Performance
Hyperion vs Bifrost vs LiteLLM vs Portkey
This page compares gateway behavior across four stacks using normalized criteria. It is designed for architecture decisions, not leaderboard-style claims across mismatched test harnesses.
How to Compare Fairly
- Keep test shape fixed: same concurrency, request count, payload size, and cache policy.
- Separate gateway overhead from upstream model latency.
- Use p95/p99 and failure rate as decision metrics, not only average RTT.
- Track memory and CPU utilization at the same load tier.
At-a-Glance Comparison
| Gateway | Overhead | Throughput Profile | Tail Latency | Memory Profile | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperion | Microsecond-class in isolated harness | High in compiled direct-executor path | Low when queue pressure is controlled | Moderate and predictable | Teams optimizing end-to-end gateway + policy + caching in one stack |
| Bifrost | Very low published gateway overhead | High with performance-first pathing | Depends on feature path and harness parity | Varies by deployment shape | Teams prioritizing minimal proxy overhead |
| LiteLLM | Higher than pure-proxy low-level implementations | Strong under practical multi-instance load | Good p95/p99 in published Portkey comparison | Higher footprint in cited benchmarks | Teams wanting broad provider abstraction with fast time-to-adoption |
| Portkey | Competitive baseline in hosted gateway workflows | Stable under tested profile | Higher p95/p99 than LiteLLM in cited run | Lower footprint in cited run | Teams prioritizing managed gateway workflows and consistency |
Published Signals You Can Reuse
- LiteLLM vs Portkey published tests suggest stronger LiteLLM p95/p99 under that benchmark setup.
- Portkey in the same cited run shows lower memory footprint and stable medians.
- Bifrost publishes very low gateway-overhead-focused numbers in performance mode.
- Hyperion internal benchmark mode targets similar overhead isolation with direct in-container harness.
Decision Heuristic
- Pick Hyperion/Bifrost when raw gateway tax is your top constraint.
- Pick LiteLLM/Portkey when ecosystem or managed workflow speed matters more.
- For production choice, run your own apples-to-apples benchmark before finalizing.
Back
Run Benchmarks Locally
Use your own infra and traffic shape for final selection.
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Caching Internals
Understand how cache tiers shape throughput and costs.