# Portkey — An open-source AI gateway that unifies model access with governance and LLM observability. > Source: The Agents Index — https://theagentsindex.com/portkey (structured, researched, re-verified) Portkey is an AI gateway and LLM operations platform that routes a unified API to models while adding observability, guardrails, governance, and prompt management. Its MCP Gateway manages authentication, tool access, and logs between AI agents and MCP servers. **Best for:** AI teams running production applications across multiple LLM providers | Fact | Value | | --- | --- | | Website | https://portkey.ai/ | | Category | LLM gateways & routers | | Open source | Yes | | Price | Free | | Price source | https://portkey.ai/pricing | | Price checked | 29 October 2026 | | MCP server | Yes | | API | Not stated | | Self-host | Yes | | Facts | 20 facts from 12 sources | | Facts checked | 29 October 2026 | Screenshot of Portkey: https://theagentsindex.com/img/1920/screenshots/portkey.webp, captured 1 November 2026 **What we checked** - Pages last read: 29 October 2026 - Facts checked: 20 facts (From 12 sources) - AI answers: Named in 0 of 151 (Our October check) ## What we checked on Portkey ### How much it does unattended **Agent permissions** · Yes — The MCP Gateway checks permissions before tool calls and can enable or disable tools for individual users. > The Gateway handles credential injection, permission checks, and request logging for all configured servers. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/mcp-gateway.md · MCP Gateway documentation, introduction, checked 29 October 2026 ### Which models it runs on **Model choice** · Yes — Teams choose from supported providers and models through one universal API rather than a vendor-selected model. > Use any of the supported models with a universal API (REST and SDKs) > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/ai-gateway.md · AI Gateway documentation, Features, Universal API, checked 29 October 2026 ### Whose machine it runs on **Self-hosted** · Yes — The open-source gateway can run locally or be self-hosted, separate from Portkey's managed deployment plans. > You can also self-host the gateway and then connect it to Portkey. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/ai-gateway.md · AI Gateway documentation, Open Source section, checked 29 October 2026 **Open source** · Yes — Portkey publishes its AI Gateway as an open-source component alongside separately sold managed plans. > We have open sourced our battle-tested AI Gateway to the community > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/open-source.md · Open Source documentation, Portkey AI Gateway section, checked 29 October 2026 **Licence** · Partly — The AI Gateway is open source, while the vendor also sells managed Developer, Production, and Enterprise plans. > | Product / Plan | **Open Source** | **Dev (Free Forever)** | **Pro ($49/Month)** | **Enterprise (Custom)** | > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/product-feature-comparison.md · Feature Comparison documentation, detailed comparison plan header, checked 29 October 2026 **Open-source runtime** · Yes — The documented open-source gateway runs locally through an npx command, providing a self-run gateway runtime. > You can run it locally with a single command: npx @portkey-ai/gateway > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/ai-gateway.md · AI Gateway documentation, Open Source section, checked 29 October 2026 **Runs in your cloud** · Partly — Enterprise hybrid deployment runs the AI Gateway and data plane in the buyer's environment while Portkey hosts control management. > the AI Gateway and data plane run in your environment while Portkey manages the control plane. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/product-feature-comparison.md · Feature Comparison documentation, Hybrid Deployment, checked 29 October 2026 ### Building with it **SDK languages** · Yes — Portkey documents SDK usage in Python and Node.js, with REST access also available through its universal interface. > Node.js, Python, OpenAI JS, OpenAI Py, cURL > — https://portkey.ai/ · Homepage, Plug & Play integration section, checked 29 October 2026 **Tracing and evals** · Yes — Its observability suite records requests and responses, supports tracing, and presents analytics for LLM application monitoring. > Portkey supports request tracing to help you monitor your applications throughout the lifecycle of a request. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/observability.md · Observability documentation, Features, Tracing, checked 29 October 2026 ### What it costs to run **How it meters** · Yes — The paid Production plan bills monthly, with a stated request-overage charge after its included recorded-log allowance. > +$9 overages per additional 100k requests > — https://portkey.ai/pricing · Pricing page, Production plan card, recorded logs allowance, checked 29 October 2026 **Free tier** · Yes — A standing Developer plan is labeled free forever and provides a self-serve starting path without a sales call. > Developer, Free Forever > — https://portkey.ai/pricing · Pricing page, Developer plan heading, checked 29 October 2026 **MCP server** · Yes — The MCP Gateway proxies MCP clients to configured servers and supports authentication, authorization, tool access, and interaction logs. > It acts as a proxy between MCP Clients and MCP servers, handling authentication, access control, and logging. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/mcp-gateway.md · MCP Gateway documentation, introduction, checked 29 October 2026 **Bring your own key** · Yes — Organizations supply and centrally govern their own provider credentials, including API keys for model providers such as OpenAI. > Enter your API keys here > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/model-catalog.md · Model Catalog documentation, Adding an AI Provider, Choose or Create Credentials, checked 29 October 2026 ### Buying it for a team **A company can buy it** · Yes — Portkey offers an Enterprise plan with customized infrastructure and governance capabilities designed for organizations operating at scale. > Enterprise customers leverage Portkey to observe, govern, and optimize their Gen AI services at scale across the entire org. