Experiential is a YC-backed, Apache-2.0 model gateway (Rust data plane, Python control plane and CLI) that serves hosted, BYOK, and local models behind one OpenAI-compatible API at zero markup, and mines your captured traffic to train routers and, on enterprise, a model you own.

**Zero markup plus traffic-trained routing is a genuinely different bargain from a percentage-fee gateway, and the price is that the product's real input is your request log.**

## What it is

Experiential Labs' gateway runs locally via `pip install experiential` and `exp`, or hosted at platform.experientiallabs.ai with an `xpl_` key and an Anthropic Messages-compatible surface alongside the OpenAI one.
The routing thesis: standardize agent traces as OTel, mine representative tasks, simulate rollouts with text world models, score with an LLM judge, and fit a nearest-neighbor router on prompt embeddings.
The team claims a compiled Rust data plane adding under 1 ms for BYOK requests, 1000+ models refreshed daily by an agent that opens PRs, and fine-tuning of a model you own via Tinker.
A `exp capture` mode records Claude Code and Codex desktop traffic while requests go straight to the provider, which requires macOS and approving a certificate.
The GitHub repo language reads Python; the Rust data plane claim comes from the team's README and launch post.

## Status

Very active and compounding fast: 7,088 stars and 210 forks as of 2026-09-27, pushed the same day, created 2026-06-24.
The Show HN launch ("We built open OpenRouter that turns usage into a better model") reached 222 points on 2026-08-27 with 47 comments, and the star count has since grown roughly an order of magnitude past the ~820 the entrant data recorded around 2026-09-21.
PyPI shows 137 releases since first upload on 2026-08-20, latest 0.7.125 on 2026-09-26, requiring Python 3.12+.
Eighty-five open issues, a Discord, and YC backing as of 2026-09-27.

## Strengths

- **Credits bill at provider list price with 0% markup on routed tokens at every tier, so the gateway does not tax usage.**
- Budgets, hard caps, model allowlists, and per-agent attribution are enforced at the gateway on every request, in the free tier.
- Zero-data-retention routing and a no-training provider policy are selectable, not enterprise-gated.
- Self-hosting is one command (`uvx --from experiential exp run`), and aggregate telemetry has a documented disable path.
- The router work is unusually principled for the category, with published simulation methodology and benchmark deltas on RouterBench and TauBench.

## Cautions

- **The founder told Hacker News telemetry is off by default while the README says PostHog telemetry is enabled by default, and that contradiction was never reconciled in the thread.**
- The HN thread also drew an explicit rug-pull accusation over that default, plus the objection that a two-month, small-team build lowers the project's value.
- `exp capture` is certificate-installing interception software on your own machine, experimental, and macOS-only.
- Router switches can forfeit provider prompt-cache discounts, the thread's sharpest technical objection, and semantic caching is explicitly not planned.
- The dashboard shown in the README is the hosted platform, not something the open repo gives you, as one commenter discovered.
- 0.7.x with 137 releases in five weeks and 85 open issues is churn, not stability.

## Pricing

Free plan: $0 per month, 500 hosted credits monthly after a one-time $1 card verification.
Pro plan: $20 per month for 2,000 credits (1 cent per credit, scalable to 500,000), adding BYOK, local models, caching, model suggestions, and auto routing.
Enterprise: custom committed credits at the lowest rate, adding SSO/SAML/SCIM, advanced RBAC, private networking, data residency, security reviews, and a model trained on your traffic.
Routed tokens stay at provider cost with 0% markup on every plan, and self-hosting the gateway is free, as of 2026-09-27.

## Price history

| Date | Plan | Change | Source |
| ---- | ---- | ------ | ------ |
| 2026-09-27 | Free / Pro / Enterprise | Baseline: Free $0 (500 credits after $1 verification), Pro introduced at $20 per month (2,000 credits), Enterprise custom committed credits | https://www.experientiallabs.ai/pricing |

## Compared to

- LiteLLM: the dominant self-hosted gateway, deeper enterprise controls but a weekly minor-line cadence and a March 2026 supply-chain incident; experiential is younger, lighter, and margin-free.
- OpenRouter: the hosted marketplace experiential name-checks, charging a 5.5% credit fee where experiential bills at list price; OpenRouter has the maturity and the catalog depth.
- Requesty: the other hosted gateway, at a flat 5% markup; experiential undercuts it on price and matches it on residency talking points.

## Bottom line

Recommended for cost-sensitive teams that want gateway controls and attribution without a usage tax, and that are comfortable feeding traces to a five-week-old platform.
Not for anyone who needs an audited, stable gateway today, or who cannot accept a telemetry contradiction in the project's own materials.
My disagreeable claim: the traffic-trained router is the demo rather than the product, most adopters will use this as a free OpenRouter substitute and never train anything, and that outcome is fine.

## Changes

- 2026-09-27 - Created when the owner's GitHub-stars candidates were processed.

## See also

- [LiteLLM](../litellm/index.md) - the self-hosted gateway incumbent this one undercuts on markup
- [OpenRouter](../openrouter/index.md) - the hosted marketplace whose fee model experiential attacks
- [Requesty](../requesty/index.md) - the other hosted gateway, at a flat 5% markup
- [OpenCode Zen](../opencode-zen/index.md) - curated endpoints, the opposite bet to uncurated zero-markup routing
- [Ollama](../ollama/index.md) - the local runtime experiential folds into the same endpoint

## References

- https://api.github.com/repos/experientiallabs/experiential - 7,088 stars, 210 forks, Apache-2.0, pushed 2026-09-27 (200, fetched 2026-09-27)
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/experientiallabs/experiential/main/README.md - architecture, capture mode, PostHog telemetry enabled by default, optimize workflow (200)
- https://hn.algolia.com/api/v1/items/49471407 - Show HN thread, 222 points, created 2026-08-27, caching objection, telemetry contradiction, rug-pull accusation (200)
- https://www.experientiallabs.ai/pricing - Free $0, Pro $20, Enterprise custom, 0% markup, YC backing (200)
- https://pypi.org/pypi/experiential/json - 0.7.125, first upload 2026-08-20, 137 releases, Python 3.12+ (200)
- https://platform.experientiallabs.ai/docs - fetched with status 200 but renders as an empty JavaScript shell, so nothing citable was taken from it