Most teams compare AI API gateways by headline model coverage or token price. Those matter, but they are not enough for production SaaS work.
If an OpenAI-compatible gateway will sit between your app and your users' AI usage, it becomes part of billing, reliability, security, and support. This checklist is a practical way to evaluate vendors before routing real traffic.
Context: FerryAPI is one OpenAI-compatible AI API gateway. I am affiliated with it, so this article is intentionally written as a general vendor checklist rather than a fake-neutral review.
1. API compatibility and migration friction
Start here because migration cost decides whether the gateway is practical.
