything under the enterprise/ directory carries a separate commercial license, which is how BerriAI sells SSO, audit logs and support to companies.

What is the difference between OmniRoute and LiteLLM?

The difference is who the gateway is for: OmniRoute optimizes for one developer's desk, LiteLLM for a team's infrastructure.

OmniRoute's compression claims are its most aggressive differentiator and they are the author's numbers, so treat them the way you would any vendor benchmark until you measure your own traffic. If shaving tokens is the goal, the Claude skills that reduce token usage guide covers approaches that work on any gateway.

Which one should you use with Claude Code?

Both front Claude Code the same way, by standing between the agent and the model APIs as an OpenAI-compatible base URL, so the choice follows your setup rather than the agent. Pick OmniRoute when you are one developer who wants a free local gateway with a dashboard, auto-fallback across free providers, and skills your agent can load directly, starting with OmniRoute Authentication for the API surface. Pick LiteLLM when a team shares one proxy, the stack is Python, spend needs tracking per key across an organization, or you expect to buy enterprise features later. The community has wired both into Claude Code; there is even a catalog skill for running Claude Code via LiteLLM, at 13 installs a niche recipe, but proof the path exists.

Common pitfalls

• Trusting either project's provider count as a comparison metric. 352 vs 100+ measures how each author counts, not capability you will use; most developers route to fewer than ten providers.
• Aiming the wrong credential at OmniRoute. Its API takes a Bearer key while the dashboard uses a password session cookie, and mixing them returns a bare 401. The auth skill documents the split.
• Running a gateway you never update. Both projects pushed commits on 2026-09-02 itself; a stale local gateway silently loses providers and fixes, so put omniroute update or your pip upgrade in the same routine as your agent updates.

Two gateways, two jobs: OmniRoute is the free personal gateway having its breakout month, LiteLLM is the infrastructure incumbent, and your team size decides.

Common questions