OmniRoute vs freellmapi
Two of the top gateways, side by side: score, setup, license, activity and what each review found.
OmniRoute
OpenAI-compatible gateway that routes requests across hundreds of AI providers
freellmapi
OpenAI-compatible router that fails over across free LLM provider tiers
| What we compare | OmniRoute | freellmapi |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 94, widely used | 76, popular |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 100, healthy | 98, healthy |
| Easy to run | 67, easy | 67, easy |
| Agent-ready | 70, partly | 0, none |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 75.1k | 33.1k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | MIT (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Sep 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Docker | Yes | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Mentioned |
OmniRoute
OmniRoute exposes one OpenAI-compatible endpoint at localhost:20128/v1 and routes requests to a catalog of 357+ providers, including many free tiers, with automatic fallback between them. It also accepts Claude, Gemini and Responses API formats, supports MCP and A2A, and has a dashboard for keys, quotas and free-tier usage. Providers are connected with your own accounts or API keys.
Who it is for: Developers pooling free and paid LLM providers behind one API endpoint
Strengths
- Single endpoint with automatic fallback across many providers and model IDs
- Dashboard page tracks free-tier pools and remaining quota
- Install via npm, Docker or Electron; MIT license
- Documents the free-tier token math and flags providers with risky terms
Weaknesses
- Provider count in the README varies (290, 357, 370) across sections
- The 'auto' model needs at least one eligible connected provider to route
- Providers marked tos:avoid, such as Kiro, are excluded from auto routing by default
- Free-tier token estimate depends on third-party limits that change
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Compose runs Redis, Qdrant
- Models: OpenAI API, Claude API, Gemini API, Responses API
- port 20128
freellmapi
FreeLLMAPI exposes one /v1 endpoint (chat, responses, completions, embeddings, images, video, audio) and routes requests across free tiers from 34 providers, plus custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Provider keys are AES-256-GCM encrypted in SQLite, per-key RPM/RPD/TPM/TPD counters keep requests under quotas, and a 429 or 5xx triggers fallover to the next model. It also serves Anthropic Messages, Gemini and opt-in Ollama surfaces, and ships a React dashboard and desktop apps.
Who it is for: Developers stacking free LLM tiers behind one endpoint for coding agents or apps
Strengths
- Also speaks Anthropic, Gemini and Ollama formats, so Claude Code and Codex CLI connect
- Per-key rate counters and automatic fallover on 429/5xx across providers
- Keys AES-256-GCM encrypted in SQLite; apps only see one unified token
- Runs on Node 20+ at about 40 MB idle RSS, or via Docker
Weaknesses
- Free installs get new models 30 days after premium; same-day catalog costs $19/yr
- Single-user by design; no multi-user setup described
- Depends on free tiers that providers can change or retire without notice
- Catalog sync pulls a signed feed from freellmapi.co
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Needs SQLite, Node 20+, provider API keys
- Models: OpenAI-compatible API, Anthropic Messages API, Gemini API, Ollama API
- port 3001