LLM Gateway Comparison 2026: Portkey vs Helicone vs LiteLLM After the Shakeup
The short answer: Portkey is the best drop-in replacement if you’re running Helicone or evaluating alternatives after the LiteLLM security scare. It covers 200+ providers, adds under 1ms of latency, and gives you routing, caching, and observability in a single package. LiteLLM is still viable for self-hosted open-source use if you pin a pre-compromise version and monitor CVEs actively. Why 2026 Is the Year of LLM Gateway Evaluation The LLM gateway market hit a turning point in early 2026 with two simultaneous events that forced teams to re-evaluate their infrastructure. On March 3, 2026, Helicone was acquired by Mintlify — the documentation platform — and immediately entered maintenance mode, meaning no new features, only security patches and bug fixes. Within the same quarter, LiteLLM suffered a documented security compromise that raised concerns about the supply chain security of open-source proxy deployments. These two events hit simultaneously at a moment when enterprise LLM API spending had already grown from $3.5B in late 2024 to $8.4B by mid-2025 — a 2.4x increase in roughly six months. Teams that had quietly been running Helicone for observability or LiteLLM for routing suddenly had urgent migration decisions to make. Add to this that 37% of enterprises now run five or more LLMs in production, and the case for a robust, multi-provider gateway has never been stronger. This guide evaluates your real options with the current market in mind. ...