# Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Cloudflare Workers AI

> Cloudflare Workers AI scores 68.3 (B) to Cloudflare AI Gateway's 66.8 (B) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-cloudflare-workers-ai
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-cloudflare-workers-ai.md (~3,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-cloudflare-workers-ai.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-cloudflare-workers-ai.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
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Cloudflare Workers AI scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudflare AI Gateway's 66.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Both do llm inference.

- Cloudflare AI Gateway: grade B, 66.8/100, rank #275 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-gateway.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-ai-gateway.json
- Cloudflare Workers AI: grade B, 68.3/100, rank #224 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-workers-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-workers-ai.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 136 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Cloudflare AI Gateway (B)

Good for: Teams that already hold a Cloudflare account and want one token, one bill, logs, budgets and fallbacks in front of several model providers, or that want to keep their own provider keys behind a proxy with spend limits.

Watch for: API tokens are account-scoped. Any token with AI Gateway Run can send requests through every gateway in the account and spend its stored provider keys

### Cloudflare Workers AI (B)

Good for: Agents that already run on Cloudflare Workers, or that want open-weight chat, embedding, reranking, speech and image models behind one token with a free daily allowance.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 80 against 75

Watch for: No SLA for Workers AI was found in the docs or the agreements read


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cloudflare AI Gateway | Cloudflare Workers AI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 66 | 66 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 80 | Cloudflare Workers AI +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 75 | Cloudflare Workers AI +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 75 | 77 | Cloudflare Workers AI +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 52 | 52 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 72 | Cloudflare AI Gateway +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 76 | Cloudflare Workers AI +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **66.8 · B** | **68.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cloudflare AI Gateway | Cloudflare Workers AI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model router | Model API |
| Vendor | Cloudflare, Inc. | Cloudflare, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai` | `https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | payer tooling only | payer tooling only |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement and its service-specific terms. Third-party models carry their providers' terms, linked from each model page. `ai-gateway-provider` is MIT and Cloudflare's OpenAPI repository is BSD-3-Clause | Proprietary service under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement. Each hosted model carries its own open-weight licence, linked from its model page. The `cloudflare` SDKs are Apache-2.0, `workers-ai-provider` is MIT and the OpenAPI repository is BSD-3-Clause |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | 2025-09-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 251k npm/wk | 380k npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Cloudflare AI Gateway.** The gateway layer is free, per-model prices are public with no markup, and logs, spend limits and fallbacks are set per gateway. API tokens cannot be limited to one gateway, the service terms take third-party models outside Cloudflare's DPA, no SLA names the product, and error codes changed on 6 October 2026 with same-day notice.

**Cloudflare Workers AI.** Per-model prices, rate limits and JSON Schemas are public, 10,000 neurons a day are free, and x402 payment is in beta on `/ai/run` for four models. No SLA was found, three models moved to paid-only access on 28 July 2026 with no notice, and several docs pages still use a model retired in May.

## Before you call either

### Cloudflare AI Gateway

1. Use the REST API at `api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/v1` with a token holding Workers AI Read. A token with only an AI Gateway permission returns 401 with code 10000
2. Send `cf-aig-gateway-id` on every Workers AI (`@cf/`) call and on dynamic routes. Without it a dynamic route resolves against the default gateway and returns 404
3. Set `cf-aig-collect-log: false` or `cf-aig-collect-log-payload: false` on sensitive requests. Logging of prompts and responses is on by default
4. Treat a 429 as a rate limit or a spent budget and a 401 with code 2009 as a rejected provider key. Do not retry a 2009
5. Set `byok_only` on the gateway or send `cf-aig-no-wholesale: true` to stop a request without a provider key falling through to paid Unified Billing credits

### Cloudflare Workers AI

1. Check the model page before calling. Seven models need Workers Paid or AI Gateway credits and return 403 with code 5035 on the Free plan
2. Read the internal code on a 429. 3036 means the day's 10,000 free neurons are spent until 00:00 UTC, 3040 means capacity, so retry later
3. Set `options.rejectIfBusy` to fail fast, or add `?queueRequest=true` for the batch route when the answer can wait
4. Send the same `x-session-affinity` value on every turn of a session to reach the prefix cache and the cached-input price
5. Keep paid frontier models under 20 requests a minute per model, or 50 with prepaid AI Gateway credits

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cloudflare AI Gateway or Cloudflare Workers AI?

Cloudflare Workers AI scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudflare AI Gateway's 66.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Cloudflare AI Gateway and Cloudflare Workers AI need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Cloudflare AI Gateway and Cloudflare Workers AI without installing anything?

Yes. Cloudflare AI Gateway has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai and Cloudflare Workers AI at https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Cloudflare AI Gateway or Cloudflare Workers AI

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- [Claude API vs Cloudflare Workers AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-cloudflare-workers-ai.md)
- [Antseed vs Cloudflare Workers AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-cloudflare-workers-ai.md)
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- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Cohere Chat API (Command models)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-cohere-chat.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-deepinfra.md)
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- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-openai-api.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-openrouter.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Prism Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-prism-inference.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Cohere Chat API (Command models)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-cohere-chat.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs DeepSeek API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-deepseek-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Gemini Developer API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-gemini-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-groq.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-mistral-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-openai-api.md)
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- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
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