How to choose an AI API gateway

An AI API gateway should reduce integration work without hiding the details that matter in production. Compare compatibility, routing, observability, billing, and support before you move a workload.

Start with compatibility

Confirm the endpoint format, authentication header, streaming behavior, tool calling, image inputs, and model naming conventions your application needs. OpenAI-compatible does not always mean feature-compatible.

Check reliability evidence

Ask how failures are detected, whether healthy routes can fail over, how retries are bounded, and whether request IDs and logs are available for troubleshooting.

Compare the complete cost

Review input, output, cache, image, video, and per-request charges. A lower token price is not useful if the service adds opaque fees or makes usage hard to audit.

When a managed gateway fits

A managed gateway is a practical fit when you need to connect several models quickly, keep one application configuration, and have a support path for billing or routing issues.