--- title: "gateway vs guidance" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/adaline-gateway-vs-guidance-ai-guidance" tools: ["adaline-gateway", "guidance-ai-guidance"] --- # gateway vs guidance *GraphCanon updated Sep 30, 2026* ## Verdict Pick gateway if adaline Gateway is a production-grade, fully local Super SDK that supports over 300 LLMs with a unified interface, including features like batching, retries, caching, and OpenTelemetry integration; pick guidance if guidance is a specialized tool written in Jupyter Notebooks that provides a unique language to control large language models (LLMs) across multiple backends such as Transformers, llama.cpp. [gateway](https://www.adaline.ai/docs) reports 607 GitHub stars, 26 forks, and 2 open issues, last pushed Jul 29, 2026. [guidance](https://github.com/guidance-ai/guidance) has 22k stars, 1.2k forks, and 323 open issues, last pushed May 21, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [gateway's repository](https://github.com/adaline/gateway) and [guidance's repository](https://github.com/guidance-ai/guidance). | | [gateway](/tools/adaline-gateway.md) | [guidance](/tools/guidance-ai-guidance.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Super SDK for calling over 300 LLMs with a unified interface | A guidance language for controlling large language models. | | Stars | 607 | 21,739 | | Forks | 26 | 1,203 | | Open issues | 2 | 323 | | Language | TypeScript | Jupyter Notebook | | Adopt for | Adaline Gateway is a production-grade, fully local Super SDK that supports over 300 LLMs with a unified interface, including features like batching, retries, caching, and OpenTelemetry integration. | Guidance is a specialized tool written in Jupyter Notebooks that provides a unique language to control large language models (LLMs) across multiple backends such as Transformers, llama.cpp, and OpenAI. It's open-source,轻 | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | MIT | MIT | | Categories | Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks | Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [gateway](/tools/adaline-gateway.md) | [guidance](/tools/guidance-ai-guidance.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Steady (60%) | Slowing (36%) | | Days since push | 52d | 108d | | Open issues (now) | 2 | 323 | | Stars delta | +2 (30d) | +33 (30d) | | Open issues delta | 0 (30d) | +7 (30d) | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/adaline-gateway/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/guidance-ai-guidance/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: gateway - **Adopt for:** Adaline Gateway is a production-grade, fully local Super SDK that supports over 300 LLMs with a unified interface, including features like batching, retries, caching, and OpenTelemetry integration. ## Decision facts: guidance - **Adopt for:** Guidance is a specialized tool written in Jupyter Notebooks that provides a unique language to control large language models (LLMs) across multiple backends such as Transformers, llama.cpp, and OpenAI. It's open-source,轻 ## Choose when ### Choose gateway if… - gateway is primarily TypeScript; guidance is Jupyter Notebook. - Tags unique to gateway: ai, ai-agents, anthropic, language-model. - When you need a fully local SDK that supports more than 300 LLMs with a unified interface. ### Choose guidance if… - guidance is primarily Jupyter Notebook; gateway is TypeScript. - Tags unique to guidance: backend support, control language, language models, pip-installable. - When you need a specific language to finely control various LLM backends including Transformers, llama.cpp, and OpenAI ## When NOT to use gateway - If you are looking for a cloud-based service, as Adaline Gateway is fully local and not a proxy. - When you need support for a specific LLM that is not among the 300+ supported by Adaline Gateway. - If you do not require or want the complexity of a fully featured SDK with extensive customization options. - When you prefer a simpler, less extensible solution for calling LLMs. ## When NOT to use guidance - When your project is strictly confined to using only one type of backend which you can manage without a specialized control language - If your development environment does not support or prefer Jupyter Notebooks, Guidance may not be the best choice ## Common questions ### What is the difference between gateway and guidance? gateway: Super SDK for calling over 300 LLMs with a unified interface. guidance: A guidance language for controlling large language models.. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose gateway over guidance? Choose gateway over guidance when gateway is primarily TypeScript; guidance is Jupyter Notebook; Tags unique to gateway: ai, ai-agents, anthropic, language-model; When you need a fully local SDK that supports more than 300 LLMs with a unified interface. ### When should I choose guidance over gateway? Choose guidance over gateway when guidance is primarily Jupyter Notebook; gateway is TypeScript; Tags unique to guidance: backend support, control language, language models, pip-installable; When you need a specific language to finely control various LLM backends including Transformers, llama.cpp, and OpenAI. ### When should I avoid gateway? If you are looking for a cloud-based service, as Adaline Gateway is fully local and not a proxy. When you need support for a specific LLM that is not among the 300+ supported by Adaline Gateway. If you do not require or want the complexity of a fully featured SDK with extensive customization options. When you prefer a simpler, less extensible solution for calling LLMs. ### When should I avoid guidance? When your project is strictly confined to using only one type of backend which you can manage without a specialized control language If your development environment does not support or prefer Jupyter Notebooks, Guidance may not be the best choice ### Is gateway or guidance more popular on GitHub? guidance has more GitHub stars (21,739 vs 607). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are gateway and guidance open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (gateway: MIT, guidance: MIT). ### Where can I find alternatives to gateway or guidance? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [gateway alternatives](/tools/adaline-gateway/alternatives) and [guidance alternatives](/tools/guidance-ai-guidance/alternatives) ([gateway markdown twin](/tools/adaline-gateway/alternatives.md), [guidance markdown twin](/tools/guidance-ai-guidance/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/adaline-gateway-vs-guidance-ai-guidance.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, gateway or guidance? gateway: Steady. guidance: Slowing. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for gateway and guidance? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [gateway trust report](/tools/adaline-gateway/trust); [guidance trust report](/tools/guidance-ai-guidance/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=adaline-gateway`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=adaline-gateway) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_