Neural Router Blog
Routing, cost, and reliability for production AI
Practical guides and honest comparisons on LLM routing, cutting inference cost, multi-provider failover, and building on an OpenAI-compatible gateway.
AI Gateway Comparison 2026: Vercel vs OpenRouter vs Kong vs Neural Router
Six AI gateways compared on what actually differs: routing intelligence, cost control, governance, and who hosts it.
OpenRouter vs LiteLLM (2026): Managed Marketplace or Self-Hosted Proxy?
The two most common starting points for an LLM gateway, and the one question that decides between them.
Cheapest LLM API in 2026: Price Per Token Compared Across Providers
Sticker price per token is the wrong metric. Here is what actually determines your monthly bill.
LLM Inference Cost at Scale: Why It Explodes and What Actually Cuts It
Inference spend grows superlinearly with usage. Five levers actually bend the curve.
Fastest LLM API in 2026: TTFT, Throughput & Latency Compared
Speed is three different metrics, and the fastest provider changes by region and time of day.
Best LLM Inference Engine 2026: vLLM vs SGLang vs TensorRT-LLM vs TGI
Four serving engines, three genuinely different design goals, and a straightforward way to pick.
Self-Hosted LLM vs Managed API in 2026: Cost, Control & Break-Even
The break-even is later than vendors of GPUs claim and earlier than API vendors admit.
HIPAA-Compliant LLM API: Build Healthcare AI Without Risking PHI
PHI plus LLMs is a policy problem before it is a technical one. Here is the shape of a compliant setup.
How to Reduce Cursor & AI Coding Assistant Costs in 2026
Agentic coding tools are the most token-hungry workload most teams run. Four levers that actually help.
Claude Code Proxy: Route Claude Code Through Any Model or Gateway
One environment variable puts a gateway in front of Claude Code, with fallback, caching, and per-developer cost tracking.
Best LLM for Coding in 2026: Models Ranked for Real Engineering Work
Coding is not one task. The best model for planning a refactor is rarely the best one for applying it.
Agentic Coding API: What Coding Agents Need From an LLM Gateway
Agents break gateways that chat traffic never stresses. Four requirements that separate the two.
LLM Rate Limiting: Handle 429s, Quotas & Bursty AI Traffic
429s are a capacity signal, not an error. Treat them as routing input rather than something to retry harder.
MCP Gateway: Governing Model Context Protocol Servers at Scale
MCP solved tool connectivity and created a governance problem. A gateway is the usual answer.
GPT vs Claude vs Gemini in 2026: Which LLM Should You Actually Use?
The honest answer is that the question is wrong. Here is a better one.
LLM Gateway vs API Gateway: Why Kong or NGINX Isn't Enough for AI
You already run an API gateway. Here is precisely what it cannot do for AI traffic.
Portkey Alternative: Neural Router vs Portkey LLM Gateway (2026)
Both are strong LLM gateways with different centers of gravity. Portkey leads with observability; Neural Router leads with auditable routing.
Best LLM Routers in 2026: Top AI Model Routing Tools Compared
A router is the decision engine of your AI stack. Here's how the leading options choose models, and how to pick one for production.
LLM Gateway vs LLM Router: Key Differences Explained (2026)
The terms get used interchangeably, but a gateway and a router do different jobs. Here's how they relate, and why production teams want both.
Best OpenRouter Alternatives in 2026 (Free & Paid Compared)
OpenRouter is a great aggregator, but production teams often need more control. Here are the strongest alternatives and when each fits.
Best LLM Gateways in 2026: AI Gateway Tools Compared
An honest, up-to-date comparison of the leading LLM gateways, what each is best at, and how to choose for production.
OpenAI-Compatible API Gateway: Drop-In LLM Proxy Explained
Keep the OpenAI SDK you already use, but reach every model and provider through it. That's the point of an OpenAI-compatible gateway.
Multi-Provider LLM Failover & Fallback: Reliable AI APIs (2026)
Single-provider AI is a single point of failure. Failover across providers keeps your product up when a vendor has a bad day.
How to Reduce LLM API Costs Without Hurting Quality (2026 Guide)
Most LLM bills are inflated by sending easy requests to expensive models. Here are five levers that cut cost without dropping quality.
LiteLLM Alternative: LiteLLM vs Neural Router LLM Gateway (2026)
LiteLLM gives you a self-hosted proxy and SDK. Neural Router is a managed routing layer with optimization and receipts. When to pick each.
OpenRouter Alternative: Best LLM Gateway & Router for Production
OpenRouter unified access to many models. Neural Router adds decision-level routing, receipts, and governance for production teams.
What Is LLM Routing? LLM Router & Model Routing Guide (2026)
Sending every request to one model is the expensive default. LLM routing picks the right model per request. Here is how it works.