$ modelux vs litellm
modelux vs LiteLLM
Both route LLM requests across providers. The difference: LiteLLM is open-source software you run yourself; modelux is a managed control plane — routing strategies, versioned configs, decision traces, replay, audit, and SSO — on top of the same gateway capability.
pick modelux when
- ▸ You don't want to operate proxy infrastructure
- ▸ You need versioning, replay, audit, or SSO — replaying real traffic against a candidate config with measured cost / latency / quality diffs is something you'd otherwise build yourself
- ▸ You want budgets with auto-downgrade enforced for you
- ▸ You want ensembles, cascades, or a custom rule DSL out of the box
- ▸ You're a team and need shared analytics and policy
pick litellm when
- ▸ You want a single binary you control end-to-end
- ▸ Your compliance posture forbids managed services
- ▸ You'll build versioning, replay, and audit yourself if needed
- ▸ Personal projects where free + self-hosted is a fit
# compare
Capability comparison
| Capability | modelux | LiteLLM |
|---|---|---|
| Operating model | ||
| Hosting | Managed SaaS | Self-hosted (open-source) |
| Setup time | 2 minutes | Hours-to-days (provision, deploy, monitor) |
| Ops responsibility | modelux | You |
| Pricing | Flat tiers, no markup | Free (you pay infra) |
| Routing | ||
| Single / fallback | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cost-optimized | ✓ | Manual |
| Latency-optimized | ✓ (rolling p50) | Manual |
| Ensembles + cascades | ✓ | — |
| A/B tests | ✓ | — |
| Custom rule DSL | ✓ | — |
| Control plane | ||
| Versioned configs | ✓ | — |
| Decision traces per request | ✓ | Logs only |
| Replay real traffic against candidate configs | ✓ (up to 50k requests) | — |
| Measured quality diff (embedding similarity) | ✓ (with_responses mode) | — |
| Promote a sim result to production | ✓ (one click, versioned) | — |
| Audit log | ✓ | — |
| Budgets + auto-downgrade | ✓ | Caps only |
| Observability | ||
| Searchable request logs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-request cost | ✓ | ✓ |
| Latency percentiles | ✓ | Basic |
| Warehouse export | ✓ (S3 Parquet) | DIY |
| Governance | ||
| Team management + roles | ✓ | — |
| SSO / SAML | ✓ (Enterprise) | DIY |
| AI-native (MCP) | ✓ | — |
Operating model
Hosting
modelux
Managed SaaS
LiteLLM
Self-hosted (open-source)
Setup time
modelux
2 minutes
LiteLLM
Hours-to-days (provision, deploy, monitor)
Ops responsibility
modelux
modelux
LiteLLM
You
Pricing
modelux
Flat tiers, no markup
LiteLLM
Free (you pay infra)
Routing
Single / fallback
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
✓
Cost-optimized
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
Manual
Latency-optimized
modelux
✓ (rolling p50)
LiteLLM
Manual
Ensembles + cascades
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
—
A/B tests
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
—
Custom rule DSL
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
—
Control plane
Versioned configs
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
—
Decision traces per request
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
Logs only
Replay real traffic against candidate configs
modelux
✓ (up to 50k requests)
LiteLLM
—
Measured quality diff (embedding similarity)
modelux
✓ (with_responses mode)
LiteLLM
—
Promote a sim result to production
modelux
✓ (one click, versioned)
LiteLLM
—
Audit log
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
—
Budgets + auto-downgrade
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
Caps only
Observability
Searchable request logs
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
✓
Per-request cost
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
✓
Latency percentiles
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
Basic
Warehouse export
modelux
✓ (S3 Parquet)
LiteLLM
DIY
Governance
Team management + roles
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
—
SSO / SAML
modelux
✓ (Enterprise)
LiteLLM
DIY
AI-native (MCP)
modelux
✓
LiteLLM
—
Based on LiteLLM's open-source documentation as of April 2026. We've tried to be fair — LiteLLM Enterprise has additional commercial features. If something here is wrong or out of date, email hello@modelux.ai and we'll fix it.
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