agentgateway logo
agentgateway
★ 5.7k
vs
grafbase logo
grafbase
★ 1.2k

agentgateway vs grafbase

agentgateway: Agentgateway is an open-source proxy offering a complete connectivity solution for Agentic AI, built on AI-native protocols like MCP and A2A. It provides security, observability, and governance for agent-to-LLM, agent-to-tool, and agent-to-agent communication across various frameworks.; grafbase: Grafbase is a self-hosted, Rust-powered GraphQL Federation Gateway for high-scale, mission-critical applications. It unifies diverse data sources and microservices into a single, performant GraphQL API, offering enterprise-grade security and flexible deployment options.

Editorial Head-to-Head Analysis

Grafbase is a Rust GraphQL Federation v2 gateway that exposes a federated GraphQL API as an MCP server; AgentGateway is a Rust proxy specifically for routing, securing, and observing LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic.

01

TL;DR

agentgateway logo
agentgatewayObservability · ★ 5.7k
When to choose:
  • You want one proxy for LLM calls (OpenAI-compatible API with spend controls, failover and load balancing), MCP tools and A2A traffic.
  • You need guardrails from several sources: regex, OpenAI moderation, AWS Bedrock Guardrails, Google Model Armor or webhooks.
  • You need security and observability built in: JWT, API keys, OAuth, RBAC with a CEL policy engine, rate limiting, TLS and OpenTelemetry.
When to skip:
  • You only need to bridge one MCP transport: a small proxy is simpler.
  • You want the inference-routing features without Kubernetes: the README ties them to Kubernetes Inference Gateway extensions.
  • You want detailed setup instructions in the README: it is short and points to the documentation site.
grafbase logo
grafbaseAPI Integration · ★ 1.2k
When to choose:
  • You want a high-performance Rust Apollo Federation v2 GraphQL gateway that can expose your federated graph directly as an MCP server.
  • You want to unify GraphQL subgraphs, REST, gRPC, Postgres, and Kafka using WebAssembly extensions in a self-hosted gateway.
When to skip:
  • You do not use GraphQL and just want a proxy/gateway in front of existing MCP servers; use MCP Gateways like AgentGateway or MetaMCP.
  • You want to write custom MCP tools in Python; use FastMCP or the MCP Python SDK.
02

Side-by-Side Comparison

Field
agentgateway logoagentgateway
grafbase logografbase
Category
Observability
API Integration
Stars
★ 5.7k
★ 1.2k
License
Apache-2.0
MPL-2.0
Install Command
curl -sL https://agentgateway.dev/install.sh | bash -s -- --install-path /usr/local/bin
curl -fsSL https://grafbase.com/downloads/gateway | bash
Updated
1d ago
3mo ago
Open Source
Yes
Yes
Tags
AI Gateway, Multi-Agent Communication, LLM Proxy
GraphQL Federation, API Gateway, Rust
03

Features

agentgateway logoagentgateway
01LLM Gateway: Route traffic to major LLM providers through a unified OpenAI-compatible API with budget controls, load balancing, and failover.
02MCP Gateway: Connect LLMs to tools and external data sources via MCP with OpenAPI integration and OAuth authentication.
03A2A Gateway: Enable secure agent-to-agent communication using A2A, with capability discovery, modality negotiation, and task collaboration.
04Guardrails: Multi-layered content filtering with regex, OpenAI moderation, AWS Bedrock Guardrails, Google Model Armor, and custom webhooks.
05Security & Observability: Provide authentication (JWT, API keys, OAuth), fine-grained RBAC, rate limiting, TLS, and OpenTelemetry metrics/logs/tracing.
grafbase logografbase
01Native support for Apollo Federation v2 specification.
02Rust-powered gateway delivering ultra-low latency and memory efficiency.
03Extensible via WebAssembly for custom authentication, authorization, and data sources.
04Enterprise-grade security with advanced schema governance and fine-grained authorization.
05Universal data integration supporting GraphQL subgraphs, REST APIs, gRPC, and databases.
04

Use Cases

agentgateway logoagentgateway
↳Managing and routing traffic to multiple LLM providers with a unified API and cost controls.
↳Enabling secure and standardized communication between AI agents and external tools/data sources.
↳Facilitating collaborative task execution among multiple AI agents across different environments.
↳Implementing intelligent inference routing for self-hosted models based on resource utilization.
↳Applying multi-layered content filtering and moderation for AI interactions to ensure safety and compliance.
grafbase logografbase
↳Unifying disparate microservices, legacy systems, and third-party APIs into a single federated GraphQL API.
↳Building high-performance, mission-critical APIs requiring enterprise-grade security and advanced schema governance.
↳Extending GraphQL capabilities with custom authentication, authorization, and arbitrary data source resolvers via WebAssembly.
05

Best For

agentgateway logoagentgateway
EssentialTrending
grafbase logografbase
Essential
FAQ

FAQ

What is the difference between agentgateway and grafbase?
Grafbase is a Rust GraphQL Federation v2 gateway that exposes a federated GraphQL API as an MCP server; AgentGateway is a Rust proxy specifically for routing, securing, and observing LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic.
Which is better, agentgateway or grafbase?
The best choice depends on your use case. Choose agentgateway if Managing and routing traffic to multiple LLM providers with a unified API and cost controls., and grafbase if Unifying disparate microservices, legacy systems, and third-party APIs into a single federated GraphQL API..
Is agentgateway free or open source?
Yes, agentgateway is open source on GitHub (Apache-2.0).
Is grafbase free or open source?
Yes, grafbase is open source on GitHub (MPL-2.0).
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