---
title: Overview
description: Introduction to LLM Gateway, an open-source API gateway for LLMs.
icon: Notebook
---

LLM Gateway is an open-source API gateway for Large Language Models (LLMs). It acts as a middleware between your applications and various LLM providers, allowing you to:

- Route requests to multiple LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI Studio, and others)
- Manage API keys for different providers in one place
- Track token usage and costs across all your LLM interactions
- Analyze performance metrics to optimize your LLM usage

## Analyzing Your LLM Requests

LLM Gateway provides detailed insights into your LLM usage:

- **Usage Metrics**: Track the number of requests, tokens used, and response times
- **Cost Analysis**: Monitor spending across different models and providers
- **Performance Tracking**: Identify patterns and optimize your prompts based on actual usage data
- **Breakdown by Model**: Compare different models' performance and cost-effectiveness

All this data is automatically collected and presented in an intuitive dashboard, helping you make informed decisions about your LLM strategy.

## Getting Started

Using LLM Gateway is simple. Just swap out your current LLM provider URL with the LLM Gateway API endpoint:

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.llmgateway.io/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LLM_GATEWAY_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
  "model": "gpt-4o",
  "messages": [
    {"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"}
  ]
}'
```

LLM Gateway maintains compatibility with the OpenAI API format, making migration seamless.

## Hosted vs. Self-Hosted

You can use LLM Gateway in two ways:

- **Hosted Version**: For immediate use without setup, visit [llmgateway.io](https://llmgateway.io) to create an account and get an API key.
- **Self-Hosted**: Deploy LLM Gateway on your own infrastructure for complete control over your data and configuration.

The self-hosted version offers additional customization options and ensures your LLM traffic never leaves your infrastructure if desired.
