Bitrouter
Agent-native LLM router that optimizes your agent with every run. Zero harness changes — every model call reliable, traceable, secure, and cost-effective.
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What is Bitrouter?
BitRouter is an open intelligence router for LLM agents that optimizes agent runtime to perform cheaper, safer, and better through Runtime Routing Intelligence. It works as a local Rust proxy running at http://localhost:4356, providing one endpoint to reach any LLM provider with automatic cross-protocol translation and failover. The tool is fully open-source (Apache 2.0 license) with 73 GitHub stars and is built specifically for autonomous agent runtimes like OpenClaw, OpenCode, Claude Code, and more.
Key features include multi-provider routing to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter, OpenCode Zen/Go, BitRouter Cloud, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT Codex, and Amazon Bedrock; cross-protocol routing that translates any client protocol (OpenAI Chat, Anthropic Messages, Google Gemini) to any upstream; built-in MCP gateway for proxying MCP servers; ACP integration for managing coding agent sessions; agent guardrails to inspect, redact, or block risky content; observability with per-request spend tracking, Prometheus metrics, and OTLP export; virtual keys for scoped API access; and custom provider support for any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible upstream.
BitRouter is designed for AI agent developers, teams building autonomous agent runtimes, enterprises running fleets of 24/7 agents, and anyone using agent frameworks that support custom OpenAI/Anthropic base URLs. The tool has routed 1.2M requests, connected 3,400+ agents, and saved $2.4M this month according to their metrics. It achieves ~10ms overhead compared to ~30ms for OpenRouter and ~500ms for LiteLLM.
Bitrouter pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
BitRouter offers a fully open-source self-hosted version (Apache 2.0 license) that is free to use with your own API keys (BYOK). The Cloud version requires OAuth sign-in via 'bitrouter auth login' and includes cloud-managed routing, key management, usage tracking, billing, and policies. Enterprise tier offers volume pricing, dedicated infrastructure, and direct engineering support for fleets of 24/7 agents. The website highlights $2.4M saved this month across 1.2M routed requests and 3,400+ connected agents. Specific cloud plan pricing and free tier limits for BitRouter Cloud are not publicly disclosed and require contacting the team.
Bitrouter pros
- Fully open-source with Apache 2.0 license
- Local-first proxy with optional cloud, no cloud dependency required
- Rust-native implementation with ~10ms overhead (fastest in class)
- Built specifically for autonomous agent runtimes
- Supports MCP + ACP agent protocols natively
- Cross-protocol routing (e.g., OpenAI format to Anthropic upstream)
- Zero-config auto-detection from environment variables
- Multi-provider routing to 10+ LLM providers out of the box
- Multiple accounts per provider with failover and load-balancing
- Built-in agent guardrails (inspect, redact, block risky content)
- Per-request cost tracking and observability with Prometheus metrics
- Virtual key management backed by SQLite/PostgreSQL/MySQL
- CLI for managing providers, routes, agents, keys, and policies
- Custom providers supported via config for any OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible upstream
- OAuth sign-in for BitRouter Cloud with no upstream provider keys needed
- 84 GitHub stars with 52 releases showing active development
Bitrouter cons
- Relatively new project with only 84 GitHub stars
- Cloud pricing details not publicly disclosed on website
- Enterprise requires-contact for volume pricing and dedicated infrastructure
- Rust-based (may require Rust knowledge for custom development)
- Self-hosting requires local infrastructure setup
- Limited documentation compared to mature alternatives like LiteLLM
- No web dashboard (CLI-only observability)
- 10ms overhead still adds latency compared to direct provider API calls
Frequently asked questions about Bitrouter
What is BitRouter?
BitRouter is an open intelligence router for LLM agents that optimizes agent runtime to perform cheaper, safer, and better through Runtime Routing Intelligence. It is a local Rust proxy running at http://localhost:4356 that gives your agent a single endpoint to reach any LLM provider, with automatic cross-protocol translation and failover.
What providers does BitRouter support?
BitRouter supports OpenAI (Chat Completions + Responses API), Anthropic (Messages API + Claude Pro/Max subscription), Google Generative AI API, Amazon Bedrock (via AWS SDK), OpenRouter, OpenCode Zen, OpenCode Go, BitRouter Cloud, GitHub Copilot, and ChatGPT Codex. Custom providers can be added via config for any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible upstream.
How do I install BitRouter?
You can install via curl (macOS/Linux), Homebrew (brew install bitrouter/tap/bitrouter), npm (npm install -g bitrouter), or Cargo (cargo install bitrouter). After installation, set your provider API keys (OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, GOOGLE_API_KEY) and run 'bitrouter start' to start the proxy at http://localhost:4356.
What is cross-protocol routing?
Cross-protocol routing allows any client protocol (OpenAI Chat, OpenAI Responses, Anthropic Messages, Google Gemini) to target any upstream provider. BitRouter translates transparently, so you can send an OpenAI-formatted request to an Anthropic provider, for example.
Is BitRouter open-source?
Yes, BitRouter is fully open-source under the Apache 2.0 license. The GitHub repository has 84 stars and 52 releases, with the latest version being v1.0.0-alpha.3 released on May 25, 2026.
What is the MCP gateway?
The MCP gateway is a proxy for MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that allows agents to discover and call tools across hosts. It is built into BitRouter and accessible via the SDK.
How does BitRouter Cloud work?
BitRouter Cloud uses OAuth sign-in via 'bitrouter auth login' with RFC 8628 device flow against api.bitrouter.ai. One OAuth account covers every model the gateway offers without requiring upstream provider keys. You can manage keys, usage, billing, policies, and BYOK from the CLI using 'bitrouter cloud' commands.
What is Agent Guardrails?
Agent guardrails are built-in features that let you inspect, redact, or block risky content at the proxy layer. This provides security and compliance without modifying your agent code.
How does BitRouter compare to OpenRouter and LiteLLM?
BitRouter is a local-first Rust proxy with optional cloud, while OpenRouter is cloud-only SaaS and LiteLLM is a Python proxy. BitRouter is agent-native (built for autonomous agents), supports MCP + ACP protocols, has ~10ms overhead (vs ~30ms for OpenRouter, ~500ms for LiteLLM), and is fully open-source under Apache 2.0.
What CLI commands are available?
Key CLI commands include: 'bitrouter start/stop/restart/reload' for daemon lifecycle, 'bitrouter status' for pid and active models, 'bitrouter route <model>' to trace model resolution, 'bitrouter models' to list routable models, 'bitrouter providers list' for configured providers, 'bitrouter tools list/status/discover' for MCP introspection, 'bitrouter agents list/check/install' for ACP management, 'bitrouter key sign' for virtual keys, 'bitrouter policy create' for routing policies, 'bitrouter init' for config scaffolding, and 'bitrouter auth login/logout/whoami' for Cloud authentication.