The hosted MCP gateway for any agent. Connect once in Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok (grok.com) for specialist tools: one connection, one bill, and an audit log on Business and above. Portkey is the stronger pick when the pain is LLM guardrails — routing, observability, and policy in front of models — with an MCP gateway as part of that control panel.
On 20 August 2026, Portkey’s site also brands the product as Prisma AIRS AI Gateway (Palo Alto Networks). The comparison below uses the live portkey.ai/pricing and portkey.ai/mcp pages.
Which is best for you: ToolRouter or Portkey?
Pick Portkey if you need a universal API in front of many model providers, fallbacks, caching, prompt management, and guardrails (PII redaction, content filters, partner and custom hooks). Developer is free (10K recorded logs/mo). Production is $49/month (100K logs; +$9 per extra 100K). Enterprise is custom, with VPC, private tenancy, and SSO. The MCP gateway sits beside that AI gateway: a registry for *your* MCP servers, RBAC, traces, and the same policy layer.
Pick ToolRouter if you need the tool catalog, not the model proxy. ToolRouter does not replace Portkey’s guardrails on OpenAI/Anthropic traffic. It gives the company a hosted specialist catalog — image, video, SEO, research, search — that Claude, ChatGPT, Grok Bot, and Cursor call over MCP, with one bill.
ToolRouter vs Portkey features
| Feature | ToolRouter | Portkey |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Hosted specialist-tool catalog | LLM gateway + guardrails + MCP gateway |
| Models | Not an LLM router | Universal API, fallbacks, load balancing |
| Guardrails | PII filter on tool traffic | LLM & partner guardrails; custom hooks on Enterprise |
| Catalog | Specialist tools ToolRouter runs | Your MCP servers under one registry |
| MCP | Hosted catalog over MCP / CLI / REST | MCP gateway: auth, RBAC, traces, policy |
| Company billing | One bill; shared credits; seats from $29 | Production $49/mo; Enterprise custom |
| Audit log | Business and above | Logs, traces, org-wide audit |
| List price (20 Aug 2026) | Free tools; from $0.005/use; Lite $9; Plus $19. No required monthly list for catalog use | Developer free; Production $49/mo; Enterprise custom. Open-source self-host listed |
| Self-host | No | Open-source / self-host; VPC on Enterprise |
| Honest win | Tool catalog, one bill, audit log, companies centralize MCP | Model routing + guardrails in one place |
Pros, cons, and ToolRouter limits vs Portkey
Portkey wins on LLM guardrails and model ops. If the incident you fear is a prompt leaking PII *to the model*, or a team calling the wrong provider without a budget cap, Portkey is the control plane. ToolRouter should not be sold as that.
ToolRouter wins on the specialist catalog. Portkey’s MCP gateway governs servers you bring; it does not replace a hosted generation/SEO/research catalog with usage-priced skills and a single company invoice for those skills.
ToolRouter limits (real):
- Not a universal model API. No fallbacks across OpenAI / Anthropic / Bedrock.
- Not Portkey-style semantic cache or prompt studio.
- Hosted only — no open-source gateway you deploy.
Portkey limits (real, for this comparison):
- Production’s $49 meter is recorded logs, not a specialist tool catalog.
- You still assemble MCP servers. The gateway is the product; the catalog is yours.
- Portkey does not replace ToolRouter’s “one bill for hosted specialist tools.”
Who should pick ToolRouter or Portkey
Company: Often both. Portkey (or Prisma AIRS) in front of model calls. ToolRouter as the specialist tool catalog the agents call, with one tool bill and an audit log.
Product team: ToolRouter when the agent must *do* catalog work. Portkey when the agent *talks to models* and you need org-wide policy on those calls.
Solo: ToolRouter Free for catalog tools. Portkey Developer for 10K logs of model traffic.
ToolRouter vs Portkey FAQ
Is ToolRouter an LLM gateway like Portkey?
No. Portkey routes and guards models. ToolRouter hosts a tool catalog. Complementary, not substitutes.
Does Portkey include ToolRouter’s specialist tools?
No. Portkey’s MCP gateway is a control plane for servers you add. ToolRouter runs the specialist catalog.
How do prices compare?
20 August 2026: Portkey Developer free, Production $49/mo. ToolRouter: free tools, paid from $0.005/use, Lite $9, Plus $19, no required monthly list for catalog use. Different meters (logs vs tool skills).
Portkey is now Prisma AIRS. Does that change the comparison?
It is a branding and vendor fact from Portkey’s site on 20 August 2026. The product still leads as an AI gateway with an MCP gateway. ToolRouter remains the tool catalog, not the model control plane.
Where do I start?
Compare hub. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Grok Bot, or Cursor.