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Tygress vs LiteLLM

Tygress is a self-hosted, open-source LiteLLM alternative written in Rust. Where LiteLLM is a Python LLM proxy, Tygress is one binary that does the LLM gateway job and the API gateway job — enterprise SSO, MCP tool allowlists, A2A agent routing, and post-quantum TLS included.

TL;DR

LiteLLM is a mature, widely adopted Python proxy with the broadest provider catalog — a solid choice for teams that want an AI-focused proxy today and are comfortable operating a Python + Postgres + Redis stack. Tygress is for teams that want gateway-grade performance and one self-hosted data plane for APIs and AI: Rust speed, enterprise auth in the open-source core, and agentic-era governance enforced centrally at the gateway — MCP tool allowlists, A2A routing, and admin-gated approvals. Tygress is currently in development — join the waitlist below.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison.

Feature comparison of Tygress and LiteLLM
Feature	Tygress	LiteLLM
Language & runtime	Rust — compiled, no GC	Python — asyncio
Deployment footprint	Single binary	Python proxy + Postgres + Redis for full features
Full API gateway (REST, gRPC, WebSocket)
Unified multi-provider LLM API	OpenAI, Anthropic, Bedrock, Gemini, Azure, Mistral, Groq + any OpenAI-compatible	100+ providers
Virtual keys
Cost tracking & budgets	Per-route USD + per-team budgets	Per-key / per-team budgets
Token-aware rate limiting		TPM / RPM limits
Semantic caching	Built-in	Via Redis / Qdrant / Valkey
Prompt injection guardrails	Built-in	Built-in detection + integrations
PII redaction / AI DLP	Built-in	Via Presidio integration
Enterprise SSO on the gateway (OIDC, LDAP, mTLS)	Native, per route	Enterprise tier (admin UI)
MCP gateway	Native + per-consumer tool allowlists	Yes — per-key/team tool permissions
A2A agent gateway	Native — same data plane as your APIs
Human-in-the-loop approvals	Admin approval queue + audit + webhooks	Client-side MCP approvals only
Post-quantum TLS (hybrid PQC)	Native
Open source	Full-featured	Core open source; some features enterprise-tier

Based on publicly documented capabilities as of mid-2026. LiteLLM evolves quickly — verify against current LiteLLM docs before relying on this for procurement.

Why Teams Choose a LiteLLM Alternative in Rust.

Gateway-grade performance

LiteLLM adds a Python asyncio hop in front of every model call. Tygress is a Rust reverse proxy built on Cloudflare's Pingora — no garbage collector, no interpreter overhead, 0.12ms p99 gateway latency in preliminary benchmarks.

One data plane instead of two

Teams running LiteLLM still need an API gateway for REST and gRPC. Tygress does both jobs in one binary, so auth, rate limits, and audit logging are defined once and enforced on every route — API or AI.

Enterprise auth at the data plane

OIDC, LDAP / Active Directory, mutual TLS, OAuth2 introspection, JWE, and HMAC are chainable per route in the open-source core — not gated behind an admin-UI enterprise tier.

Built for the agentic era

Per-consumer MCP tool allowlists, an A2A gateway that federates JSON-RPC agents, and human-in-the-loop approvals that gate any tool call behind an admin decision — enforced centrally at the gateway instead of in client code.

When LiteLLM Is the Right Choice.

•You need the long tail of 100+ providers on day one — LiteLLM's catalog is the broadest in the category.
•Your team is Python-native and wants to extend the proxy with Python callbacks and custom code.
•You need something battle-tested in production today — Tygress is pre-launch, LiteLLM has years of deployments behind it.
•You only proxy LLM traffic and already run a separate API gateway you're happy with.

Migrating Is a Base-URL Change.

Like LiteLLM, Tygress exposes an OpenAI-compatible endpoint — your SDKs, agents, and frameworks keep working. Virtual keys, budgets, and token limits map to equivalent Tygress concepts.

client.py

# before: LiteLLM proxy
client = OpenAI(base_url="http://litellm:4000")

# after: Tygress gateway
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://gateway.internal/v1")

Tygress vs LiteLLM FAQ.

Is Tygress a drop-in replacement for LiteLLM?

Largely, by design. Tygress exposes an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, so client code typically only changes its base URL. LiteLLM concepts map to Tygress equivalents: virtual keys to virtual keys, per-key budgets to per-route and per-team USD budgets, TPM limits to token-aware rate limiting. Tygress is currently in development — join the waitlist to get the migration guide at launch.

Is Tygress faster than LiteLLM?

Tygress is written in Rust on Cloudflare's Pingora reverse proxy, so the gateway hop itself runs at compiled-code speed with no garbage collector: 0.12ms p99 added latency at 98K req/s in preliminary benchmarks (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM). LiteLLM runs on Python's asyncio, which adds interpreter overhead per request. Final head-to-head numbers will be published with the open-source release.

Does Tygress support virtual keys like LiteLLM?

Yes. Tygress virtual keys map per-team consumer keys to upstream provider keys server-side, with central rotation, revocation, quota-aware key pooling, and per-key metering — raw provider keys never leave the gateway.

Can I self-host Tygress like LiteLLM?

Yes — self-hosting is the default. Run Tygress on Docker, Docker Compose, or Kubernetes entirely inside your VPC or on-premises, including fully air-gapped environments. The full plugin suite, AI gateway, and enterprise auth ship in the open-source core.

Ready for One Gateway Instead of Two?

Join the waitlist for early access, migration guides, and launch-day pricing.