Compare
AI governance control plane vs AI gateway
An AI gateway routes model or tool traffic and applies policy to what passes through it, so it only sees apps that were reconfigured to use it. An AI governance control plane keeps an inventory of every agent with an owner and limits, including employees on ChatGPT or Claude in the browser who never touch the gateway; the two work best together.
- AI governance control plane
- One place that knows every agent in the company, who owns it and what it is allowed to do, and keeps the audit trail. Lustena is an AI governance control plane.
Definition
- AI gateway or MCP gateway
- A proxy that routes model or tool traffic, such as LiteLLM or Kong, and applies policy to the traffic that passes through it.
Definition
When to pick each
AI governance control plane or AI gateway
AI governance control plane
AI gateway
Pick it when
AI governance control plane
You need to know which agents exist across the company, including web AI apps and coding assistants, who owns each one and what limit applies.
AI gateway
You run your own apps against model or tool APIs and want routing, keys and policy in one place in the request path.
Governance
AI governance control plane
Versioned limits per agent, whether or not its traffic passes through a gateway.
AI gateway
Policy on the requests it routes, applied in the path.
Security
AI governance control plane
On-device classification of what employees send to AI apps in the browser, plus red-team scans of your own agents.
AI gateway
Controls on the traffic it proxies. Employees using ChatGPT or Claude on the web never pass through it.
Observability
AI governance control plane
Sessions per app, team and agent across browser, SDK and connectors, including model and volume through the LiteLLM connector.
AI gateway
Detailed request data for the traffic routed through it, and only that traffic.
Deployment
AI governance control plane
A browser extension by policy, a Python SDK and an MCP server. Nothing is reconfigured inside the agents.
AI gateway
Apps are reconfigured to send their traffic through the gateway.
Capability matrix
Side by side
AI gateway capabilities describe the category as a whole, drawn from public documentation for gateways such as LiteLLM and Kong as of October 2026; individual products vary. We build Lustena and LiteLLM is a Lustena connector, so read us as an interested party.
Sources: LiteLLM documentation; Kong.
- Offered
- Partial or preview
- Not documented
- Not offered
| Capability | AI governance control plane | AI gateway |
|---|---|---|
| What each one sees | ||
| Employees using ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini on the web | Offered Browser extension | Not offered Web traffic does not pass through it |
| Apps and agents that call model APIs | Offered Python SDK, LiteLLM connector | Offered When routed through it |
| Claude Code, Cursor and Codex | Offered MCP server | Partial or preview When configured to route through it |
| Works without reconfiguring apps | Offered | Not offered |
| What each one does | ||
| Routes model or tool traffic | Not offered | Offered |
| Applies policy inline on routed traffic | Not offered | Offered |
| Inventory of every agent, each with a named owner | Offered | Not documented |
| Versioned limits per agent in six dimensions | Offered | Not documented |
| Evidence packages mapped to GDPR, EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001, NIST AI RMF, AIUC-1 and LGPD | Offered | Not documented |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an AI governance control plane and an AI gateway?
A gateway is in the request path and governs the traffic routed through it. A control plane is not in the path: it knows every agent, its owner and its limits, wherever the agent runs, and keeps one audit trail.
When is an AI gateway the better choice?
When the problem is your own apps calling model or tool APIs: routing between providers, managing keys and applying policy inline on every request. A control plane does not route traffic.
Do I need both?
Most teams do. The gateway handles the traffic your apps send; the control plane covers everything else, including employees on web AI apps, and ties the gateway's traffic to agents with owners and limits.
Does Lustena work with LiteLLM?
Yes. LiteLLM is a Lustena connector: model and volume per agent flow from LiteLLM into the same inventory and audit trail.
Why can a gateway not see ChatGPT or Claude on the web?
Because employees using those apps in the browser talk to the vendor directly. Their traffic never passes through a gateway you run, so it needs a sensor where the work happens, which is the browser.