Orq.ai vs Vellum (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Orq.ai and Vellum share a 2.6 GPA, both have a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about value for money, where Orq.ai grades higher, or platforms, where Vellum does.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Orq.ai
AI gateway with observability, governance and managed agents
Vellum
Personal AI assistant with long-term memory that acts across apps
Which one is for you
Pick Orq.ai if
- Fits if you want one endpoint and one bill across several model providers
- Works for developers who need request logs and budgets before they pay for anything
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: using Orq.ai's own keys adds a 4.5% platform fee on model traffic
- Pricey if you outgrow the caps: €7 per 100k spans, €3 per GB and €35 per extra seat
- Tight if you need SSO or roles, which are a €300 a month Teams add-on
- Skip it if you want no-code, since you integrate it through an API
- Watch out: pay-as-you-go keeps data for 30 days and limits you to 100 requests a minute
Pick Vellum if
- Fits if you want one assistant that keeps your preferences across devices and chat apps
- Works for people who want to read the code or host the open-source runtime themselves
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want free to mean free, as every reply, search and image draws on credits at $1 each
- Not for you if you bank what you don't use: included usage doesn't roll over and bought credits expire after 12 months
- Tight if you're on Windows or Linux, since the Windows app is a dev build and there's no Linux desktop client
- Watch out: the iPhone and Android apps are clients for the cloud assistant and can't run it on the phone
- Pricey if you want a custom subdomain, static IP or priority support, which start at Super for $100 a month
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAOrq.aiGood | 2.6GPAVellumGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPay-as-you-go carries no platform fee, though extra seats are €35 each and usage is billed past the included amounts. Prices are in euros. | CMighty is $30 a month, right on the line where the dearest quarter of agent tools here begins, for a Small machine, 10 GiB of storage and a monthly usage allowance whose size the listing never states. Model usage is extra at $1 a credit. Super is $100 and Ultra $200. |
| Free plan and trial | B10 seats, 100k spans, 5 GB and 500 agent runs a month are included, with 30-day retention and 100 requests a minute. Enough for one developer, tight for a product. | BBase is free forever with no card, and the MIT runtime runs on your own Mac or Linux box for nothing. But free covers the hosting, not the thinking: every reply, search and image draws on credits at $1 each. Self-host with your own model key and one person could live on it. |
| Features | CGateway, MCP gateway, observability, agents and guardrails. SSO and fine-grained roles cost €300 a month extra on the self-serve plan. | CA knowledge base of facts and preferences it recalls later, skills across Google Workspace, Slack, Notion and GitHub, Allow or Deny prompts on risky actions, computer control and a form-filling Chrome extension. But the docs name two gaps: the Windows app is a dev build, and the phone apps can't run it locally. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It is a developer service: you wire in API keys and point your code at the endpoint. | CNo rating on record. The cloud default means nothing to host, but you still connect OAuth integrations, prepay credits and build trust rules before the permission prompts stop interrupting. The docs also call the Windows app a dev build. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb console and an API, with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and Okta listed. No desktop or phone app. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, a Chrome extension and a command line, plus Telegram, Slack, email, voice and phone calls, with integrations for Gmail, Calendar, Slack, Notion, Linear and GitHub. No Linux desktop client, and the phone apps are cloud clients. |
| Best for | one gateway for many AI models | one assistant with memory on every device |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Orq.ai and Vellum. How we grade
Price against what you get
Orq.ai starts at about $39.10 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Vellum starts at $30 a month and scores 2.7.
Vellum scores higher and starts $9.10 a month lower. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 29 score higher than Orq.ai for less, and 8 score higher than Vellum for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Vellum is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Orq.ai also covers reports.
- Vellum also covers chat assistant and workflow automation.
At a glance
| Orq.ai | Vellum | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | €35 per extra seat / month beyond the 10 included, plus usage | $30 per month (Mighty) |
| Free plan | Pay-as-you-go has no platform fee: 10 AI Studio seats, 100k spans, 5 GB processed data and 500 agent runs a month included. | Base plan, free with no card: a Small cloud machine (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM) and 6 GiB of storage. Model usage, web search and image generation draw on pay-as-you-go credits. Self-hosting the runtime is also free. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Orq.ai | Vellum |
| Price read from | orq.ai | vellum.ai |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Orq.ai
- Prices are shown in euros. Model traffic is billed at provider rates, and the platform adds a 4.5% fee when you use Orq.ai's keys.
