Portkey vs Tulip (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict
Portkey is our pick, scoring 7.8/10 against 7.3/10 for Tulip on our AI Software criteria. Its biggest advantage: higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 6/10). For 10 users, Portkey is free, against $1,000/mo for Tulip; only Portkey has a free plan.
Last updated: November 2026
Portkey
7.8/10
Portkey is an AI gateway and LLMOps control plane that routes, monitors, and governs requests to 1,600+ LLMs for engineering teams and enterprises.
Tulip
7.3/10
Tulip is a no-code, app-based manufacturing execution and connected worker platform that lets manufacturers build shop-floor apps for work instructions, quality checks, and machine monitoring.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.8/10 | 7.3/10 |
| Integration | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Analytics | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $49/mo Production | $100/user/mo Essentials |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Open Source | $1,000/mo Essentials |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
| SCADA and IoT Integration | Not listed | |
| Inspection Automation | Not listed | |
| Inspection Checklists | Not listed | |
| Condition Monitoring | Not listed | |
Portkey vs Tulip cost by team size
Portkey costs less from 10 users.
| Team size | Portkey | Tulip |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeOpen Source | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | FreeOpen Source | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | FreeOpen Source | $1,000/moEssentials |
| 25 users | FreeOpen Source | $2,500/moEssentials |
| 50 users | FreeOpen Source | $5,000/moEssentials |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Who Portkey and Tulip suit
| Audience | Portkey | Tulip |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 8/10The Enterprise plan adds SSO, RBAC, VPC deployment, and HIPAA/SOC 2 support, and the product is now part of Palo Alto Networks' Prisma AIRS. | 7/10The Enterprise and Regulated Industries plans add workspaces, approval workflows, GxP features, and GovCloud options. |
| Developers | 9/10Setup takes a few lines of code with OpenAI-compatible SDKs, and there is a free tier and an open-source gateway. | Not rated |
| Manufacturing | Not rated | 10/10Tulip is built as an MES and connected worker platform for shop floors. |
| Operations Teams | Not rated | 8/10Operations engineers build and run frontline process apps without writing code. |
| SaaS Companies | 8/10Built for teams running production GenAI features across multiple LLM providers. | Not rated |
| Small Business | Not rated | 4/10The 10-interface minimum puts entry spend at about $12,000 a year. |
| Startups | 7/10A free tier and a $49 Production plan keep the entry cost low. | Not rated |
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Portkey
- Has a free plan (Tulip does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $1,000/mo
- Higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Tulip
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Support score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Portkey
Pros
- Unified API covering more than 1,600 models, with automatic fallbacks, retries, and load balancing.
- Detailed logs and traces show the latency, cost, and retry path of each request.
- An open-source core and a free tier let developers try it before paying.
- Enterprise governance features include budgets, rate limits, RBAC, SSO, and audit logs, with VPC deployment available.
Cons
- Since the 2026 acquisition, paid plans route through Palo Alto Networks' Prisma AIRS, which brings uncertainty about future pricing and roadmap.
- You pay for the gateway on top of LLM provider costs, and provider billing stays separate.
- Below Enterprise, support is community-only, and the free plan keeps logs for just 3 days.
- It may be more platform than needed for small prototypes that want only a simple proxy.
Tulip
Pros
- The no-code drag-and-drop editor lets process engineers build shop-floor apps without developers.
- Billing per interface rather than per user can be cheaper for shop floors with many workers sharing stations.
- Connectors cover OPC UA, MQTT, HTTP, SQL, and USB devices such as scales and barcode scanners.
- The Regulated Industries plan includes 21 CFR Part 11 e-signatures and a validation pack for GxP manufacturers.
- Reviewers report better traceability and real-time visibility after replacing paper processes.
Cons
- The 10-interface minimum and paid add-ons for machine monitoring, vision, and premium support raise first-year cost.
- Reviewers find analytics and table joins limited compared with specialist tools.
- It is cloud SaaS, with no classic full on-premises deployment.
- Custom widgets support only a limited set of JavaScript libraries.
- Enterprise and regulated plan prices are not published.
Not sold on either?
Air Inspection Automation (AiA)Our product
Plans DJI drone inspection missions for power line towers from LiDAR scans: it finds the towers, places photo stops, checks clearance, and splits the route into battery flights.
Made by the team behind b stack radar. Shown here because it fits this topic. It is not part of our rankings. How we rank tools
Frequently Asked Questions
Portkey scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7.8/10 against 7.3/10 for Tulip. The largest gap is in Analytics: 9/10 for Portkey and 6/10 for Tulip.
Portkey costs less for 10 users: free on its Open Source plan, against about $1,000/mo on its Essentials plan for Tulip, billed monthly.
Portkey has a free plan; Tulip does not list one.