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/product-feature-comparison.md · Feature Comparison documentation, Why Enterprises Choose Portkey, checked 29 October 2026 **Admin controls** · Partly — Enterprise administrators can control model access, workspace budgets, rate limits, and permissions, but these controls are not product-wide. > For enterprise clients, we provide enhanced Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), allowing for stringent governance suited to complex organizational needs. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/enterprise-offering/security-portkey.md · Security documentation, Access Control, checked 29 October 2026 **Audit log** · Partly — Enterprise audit logs record administrative activity with user, resource, action, timestamp, and other traceability information. > This is a Portkey Enterprise plan feature. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/enterprise-offering/audit-logs.md · Audit Logs documentation, plan availability note, checked 29 October 2026 **Single sign-on** · Partly — Enterprise control-plane SSO supports both OIDC and SAML 2.0, rather than being documented for every plan. > Portkey Control plane supports following authentication protocols for enterprise customers. 1. OIDC (OpenID Connect) 2. SAML 2.0 > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/enterprise-offering/org-management/sso.md · SSO documentation, opening protocol list, checked 29 October 2026 ### What happens to your code **Data residency** · Partly — Hybrid Enterprise deployment keeps sensitive LLM data in the buyer's infrastructure, though no specific regional jurisdiction is published. > All sensitive LLM data stays within your infrastructure > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/product-feature-comparison.md · Feature Comparison documentation, Hybrid Deployment key features, checked 29 October 2026 **Getting out** · Partly — Enterprise customers can export structured log data, while the vendor does not state a policy for unused credits or their expiry. > Logs export feature is only available on the enterprise plan. > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/observability/logs-export.md · Logs Export documentation, plan availability note, checked 29 October 2026 **Certifications** · Partly — Enterprise documentation states SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA compliance, rather than publishing these certifications across all plans. > All enterprise deployment options include comprehensive security features such as SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR, and HIPAA compliance certifications > — https://portkey.ai/docs/product/product-feature-comparison.md · Feature Comparison documentation, Enterprise Deployment Options, checked 29 October 2026 ## Portkey price and terms **Terms** - Free plan: Yes — Developer is Free Forever with 10K requests per month — the card also states 10k recorded logs per month and three days of log retention. **What needs a higher plan** - Enterprise: Runs in your cloud, A company can buy it, Admin controls, Audit log, Single sign-on, Data residency ## For AI agents - MCP server: Yes Pricing page as we captured it: https://theagentsindex.com/img/1920/screenshots/portkey/pricing.webp, captured 1 November 2026 Read on https://portkey.ai/pricing, 29 October 2026. ## Portkey alternatives - [OpenRouter](https://theagentsindex.com/openrouter) · Free plan: One OpenAI-compatible API that routes across hundreds of models and providers. - [LiteLLM](https://theagentsindex.com/litellm) · Free plan: Self-hosted open-source gateway that puts models, agents and MCP tools behind one API. All 2 publish a price. [All 2 alternatives](https://theagentsindex.com/portkey/alternatives/) ## Questions about Portkey ### How much does Portkey cost? Portkey is free to use. From portkey.ai/pricing, checked 29 October 2026. ### Does Portkey have an API or an MCP server? It has an MCP server. ### Is Portkey open source, and can you host it yourself? It is open source. You can host it yourself. ### What have we checked on Portkey? 20 facts, under these headings: How much it does unattended, which models it runs on, whose machine it runs on, building with it, what it costs to run, buying it for a team, what happens to your code. ### How do we check Portkey? We hold 20 facts on Portkey, quoted from 12 pages. Facts and price last checked 29 October 2026. How we check every listing: https://theagentsindex.com/methodology/ ## Sources and changes Last changed 1 November 2026 **Sources on portkey.ai** (12) - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/product-feature-comparison.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/ai-gateway.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/pricing, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/mcp-gateway.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/enterprise-offering/audit-logs.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/enterprise-offering/org-management/sso.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/enterprise-offering/security-portkey.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/model-catalog.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/observability.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/observability/logs-export.md, read 29 October 2026 - https://portkey.ai/docs/product/open-source.md, read 29 October 2026 ## Is this yours? AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude opened The Agents Index pages 2,746 times in September. Claim Portkey: https://theagentsindex.com/claim/portkey Report an error if a fact is wrong: hello@theagentsindex.com, subject "Report an error: Portkey (portkey)".