Unified API for 1000+ AI models, OpenAI-compatible, across all modalities.
Product memo
Targets developers and businesses integrating a vast array of AI models, bypassing vendor lock-in. Its wedge is a single, OpenAI-compatible API that abstracts away the complexity of managing multiple providers and modalities. Offers features like eval-driven routing and sub-account keys, appealing to builders who prioritize flexibility, cost-efficiency, and the ability to easily switch or combine models.
For who
Developers and businesses integrating AI models
Solves what
Unified API access to 1000+ AI models across all modalities with OpenAI compatibility.
- Unified API for 1000+ models
- OpenAI-compatible endpoints
- Multi-modal support (text, image, video, audio)
In their own words
One API.
OpenAI-compatible endpoints to every model and every modality — text, image, video, voice, audio, music, embeddings. Plus eval-driven routing , sub-account keys for your end users , and replay across any model.
Commercial cues
Model
usage_based
Free tier
Yes
Trial
Available
Kimi K2.6 trial
Full 262K context, vision + tool calling · Cache, analytics, playground · No card required · expires May 15, 2026
Pay as you go
All 1000+ models — text, image, video, voice, audio, music, embeddings · Sub-account API · nested keys for your end users · Cost-attribution tags · hard budget caps · BYOK
Enterprise
CustomEvals · Guardrails · Replay + shadow A/B · Prompt IDs · SSO · SCIM · 99.95% SLA · DPA · SOC 2
Pricing Strategy
Charges a 5% platform fee on top of pass-through model costs, incentivizing cache usage with significant discounts.
- • Pass-through pricing with a small, transparent platform fee undercuts competitors who mark up model access.
- • Significant discount for cached requests drives efficient usage patterns and reduces overall costs for users.
- • A free tier for a specific frontier model lowers the barrier to adoption, hooking new developers into the ecosystem.
Operator context
Team
VC / larger team
Founded
May 2026
HQ
United States
Social / footprint
and 1 more
Builder Strategy
- Strategy Type
- Rebundler
- Stage
- Vc Growth
- Effort
- Complex Stack
Targets developers needing broad AI model access via a unified, OpenAI-compatible API, with a clear wedge on cost and flexibility.
Unfair Advantages
-
Unorthodox Pricing Pass-through pricing with 5% fee and cache discounts incumbents can't easily replicate.
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Exclusive Distribution OpenAI compatibility acts as a distribution wedge, lowering adoption friction.
Builder Lesson
Abstract away complexity with an OpenAI-compatible API to capture developers tired of fragmented model access.
Full Reasoning
Wins by abstracting the fragmented AI model landscape into a single, OpenAI-compatible API, directly addressing developer pain points around integration complexity and vendor lock-in. The asymmetric bet is the pass-through pricing model with cache discounts, making it hard for incumbents to match without cannibalizing their own margins. Builders should learn to own a critical abstraction layer in a rapidly evolving market, rather than just offering more models.
About ai/gateway Expand
AIgateway provides a critical abstraction layer for developers and businesses looking to integrate artificial intelligence without the headache of managing multiple APIs. Acting as a rebundler, it offers a single, OpenAI-compatible endpoint that connects to over a thousand AI models across text, image, video, audio, and embeddings. This approach eliminates vendor lock-in, allowing teams to easily switch between models or combine them for optimal performance and cost.
The platform is designed for flexibility, featuring eval-driven routing to automatically select the best model for a given task and sub-account keys for managing end-user access. Its pricing philosophy is usage-based, with a transparent 5% platform fee on top of pass-through model costs, and a strategic discount for cached requests. This incentivizes efficient use of resources while keeping costs predictable, making AIgateway a compelling choice for those building the next generation of AI-powered applications.