Gatez vs agentgateway.dev
agentgateway is an excellent L3 agent connectivity proxy. Gatez is a unified L1+L2+L3 platform.
Different tools for different needs.
agentgateway.dev
A Linux Foundation project (formerly Solo.io) focused on agent-to-LLM, agent-to-tool, and agent-to-agent connectivity. Built in Rust. Strong open governance with contributors from Microsoft, Apple, AWS, and Cisco.
Primarily an L3 agent proxy with MCP and A2A protocol support, CEL-based RBAC, and Kubernetes-native deployment.
Gatez
A three-layer unified gateway (L1 API + L2 AI + L3 Agent) with multi-tenant governance, built for platform engineering teams who need to manage APIs, LLM calls, and agents in one control plane.
Combines APISIX, custom Rust AI Gateway, and custom Rust Agent Gateway with shared tenant isolation, cross-layer tracing, and enterprise UI.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | agentgateway | Gatez |
|---|---|---|
| MCP Protocol | ✓ | ✓ |
| A2A Protocol | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rust Runtime | ✓ | L2 + L3 |
| Gateway Layers | ||
| API Gateway (L1) | ✗ | ✓ APISIX |
| AI Gateway (L2) | ✗ | ✓ Rust |
| Agent Gateway (L3) | ✓ | ✓ Rust |
| AI Features | ||
| Multi-model routing | ✗ | ✓ 13 providers |
| Semantic caching | ✗ | ✓ Redis + Qdrant |
| PII redaction | ~ filtering | ✓ pre-LLM |
| Token budgets | ~ rate limits | ✓ per-tenant |
| Multi-tenancy & Governance | ||
| Multi-tenant isolation | ~ limited | ✓ native |
| Per-tenant rate limiting | ✗ | ✓ Redis sliding window |
| HITL approval gates | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tool allowlists | ~ CEL RBAC | ✓ deny-by-default + CEL |
| Session budgets | ✗ | ✓ per-session tokens |
| Tool poisoning detection | ✗ enterprise only | ✓ |
| Agent Features | ||
| A2A delegation policies | ~ limited | ✓ cross-tenant block, depth limit, loop detection |
| stdio/SSE transports | ✓ mature | ✓ basic |
| xDS dynamic config | ✓ | ✗ |
| Kubernetes Gateway API | ✓ | ✗ planned |
| Observability | ||
| Cross-layer tracing | L3 only | ✓ L1→L2→L3 OTel |
| ClickHouse audit trail | ✗ | ✓ |
| Operator Portal | ✗ | ✓ |
| Developer Portal | ✗ | ✓ |
| API key management | ✗ | ✓ request → approve → issue |
| Usage analytics | ~ Prometheus | ✓ ClickHouse dashboards |
| Deployment & Governance | ||
| Linux Foundation governance | ✓ | ✗ |
| Enterprise backing | Solo.io | Independent |
Where agentgateway.dev Leads
-
Open governance: Linux Foundation project with contributors from Microsoft, Apple, AWS, and Cisco
-
Transport maturity: More polished stdio/SSE transport support with reconnection handling
-
xDS dynamic configuration: No-downtime config updates via control plane API
-
Kubernetes Gateway API: Native CRD support for K8s-native deployments
-
Community size: Larger contributor base, weekly community meetings, hackathons
-
Solo.io Enterprise: Backed by established API infrastructure company with commercial support
Where Gatez Leads
-
Unified platform: L1+L2+L3 in one deployment vs agent-proxy-only
-
Multi-tenant from day one: tenant_id propagated through every layer, cache key, log entry
-
AI Gateway built-in: 13 LLM providers, semantic caching, PII redaction pre-LLM
-
Cost governance: Token budgets, per-tenant usage analytics, budget alerts
-
Enterprise UI: Two portals (Operator + Developer) with full tenant management
-
Agent governance depth: HITL gates, CEL policies, blast radius controls, tool poisoning detection
-
Compliance: ClickHouse audit trail, HIPAA-ready patterns, full on-prem with air-gap support
When to Choose Which
Choose agentgateway.dev when:
- → You already have a separate API gateway (Kong, Envoy, etc.)
- → You already have a separate AI gateway (Portkey, LiteLLM, etc.)
- → You only need agent connectivity (MCP/A2A proxy)
- → You want Linux Foundation governance
- → You're building a custom stack and want modular components
- → You need Kubernetes Gateway API CRD support today
Choose Gatez when:
- → You need APIs + AI + Agents governed in one platform
- → You need multi-tenant isolation across all layers
- → You need per-tenant cost governance (token budgets, rate limits)
- → You're in a regulated industry (healthcare, finance, government)
- → You want one deployment, one control plane, one audit trail
- → You need cross-layer tracing (L1→L2→L3 visibility)
Ready to try Gatez?
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