What is Portkey?
Portkey is a production stack for teams building generative AI applications. It combines an AI Gateway with a universal API, observability, guardrails, governance and prompt management in one platform. The company now also presents it as PRISMA AIRS AI Gateway, generally available for enterprises, aimed at observing, governing and securing every AI interaction across an organization.
In practice, you route your model calls through Portkey, which gives you one API across providers, plus fallbacks, load balancing, retries and caching. Real-time dashboards show logs, traces, feedback and usage, so you can monitor LLM behavior, catch anomalies and track costs per use case. You can also manage prompt templates with versioning and variables, apply guardrails to requests and responses, and control access with role-based permissions and budget or rate limits.
Key features
- Universal AI Gateway API with fallbacks, load balancing and retries
- Real-time observability with logs, traces, feedback and custom metadata
- Prompt management with templates, playground, versioning and API endpoints
- Guardrails for LLM requests and responses
- Governance with role-based access control, budgets and rate limits
- Simple and semantic caching
Who is it for
- AI engineers and developers deploying LLM apps
- ML teams running AI workloads in production
- Enterprises needing AI governance and compliance
- Companies tracking AI usage and costs
Pros and cons
- Single platform covering gateway, observability, guardrails and prompt management
- Caching reduces costs by avoiding repeated calls
- Open source option for self-hosting
- Paid plans are priced per recorded logs, with overages beyond the included volume
- Custom compliance features are only on the Enterprise plan
Portkey pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | 0 USD / month | 10k recorded logs per month, 3 days log retention, 3 prompt templates, community support |
| Production | 49 USD / month | 100k recorded logs per month, +9 USD per additional 100k, 30 days logs / 90 days metrics retention, guardrails, RBAC, production support |
Prices copied from Portkey pricing, checked October 12, 2026. Currency as shown by the vendor; taxes may apply.
Is Portkey free?
Yes, there is a free plan. Free Forever plan: 10k recorded logs per month, 3 days log retention, 30 days metrics retention, AI Gateway, observability, 3 prompt templates, simple caching, deterministic guardrails, community support. Open Source version available for self-hosting.
Portkey alternatives
| Tool | Price from | Free plan | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
 Supabase | 25 USD/mo | yes | Website & app builders |
 Bolt | 25 USD/mo | yes | Website & app builders |
 Bubble | 29 USD/mo | yes | Website & app builders |
 LangChain | 39 USD/mo | yes | Website & app builders |
 Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform | 0,75 USD | ? | Website & app builders |
 Shopify Sidekick | 79 PLN/mo | yes | Website & app builders |
FAQ
What is Portkey used for?
AI gateway and control panel that helps AI teams take LLM apps to production with observability, guardrails, governance and prompt management.
Is Portkey free?
Yes, there is a free plan. Free Forever plan: 10k recorded logs per month, 3 days log retention, 30 days metrics retention, AI Gateway, observability, 3 prompt templates, simple caching, deterministic guardrails, community support. Open Source version available for self-hosting.
How much does Portkey cost?
The cheapest paid plan is 49 USD/mo (vendor pricing, October 12, 2026).
What are the best Portkey alternatives?
Closest alternatives: Supabase, Bolt, Bubble, LangChain, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform.
Data checked October 12, 2026 on the vendor website (portkey.ai).