Is BlockRun a Vercel AI Gateway alternative?

For calling the major models through one OpenAI-compatible endpoint, yes. The difference is who can call it: Vercel's gateway runs on a team account with prepaid credits, while BlockRun also takes calls with no account, each paid by the request.

Do both BlockRun and Vercel AI Gateway charge list price for tokens?

Both pass the provider's own token rate through. Vercel funds that from prepaid credits; BlockRun's pay-per-call door adds a flat per-call fee and needs no balance at all.

Do I need a Vercel account to use BlockRun?

No. BlockRun is a separate service. Pay per call with no account, or get an API key from BlockRun and pay by card or invoice.

Does BlockRun have request logs and budgets like Vercel AI Gateway?

Not the same depth. Every BlockRun response carries its usage and every paid call has a receipt, but Vercel's request logs, budgets and custom reporting are a fuller operations dashboard.

Can an agent use Vercel AI Gateway without a human account?

It needs a key issued from a team account that someone has funded. BlockRun's pay-per-call door needs neither, which is the case it was built for.

Vercel AI Gateway vs BlockRun for an autonomous agent: which one?

BlockRun, if the agent has to pay for its own calls and needs data and search beside the models. Vercel AI Gateway, if the agent runs inside a Vercel team that already funds and monitors its usage.

Can I bring my own provider keys to BlockRun as with Vercel AI Gateway?

No. BlockRun holds the provider relationships and pays them itself, so there is no key of yours to bring and none to rotate.

Can I call BlockRun from an app hosted on Vercel?

Yes. BlockRun is a plain OpenAI-compatible HTTP endpoint, so any Vercel function can call it with a base-URL change.

Comparison

BlockRun vs Vercel AI Gateway

Updated October 25, 2026

Vercel AI Gateway passes provider list prices through with no markup on tokens, behind a Vercel team account and prepaid credits, with request logs, budgets and fallbacks for the team that runs it. BlockRun also charges providers' own token rates, and adds a door with no account at all, so an agent can pay for each call itself.

	BlockRun	Vercel AI Gateway
Token pricing	Provider's own rate; a flat per-call fee on the pay-per-call door	Provider list price, no markup on tokens; payment processing fees may apply
Account	None on the pay-per-call door; or an API key with a monthly invoice	Vercel team account; AI Gateway API key, or OIDC on Vercel
Paying	Each call pays for itself, or one monthly invoice by card or invoice	Prepaid AI Gateway Credits with optional auto top-up; invoice for Enterprise
Free tier	Free models with no signup, rate-limited per IP	Monthly free credit on a subset of models, rate-limited, on a team account
Bring your own key	No; BlockRun holds the provider relationships	Yes, on the paid tier
Observability	Per-call usage in every response, a public status page, a receipt per paid call	Request logs, routing attempts, budgets, custom reporting
Beyond models	Web search, market data, multi-chain RPC and sandboxes on the same endpoint	Models across text, image, video, speech, embeddings and more

When to use which

Use Vercel AI Gateway if your team already ships on Vercel, wants request logs, budgets and provider ordering in one dashboard, and is happy to fund a credit balance. It is a well-built gateway from a company developers already trust.

Use BlockRun if the caller is software with no team account behind it, or you want web search, market data and RPC on the same endpoint as the models. Each call is priced before it runs and paid by the request itself.

They are not exclusive: an app on Vercel can call BlockRun for the agent workloads that pay per call while the rest of its traffic stays on the gateway it already uses.

If something on this page is wrong, email hello@blockrun.ai.

Get a BlockRun API key See every model and price

BlockRun vs Vercel AI Gateway questions: accounts, credits, agents

Is BlockRun a Vercel AI Gateway alternative?: For calling the major models through one OpenAI-compatible endpoint, yes. The difference is who can call it: Vercel's gateway runs on a team account with prepaid credits, while BlockRun also takes calls with no account, each paid by the request.
Do both BlockRun and Vercel AI Gateway charge list price for tokens?: Both pass the provider's own token rate through. Vercel funds that from prepaid credits; BlockRun's pay-per-call door adds a flat per-call fee and needs no balance at all.
Do I need a Vercel account to use BlockRun?: No. BlockRun is a separate service. Pay per call with no account, or get an API key from BlockRun and pay by card or invoice.
Does BlockRun have request logs and budgets like Vercel AI Gateway?: Not the same depth. Every BlockRun response carries its usage and every paid call has a receipt, but Vercel's request logs, budgets and custom reporting are a fuller operations dashboard.
Can an agent use Vercel AI Gateway without a human account?: It needs a key issued from a team account that someone has funded. BlockRun's pay-per-call door needs neither, which is the case it was built for.
Vercel AI Gateway vs BlockRun for an autonomous agent: which one?: BlockRun, if the agent has to pay for its own calls and needs data and search beside the models. Vercel AI Gateway, if the agent runs inside a Vercel team that already funds and monitors its usage.
Can I bring my own provider keys to BlockRun as with Vercel AI Gateway?: No. BlockRun holds the provider relationships and pays them itself, so there is no key of yours to bring and none to rotate.
Can I call BlockRun from an app hosted on Vercel?: Yes. BlockRun is a plain OpenAI-compatible HTTP endpoint, so any Vercel function can call it with a base-URL change.