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Higress

● Identity checked

Assistant · Vendor site 2026-10-04

Higress is a CNCF Sandbox open-source AI gateway built on Istio and Envoy. It unifies LLM API access, MCP tool routing, security, traffic governance, and observability for AI agents and production inference workloads.

Updated 2026-10-04View sources
Official website
Category
Assistant
Free access
Open-source edition and local Docker quick start are free; Alibaba Cloud Serverless edition advertises ¥0 starting pricing rather than USD.
API access
Project documentation covers LLM gateway APIs, MCP proxying, and SDK integrations.

Is Higress right for you?

A good fit for

Platform engineers and AI teams that need a self-hosted or managed gateway for models, agents, and MCP servers.

Before you choose

Commercial cloud pricing is quoted in yuan on the Chinese site without explicit monthly USD tiers for the open-source project.

Open-source AI gateway

Higress targets production agent and LLM workloads with unified routing, MCP support, and optional Alibaba Cloud hosting for teams that outgrow self-managed installs.

What it can do

Features & capabilities

Unknown is different from unavailable. Each fact carries its own evidence.

CapabilityValueEvidenceChecked
Gateway scopeArchitecture pages describe LLM, MCP, and Kubernetes inference traffic through one gateway.Facts sourced2026-10-04
DeploymentSite offers Docker one-click local deploy plus Alibaba Cloud managed Serverless and enterprise options.Facts sourced2026-10-04
GovernanceMarketing lists token controls, security policies, and observability for model and tool calls.Facts sourced2026-10-04

Understand the total cost

Higress pricing & plans

Free

Free

Open-source edition and local Docker quick start are free; Alibaba Cloud Serverless edition advertises ¥0 starting pricing rather than USD.

Access
Open-source edition and local Docker quick start are free; Alibaba Cloud Serverless edition advertises ¥0 starting pricing rather than USD.
Explore pricing & history

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The practical questions

Frequently asked questions

What is Higress used for?

Higress is a CNCF Sandbox open-source AI gateway built on Istio and Envoy. It unifies LLM API access, MCP tool routing, security, traffic governance, and observability for AI agents and production inference workloads.

Does Higress have a free plan?

Open-source edition and local Docker quick start are free; Alibaba Cloud Serverless edition advertises ¥0 starting pricing rather than USD.. This record lists ongoing free access; check the plan limits before starting.

How much does Higress cost?

No paid monthly price is listed; this record treats the product as free to start. See the plan cards for entitlements, billing commitments and seat minimums.

Can I use Higress through an API?

Project documentation covers LLM gateway APIs, MCP proxying, and SDK integrations.. API access and subscription access may have different terms; consult the linked sources.

What should I check before choosing it?

Commercial cloud pricing is quoted in yuan on the Chinese site without explicit monthly USD tiers for the open-source project.

Price history

No retained pricing changes yet. A current price alone does not establish a historical trend.

How this profile is supported

Facts apply to the named version and check date. Send a sourced correction if something changed.