Bifrost

Key features

• One OpenAI-compatible endpoint Existing OpenAI SDK code connects by changing the base URL and key, so adopting the gateway rarely means rewriting application code.[1][2]

• Thirty-plus providers in weighted pools OpenAI, Anthropic, Bedrock, Vertex AI, Azure, Mistral, Ollama, and more are organized as account-weighted pools, so traffic can be spread or shifted by configuration.[1]

• Fallbacks and retries that survive outages Per-key and per-request fallback chains with retries and backoff keep requests succeeding when a provider or key fails.[1][2]

• Pooling and load balancing for throughput Connection pooling and load balancing sit in front of provider calls, and Maxim reports 5x the throughput of LiteLLM with under 100 microseconds of overhead at 5,000 requests per second. Treat that multiple as a vendor figure to verify against your own workload.[1]

• Semantic caching Repeated or semantically similar requests can be served from cache, cutting latency and repeat-call spend on top of raw provider billing.[1][2]

• Full request logging, optionally private Prompts, responses, latency, and token counts are logged per request and can stream into Maxim observability, or logging can be switched off so nothing leaves your network.[1][2]

• MCP gateway in version 2 Remote MCP servers, OAuth, a marketplace, and a plugin system extend the gateway from model routing to tool routing for agent workloads.[1][2]

• Config-as-code operations YAML, TOML, or JSON configuration, one-command Docker start, and SDKs for Go, Node.js, and Python fit platform teams that manage infrastructure as code. Audit logs and versioned provider configs are reserved for Enterprise.[1][2]

Who will love it

• Platform teams standardizing LLM access: one endpoint, weighted provider pools, and config-as-code let a central team own routing, credentials, and policy while product teams keep calling a familiar API.[1][2]

• Cost- and latency-sensitive production workloads: semantic caching, fallbacks, and per-request logging attack the three bills that hurt at scale, which are repeat tokens, outage retries, and unmeasured usage.[1][2]

• Privacy-constrained self-hosters: the single binary or container runs without a Maxim account, and logging can be disabled entirely, so prompts never have to leave your own network.[1][2]

Who should avoid it

• Non-technical builders working alone: there is no no-code studio here, and configuration files, SDKs, and running a container assume engineering and operations skills.[1][2]

• Teams wanting a fully managed gateway: the free core is software you operate, and the managed Maxim platform starts at paid tiers, so anyone seeking zero-operations routing will be disappointed by the open-source path.[1]

• Single-model prototypes: when one application calls one provider directly, a gateway adds moving parts without a payoff. Revisit Bifrost when a second provider or a fallback requirement appears.[1]

Reported experience

Alternatives and compatibility