What is an LLM gateway?
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An LLM gateway is a unified API layer that routes requests across multiple large language model providers. It handles authentication, rate limiting, fallbacks, cost optimization, and audit logging — so your application can switch between OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others without rewriting code. Opper's LLM gateway is OpenAI SDK-compatible and routes across 300+ models, with EU-hosted regions on AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP, and Berget AI.
Is an LLM gateway the same as an AI gateway?
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Closely related but not identical. LLM gateways focus on text models (chat, completions, embeddings). AI gateways extend the same architecture to multimodal workloads — image generation, voice, video, and other AI APIs. Most production AI gateways today are primarily LLM gateways with multimodal support added. Opper covers both: text, image, voice, and video models through one OpenAI-compatible API.
Is an LLM gateway the same as an LLM router?
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The terms overlap. An LLM router decides which model serves each request, and an LLM gateway is the broader layer that includes routing plus authentication, fallbacks, observability, and audit logging. Opper's gateway includes the router: switch models with one line of code, configure fallbacks, and pin requests to EU-hosted regions when compliance requires it.
How does Opper's gateway handle model fallbacks?
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Configure backup models that activate instantly if your primary fails. Built-in retry logic detects timeouts, rate limits, and provider outages, then routes the request to your configured fallback within roughly 180ms. Zero downtime, no code changes, no extra infrastructure to run.
Is Opper's LLM gateway EU-hosted and GDPR-compliant?
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Yes. Opper's control plane runs in the EU by default, and the LLM gateway can pin every request to EU regions on AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP, or providers like Berget AI. Audit logs and traces stay in EU storage. GDPR-ready, with a DPA and sub-processor list published.
How is Opper's LLM gateway different from OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, or Cloudflare AI Gateway?
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OpenRouter and Vercel/Cloudflare AI Gateways are inference routers — they switch models. Opper does that, plus adds the layers production deployments need: built-in observability with LLM-as-a-judge scoring, structured outputs, guardrails, EU residency by default, and pay-as-you-go pricing with no subscription. Think of it as a router with an AI agent control plane built in.
Which LLM gateway is best?
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It depends on what you optimize for. Self-hosted gateways like LiteLLM give you full infrastructure control if you have the team to run them, and OpenRouter is a popular hosted router with a large catalog. Opper is built for production teams that want European hosting: 300+ models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, automatic fallbacks, built-in observability, a GDPR-ready audit trail, and pay-as-you-go pricing with no subscription.
Should I use an open-source or a hosted LLM gateway?
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Open-source gateways fit when traffic must stay inside your own VPC and you can operate the infrastructure yourself. A hosted gateway gives you fallbacks, observability, and compliance out of the box, with nothing to run or patch. Opper is hosted in the EU and supports BYOK, so you keep your own provider keys and relationships without running gateway infrastructure.