- Beyond the included amounts: €7 per 100k spans, €3 per GB processed, €0.01 per agent run with tools, €35 per AI Studio seat.
- SSO, SAML or OIDC and fine-grained RBAC are a €300 a month Teams add-on, and included on Enterprise.
- Pay-as-you-go keeps data for 30 days with a 100 requests per minute rate limit.
Vellum
- The Base plan is free to host, but model usage, web search and image generation are paid for in prepaid credits at $1 per credit.
- Included monthly usage does not roll over, and pay-as-you-go credits expire twelve months after purchase.
- The docs describe the Windows app as a dev build tied to Vellum's development environment, and no Linux desktop client is shipped.
- The iOS and Android apps are clients for a cloud assistant; they do not run a local assistant on the phone.
Key features
Orq.ai
- AI Gateway
- One OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible API for 500+ models from 30+ providers, with fallbacks, retries, caching and load balancing.
- MCP Gateway
- Routes calls to remote MCP servers under the same policies as model traffic, and traces each tool call.
- Observability
- Every request becomes a trace with cost, tokens, latency and payloads, with OpenTelemetry ingestion and alerts.
- Managed agents
- An agent runtime with sub-agents, tools, knowledge bases, memory stores, prompt management, evaluators and scheduled runs.
- Governance and guardrails
- Budgets, PII redaction, guardrail rules and model restrictions, with audit logs, EU hosting and EU AI Act tooling on the higher tier.
Vellum
- Long-term memory
- The assistant keeps facts, preferences and people in a personal knowledge base and recalls them across conversations. On your own machine the workspace is plain-text files plus a SQLite database.
- Skills for your work tools
- Built-in skills and OAuth integrations cover Google Workspace, Outlook, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, HubSpot, Asana and Todoist. More skills come from a catalog or are written yourself.
- Permission prompts
- Sensitive actions such as file access, shell commands or emailing a new contact show an Allow or Deny prompt with a risk badge until you create a trust rule for them.
- One assistant on every channel
- The same identity, memory and schedules are available from the web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android apps, a CLI, Telegram, Slack, email, voice and phone calls.
- Computer and browser control
- The desktop app adds voice input and computer control, and a Chrome extension lets the assistant read open tabs, fill in forms and act on the page in front of you.
- Cloud, local or self-hosted
- Run it in Vellum Cloud, locally on a Mac or Windows PC, or self-hosted on a Linux host or your own Google Cloud project, bringing your own model API key.
Plans
Orq.ai
Pay-as-you-go€0
Unlimited requests with your own provider keys; 4.5% fee on credits when using Orq.ai's keys. Extra spans, data, seats and agent runs are metered.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds AI governance, audit logs, on-prem and VPC options, SOC 2 report, custom DPA, uptime SLA and Slack or Teams support.
Vellum
Base$0
Free forever: a Small cloud machine (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM), 6 GiB of storage and managed model access paid for with pay-as-you-go credits.
Self-hosted$0
The open-source runtime on your own Mac, Windows PC, Linux host or GCP project, with your own model API key and no platform or machine fees.
Mighty$30
per month
Small machine, 10 GiB of storage and a monthly Mighty Usage allowance. Leaves out the custom subdomain, static IP and priority support.
CustomFrom $50
per month
Pick a machine size, storage tier and optional usage bundle yourself. The minimum is a Medium machine with 10 GiB and no usage bundle.
Super$100
per month
Medium machine (2.5 vCPU, 5 GiB), 30 GiB of storage and Super Usage, plus an assistant email, custom subdomain, static IP and priority support.
Ultra$200
per month
Large machine (4 vCPU, 8 GiB), 60 GiB of storage and Ultra Usage, with the same assistant email, subdomain and support as Super.
Ways to pay less
Orq.ai
- Startups
Startup, academic, NGO and open-source discounts
The pay-as-you-go plan notes discounts for startups, academic users, NGOs and open-source projects; terms are not shown on the page.
Vellum
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Orq.ai or Vellum?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Orq.ai starts at €35 per extra seat / month beyond the 10 included, plus usage, and Vellum starts at $30 per month (Mighty). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Orq.ai or Vellum?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Orq.ai and Vellum have a free plan.
Which platforms do Orq.ai and Vellum run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Vellum lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps and a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.