# Berth vs vLLM

> Berth scores 67.6 (B) to vLLM's 57.8 (C) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-28

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against vLLM's 57.8 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. vLLM leads on maintenance & community. Both do local inference.

- Berth: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #283 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/berth.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/berth.json
- vLLM: grade C, 57.8/100, rank #688 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vllm.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vllm.json
- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md
- All 229 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Berth (B)

Good for: Someone running several GPU programs (llama.cpp, llama-swap, Ollama, vLLM, ComfyUI, games) on one NVIDIA card who wants them to take turns, and agents that need to ask for the card.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 76 against 62
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 64

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where vLLM loses 6 points for them

Watch for: First released on 11 October 2026 and called alpha. Windows, AMD and multiple GPUs are experimental, and the gateway is a preview

### vLLM (C)

Good for: An owner with a GPU server who wants many concurrent requests against one open-weight model behind OpenAI or Anthropic compatible routes.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 76

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: `--api-key` guards only the `/v1`, `/v2`, `/inference` and `/cohere` prefixes. `/invocations`, `/pooling`, `/classify`, `/score`, `/rerank`, `/pause` and `/update_weights` answer without it


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Berth | vLLM | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 62 | Berth +14 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 68 | Berth +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 64 | Berth +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 50 | Berth +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 88 | vLLM +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 68 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -6 | |
| **Total** | | **67.6 · B** | **57.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Berth | vLLM |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Trevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) | vLLM project (PyTorch Foundation) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 245 stars | 93k stars |

## Verdicts

**Berth.** Berth coordinates one NVIDIA card between engines, ComfyUI and games, grants a lease only after the driver shows memory free, and gives agents a skill, JSON output and a keyed loopback gateway. It is 17 days old, alpha and maintained by one developer, with Windows and AMD experimental and no machine-readable API spec.

**vLLM.** Apache-2.0 software with a release about every two weeks, each with notes that list breaking changes and security fixes. The optional API key covers only some path prefixes, so `/invocations` and control routes such as `/pause` answer without it, and at least 81 security advisories were published in the 12 months to 9 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### Berth

1. Run `berth status --format json` before starting, stopping or switching any GPU engine. If berthd is unreachable, no engine is protected
2. Never kill a process to free VRAM. Ask for the card with `berth run`, `berth hold` or a gateway request, and report stowaways to the user
3. Send gateway requests to http://127.0.0.1:9799/v1 with `Authorization: Bearer $(berth key)`, and use `"stream": true` for cold starts of up to minutes
4. On a 503, read the `code` and wait for `Retry-After`. A pinned holder (a game or `berth hold`) answers 409 to stop and is the user's call
5. Ask the user before `berth reclaim LEASE --yes`, any berth.toml edit or `berth update`. Each changes the node

### vLLM

1. Put a reverse proxy that allowlists routes in front of the server. `--api-key` leaves `/invocations` and the control routes open
2. Pass `--host 127.0.0.1` for single-machine use. With no `--host` the server listens on every interface
3. Set `VLLM_NO_USAGE_STATS=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before starting if nothing should be sent to stats.vllm.ai
4. Start with `--enable-auto-tool-choice` and the `--tool-call-parser` for the model before sending tools. Tool calling is off without them
5. Send `max_tokens` on every request, and read the breaking changes section of the release notes before upgrading a minor version

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Berth or vLLM?

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against vLLM's 57.8 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. vLLM leads on maintenance & community.

### Do Berth and vLLM need an API key?

Berth needs an API key. vLLM needs no key.

### Can an agent call Berth and vLLM without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Berth. No hosted endpoint is listed for vLLM.

### Are Berth and vLLM open source?

Yes. Berth is open source (Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file). vLLM is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "berth", "b": "vllm"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare berth vllm`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/berth.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vllm.json

## Other comparisons with Berth or vLLM

- [AnythingLLM vs Berth](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-berth.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-vllm.md)
- [Berth vs BitRun](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-bitrun.md)
- [Berth vs Docker Model Runner](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-docker-model-runner.md)
- [Berth vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-foundry-local.md)
- [Berth vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ghost-core.md)
- [Berth vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-gpt4all.md)
- [Berth vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-jan.md)
- [Berth vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj.md)
- [Berth vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Berth vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lemonade.md)
- [Berth vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [Berth vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [Berth vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.md)
- [Berth vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [Berth vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ollama.md)
- [Berth vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Berth vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [Berth vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [BitRun vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-vllm.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-vllm.md)
- [Foundry Local vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-vllm.md)
- [Core vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-vllm.md)
- [GPT4All vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-vllm.md)
- [Jan vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-vllm.md)
- [Khoj vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-vllm.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-vllm.md)
- [Lemonade vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-vllm.md)
- [llama.cpp vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-vllm.md)
- [LM Studio vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-vllm.md)
- [LocalAI vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-vllm.md)
- [MLX LM vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-vllm.md)
- [Ollama vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-vllm.md)
- [Open WebUI vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/open-webui-vs-vllm.md)
- [screenpipe vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/screenpipe-vs-vllm.md)
- [TextGen vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/text-generation-webui-vs-vllm.md)
- [Underdog vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/underdog-vs-vllm.md)

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