Step-by-step guide

How to Migrate from OpenAI API to Multi-Model

Move beyond single-provider lock-in without rewriting your prompts. Keep OpenAI-style messages and unlock nine models from five providers.

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You only pay credits per request. No monthly subscription. Paid credits never expire.

Replace multiple AI subscriptions with one wallet that includes routing, failover, and optimization.

First success in 60 seconds

Step 01Sign up in 10 secondsGet 40 free credits Step 02Open your dashboardCreate API key Step 03Send first requestRun a sample

Why teams start here first

No monthly subscription

Pay-as-you-go credits

Start with trial credits, then buy only what you consume.

Failover safety

Production-ready routing

Auto fallback across providers when latency, quality, or reliability changes.

Data control

Your policy, your choice

BYOK and zero-retention mode keep training and storage scope explicit.

Single API experience

One key, multi-provider access

Use Chat/Compare/Blend/Judge/Failover from one dashboard.

Audit your current OpenAI usage

Export your OpenAI dashboard data to understand which models you call, your monthly token volume, average latency, and spend. Identify which endpoints use chat completions, embeddings, or function calling so you know exactly what needs to migrate. This baseline also helps you measure cost and quality improvements after the switch.

Swap your client call to LLMWise

Keep the same role/content messages, then move the call site to LLMWise (recommended via the official SDKs). This gives you a stable API contract plus routing/failover/orchestration features on top.

Test with Compare mode

Before committing to a full migration, use LLMWise Compare mode to run your top 50 production prompts against GPT-5.2 alongside Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Gemini 3 Flash in a single request. Review output quality, latency, and cost side by side to confirm that the multi-model gateway matches or exceeds your current OpenAI-only results.

Set up failover chains

Configure LLMWise Mesh mode with GPT-5.2 as your primary model and Claude Sonnet 4.5 as the first fallback. The built-in circuit breaker detects consecutive failures and routes around outages in under 200 milliseconds. This gives you the resilience that a single-provider setup cannot provide, with no additional infrastructure to manage.

Optimize routing over time

Enable LLMWise Optimization policies to analyze your request history and recommend model swaps that lower cost or latency. Tasks that do not need frontier-level reasoning can be automatically routed to cheaper models like DeepSeek V3, while complex prompts stay on GPT-5.2 or Claude. Re-run optimization monthly as provider pricing and capabilities evolve.

Evidence snapshot

How to Migrate from OpenAI API to Multi-Model execution map

Operational checklist coverage for teams implementing this workflow in production.

Steps

ordered implementation actions

Takeaways

core principles to retain

FAQs

execution concerns answered

Read time

10 min

estimated skim time

Key takeaways

✓Migration is a client swap, not a rewrite: keep messages, swap the call site to LLMWise.

✓Compare mode lets you validate multi-model quality against your real prompts before fully cutting over.

✓Adding failover and smart routing turns a simple migration into a measurable upgrade in reliability and cost efficiency.

Common questions

Do I need to change my OpenAI SDK code to use LLMWise?

You don’t need to rewrite prompts, but you do need to swap the call site to the LLMWise SDK (or call POST /api/v1/chat directly). The message format is familiar (role/content), but the endpoints and streaming event shape are native to LLMWise.

Can I still use my own OpenAI API key through LLMWise?

Yes. LLMWise supports Bring Your Own Key (BYOK). Add your OpenAI key in the dashboard and requests to GPT models route directly to OpenAI using your key. Those requests are billed to your OpenAI account instead of LLMWise wallet credits while still benefiting from failover and observability.

Will my prompts produce the same results through LLMWise?

When you target the same model (e.g., GPT-5.2), the output is identical because LLMWise forwards your request to OpenAI with the same parameters. The gateway does not modify prompts or responses.

How long does the migration take?

Most teams can be running test traffic within an hour: add the key, swap the client call, and validate key prompts. A full migration including Compare-mode validation, failover setup, and optimization tuning typically takes one to two hours for a production application.

One wallet, enterprise AI controls built in

You only pay credits per request. No monthly subscription. Paid credits never expire.

Replace multiple AI subscriptions with one wallet that includes routing, failover, and optimization.

Chat, Compare, Blend, Judge, MeshPolicy routing + replay labFailover without extra subscriptions

Start free with 40 credits See pricing examples

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