Tokmeter vs LiteLLM

LiteLLM is a self-hosted OSS proxy. Tokmeter is the managed equivalent with budgets, RBAC, audit log, and the controls security needs — already built.

Feature	Tokmeter	LiteLLM
Deployment	Hosted, multi-region edge	Self-host the proxy yourself
OpenAI + Anthropic compatible	Yes	Yes
Virtual keys with last-4 + IP allowlist	Built-in	DIY
Per-team & per-key budgets	Hard caps + soft alerts	Basic spend tracking
Append-only audit log	Yes (immutable, RLS-scoped)	Logs file
Evals on production traffic	Sampled, rule-based	Add-on
SOC-style controls (RLS, encryption, retention)	Default on	You build it
Status page + canary uptime	Public /status	Your pager

Substitution rationale

When LiteLLM OSS is the right substitute — and when it isn't

Reach for LiteLLM OSS when

·Air-gapped / on-prem deployments where managed SaaS isn't permitted.
·Your team already runs the proxy, Postgres, and Redis and wants to keep full source control.
·Custom provider adapters or fork-level changes to routing are a hard requirement.

Don't pick LiteLLM OSS when

·Finance needs chargeback, GL codes, or budget approvals — LiteLLM ships none of these.
·You want spend visibility today without deploying or maintaining infrastructure.
·IDE-seat tools (Cursor, Copilot) and non-API spend must roll up alongside model calls.

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