Merge offers a broader suite of products, but this review focuses specifically on Merge Gateway.
Onboarding
Getting started was easy. Our reviewer signed in with Google, did not need to provide a credit card, and immediately received $10 in free credit. The initial setup flow has one confusing detail. The first step asks you to generate an API key, but attempting to do so produces an error saying that you need to add a credit card. If billing is required, it would make more sense to ask for it first.
Fortunately, you can skip that step and explore the rest of the product. The next section introduces one of Merge Gateway's most interesting features.
A useful introduction to intelligent routing
The review's first spend on the Merge platform came from the Compare Intelligent Routing feature. Merge offers an interesting routing sandbox that lets you enter a prompt and run it through two paths. On one side, you select a specific model. The test used Claude Opus 4.8. On the other, Merge uses its Capability-Based Intelligent Routing.
This is a smart way to demonstrate their routing capability. Instead of explaining intelligent routing in the abstract, Merge gives you an immediate comparison between a model you already know and the route its system selects.
The interface also reflects a broader strength of the product. Merge feels technology-forward without becoming as low-level as LiteLLM. It provides substantial control through a managed product that is approachable for developers.
Migration and SDK compatibility are well considered
Merge has clearly thought about customers that begin with a direct OpenAI or Anthropic integration and later reach the point where they need a gateway.
The documentation includes examples for starting from scratch as well as adapting applications built with the OpenAI SDK, Anthropic SDK, or Vercel AI SDK. The migration path appears straightforward, and the breadth of compatibility should reduce the amount of application code that needs to change.
Merge also ships a plugin containing skills for Claude Code. The plugin can help manage SDK migrations and gateway configuration from within the coding workflow. It is a clever addition and consistent with the rest of the product's developer-first approach.
Routing backed by your own evaluation data
Bring Your Own Results, or BYOR, is one of the strongest features in Merge Gateway.
Customers can build on benchmark data maintained by Merge, run custom evaluations inside the product, or upload results from previous testing. Merge then uses those results to optimize routing for the customer's workload.
That flexibility matters because routing quality is highly dependent on the application. A benchmark created for general-purpose chat or coding may say very little about performance on a company's internal support workflow, document processing pipeline, or agent system. Merge gives teams a practical way to incorporate their own evidence without requiring them to build the entire optimization layer themselves.
Strong configuration and management APIs
Merge provides a robust Management API for administering the gateway outside its interface. Teams can manage projects, update routing policies, and track usage across an organization programmatically.
This becomes more interesting as software is increasingly configured and operated by agents. Gateway products are natural candidates for agent-led administration because their policies, models, and usage controls change over time. A service with a complete and accessible management API gives agents a clear path to make those changes safely.
As more people build software with AI, products that are easy for agents to understand and configure may gain an important distribution advantage. If an agent can evaluate, integrate, and manage a gateway with minimal friction, that service may become the path of least resistance.
Configurable security controls
Merge includes the safety features expected from a modern AI gateway, including prompt-injection mitigation and data loss prevention.
Both are configurable, giving customers fine-grained control over how protections are applied. That fits the overall character of the product. Merge provides sensible capabilities while leaving teams room to adapt them to their own applications and risk tolerance.
Who should consider Merge Gateway?
Merge Gateway is a strong option for teams that want a managed gateway with substantial control over routing, evaluation, security, and administration.
It should be especially interesting to developers migrating from direct model-provider integrations, teams that already use the OpenAI, Anthropic, or Vercel AI SDKs, and organizations that want routing decisions informed by their own evaluation data.
Teams that want complete infrastructure ownership may still prefer a self-hosted product such as LiteLLM. Merge is better suited to customers that value configurability but do not want to operate the gateway themselves.
Verdict
Merge Gateway is a strong player in the AI gateway market. It offers a thoughtful developer experience, broad SDK compatibility, robust APIs, and unusually flexible support for evaluation-driven routing.
BYOR is the standout feature. The ability to combine Merge's benchmark data with custom evaluations or existing test results gives customers a practical route to workload-specific optimization. The Management API and Claude Code plugin also show that Merge is thinking seriously about how developers and agents will configure infrastructure.
The initial API key flow could be clearer, but the rest of the onboarding experience is polished and easy to explore.
Merge Gateway is worth considering for teams that want the flexibility of a highly configurable gateway without taking on the hosting burden of a self-managed product.