Vercel AI Gateway Review: Pricing & Comparison

Vercel AI Gateway: AI infrastructure for frontend developers

Vercel AI Gateway (vercel.com/ai-gateway) is the native API proxy Vercel provides for AI applications on its platform, and when paired with the Vercel AI SDK, it’s one of the smoothest developer experiences available today for adding AI capability to an app.

If you’re building an AI application with Next.js, Vercel AI Gateway is close to the default choice: same platform, same billing, 0% markup, $5/month in free credit, and you don’t even need to manage a separate AI API key — Vercel handles it all under one account.

What 0% markup actually means

Most AI API gateways charge a 5-10% markup (to cover operating costs). Vercel AI Gateway charges no markup at all — you pay upstream official prices directly, and Vercel folds that cost into its broader platform service.

For teams with moderate usage, a 5-10% markup adds up to real money over time. Vercel AI Gateway’s 0% markup is especially worthwhile for high-usage users.

Vercel AI SDK integration

The Vercel AI SDK is the core library used alongside Vercel AI Gateway:

// Next.js App Router
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
import { streamText } from 'ai';

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages } = await req.json();
  
  const result = await streamText({
    model: openai('gpt-5.5'),  // automatically routed through Vercel AI Gateway
    messages,
  });
  
  return result.toDataStreamResponse();
}

Switching to Claude is just as easy:

import { anthropic } from '@ai-sdk/anthropic';

const result = await streamText({
  model: anthropic('claude-opus-5'),
  messages,
});

ZDR: zero data retention

Vercel AI Gateway’s ZDR (Zero Data Retention) mode ensures that:

• Request content isn’t persisted on Vercel’s servers
• Nothing is used for model training
• Log retention is extremely short, or zero

This has real compliance value for applications that handle user personal data or sensitive enterprise information.

Who it fits, who it doesn’t

Good fit: Next.js/React projects, AI applications deployed on Vercel, rapid prototyping, independent developers

Poor fit: mainland China users (a proxy is required), projects not hosted on Vercel (migration cost applies), scenarios needing complex LLMOps (use Portkey instead)

Information verified 2026-08-11. Pricing and features are subject to the official Vercel site at vercel.com/ai-gateway.

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