Ask HN: Best AI Gateway?
TL;DR
An HN user is asking for real-world AI gateway experience for an AI agent running on val.town; today they use Anthropic's router directly. The shortlist includes OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, Cloudflare AI Gateway and other options, because gateway products are suddenly everywhere. OpenRouter looks strong on model and provider breadth, but the post flags a 5.5 percent pay-as-you-go platform fee and missing features such as prompt caching.
Nauti's Take
The sober view: a gateway is only worth it if it removes measurable complexity from the stack. More models sound attractive, but without prompt caching, transparent fees and solid observability, the layer can become an expensive black box.
For a Cloudflare-heavy setup, Cloudflare's gateway is an obvious benchmark, but not automatically the right answer. The deciding factor should be a small test with real agent flows, not a vendor ranking.
Briefingshow
AI gateways now shape more than routing: they affect cost structure, resilience, feature access and customer billing. If inference costs are passed through to customers, platform fees, caching, fallback behavior and lock-in matter a lot. The useful comparison will not come from SEO listicles, but from production details.
Sources