--- title: "ai-gateway vs llm-course" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/ferro-labs-ai-gateway-vs-mlabonne-llm-course" tools: ["ferro-labs-ai-gateway", "mlabonne-llm-course"] --- # ai-gateway vs llm-course *GraphCanon updated Jul 15, 2026* ## Verdict Pick ai-gateway when tags unique to ai-gateway: ai-gateway, ai-infrastructure, guardrails, litellm; pick llm-course when requirements: Course materials are available in Colab notebooks; access requires a Google account. [ai-gateway](https://docs.ferrolabs.ai) reports 180 GitHub stars, 31 forks, and 47 open issues, last pushed Jul 14, 2026. [llm-course](https://mlabonne.github.io/blog/) has 81k stars, 9.4k forks, and 85 open issues, last pushed Feb 5, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [ai-gateway's repository](https://github.com/ferro-labs/ai-gateway) and [llm-course's repository](https://github.com/mlabonne/llm-course). | | [ai-gateway](/tools/ferro-labs-ai-gateway.md) | [llm-course](/tools/mlabonne-llm-course.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Unified AI Gateway for 30+ LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Bedrock, Azure etc) with Caching, Guardrails, A/B test & cost controls. Go-native Fastest & Scalable AI Gateway LiteLLM & Kong AI Gateway alternativ | Course to get into Large Language Models (LLMs) with roadmaps and Colab notebooks. | | Stars | 180 | 80,904 | | Forks | 31 | 9,424 | | Open issues | 47 | 85 | | Language | Go | - | | Adopt for | - | The llm-course provides a comprehensive guided course on Large Language Models (LLMs), divided into three parts: LLM Fundamentals, The LLM Scientist, and The LLM Engineer. It includes resources such as Colab notebooks to | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | Computer Vision, Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks | Evaluation & Observability, Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks, Model Training | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [ai-gateway](/tools/ferro-labs-ai-gateway.md) | [llm-course](/tools/mlabonne-llm-course.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Very active (96%) | Slowing (36%) | | Days since push | 1d | 159d | | Open issues (now) | 47 | 85 | | Owner type | Organization | User | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/ferro-labs-ai-gateway/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/mlabonne-llm-course/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: llm-course - **Requirements:** Course materials are available in Colab notebooks; access requires a Google account - **Adopt for:** The llm-course provides a comprehensive guided course on Large Language Models (LLMs), divided into three parts: LLM Fundamentals, The LLM Scientist, and The LLM Engineer. It includes resources such as Colab notebooks to - **License detail:** Apache-2.0 ## Choose when ### Choose ai-gateway if… - Tags unique to ai-gateway: ai-gateway, ai-infrastructure, guardrails, litellm. - Also covers Computer Vision. - ai-gateway ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. ### Choose llm-course if… - Requirements: Course materials are available in Colab notebooks; access requires a Google account. - Tags unique to llm-course: colab-notebooks, course, large-language-models, machine-learning. - Also covers Evaluation & Observability, Model Training. - - When you want a comprehensive roadmap for understanding large language models including fundamental knowledge ## When NOT to use ai-gateway - Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ## When NOT to use llm-course - - If you only require a quick introduction to LLMs without deep dive into core components - - When you prefer working directly with commercial platforms that provide complete services rather than following detailed steps on building and deploying models yourself through this course's open,DI ## Common questions ### What is the difference between ai-gateway and llm-course? ai-gateway: Unified AI Gateway for 30+ LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Bedrock, Azure etc) with Caching, Guardrails, A/B test & cost controls. Go-native Fastest & Scalable AI Gateway LiteLLM & Kong AI Gateway alternativ. llm-course: Course to get into Large Language Models (LLMs) with roadmaps and Colab notebooks.. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose ai-gateway over llm-course? Choose ai-gateway over llm-course when Tags unique to ai-gateway: ai-gateway, ai-infrastructure, guardrails, litellm; Also covers Computer Vision; ai-gateway ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. ### When should I choose llm-course over ai-gateway? Choose llm-course over ai-gateway when Requirements: Course materials are available in Colab notebooks; access requires a Google account; Tags unique to llm-course: colab-notebooks, course, large-language-models, machine-learning; Also covers Evaluation & Observability, Model Training; - When you want a comprehensive roadmap for understanding large language models including fundamental knowledge. ### When should I avoid ai-gateway? Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ### When should I avoid llm-course? - If you only require a quick introduction to LLMs without deep dive into core components - When you prefer working directly with commercial platforms that provide complete services rather than following detailed steps on building and deploying models yourself through this course's open,DI ### Is ai-gateway or llm-course more popular on GitHub? llm-course has more GitHub stars (80,904 vs 180). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are ai-gateway and llm-course open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (ai-gateway: Apache-2.0, llm-course: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to ai-gateway or llm-course? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [ai-gateway alternatives](/tools/ferro-labs-ai-gateway/alternatives) and [llm-course alternatives](/tools/mlabonne-llm-course/alternatives) ([ai-gateway markdown twin](/tools/ferro-labs-ai-gateway/alternatives.md), [llm-course markdown twin](/tools/mlabonne-llm-course/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/ferro-labs-ai-gateway-vs-mlabonne-llm-course.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, ai-gateway or llm-course? ai-gateway: Very active. llm-course: 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 ai-gateway and llm-course? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [ai-gateway trust report](/tools/ferro-labs-ai-gateway/trust); [llm-course trust report](/tools/mlabonne-llm-course/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=ferro-labs-ai-gateway`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=ferro-labs-ai-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/_