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Vellum review

Updated September 28, 2026 · DeployCue Editorial Team · Facts checked September 26, 2026

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Our verdict

Vellum suits teams that want prompt development, evaluation and model calls in the same workspace rather than a bare router. It starts with a free tier, moves to paid Vellum Cloud tiers, and supports bring your own key.

Key facts

Best for
Teams building and testing LLM apps that want a free start and their own model keys
Fee model
Freemium subscription: free to download and start; Vellum Cloud plans $30/month (Mighty), $100/month (Super), $200/month (Ultra), plus a $10/mo base fee on Super and Ultra, and prepaid credits at $1 per credit, $1 = 1 credit; self-hosting free of platform fee↗
Bring your own key
Yes↗
Free tier
Yes↗
Headquarters
United States↗
Support channels
Email, Help-centre, Community↗
Official website
vellum.ai

Facts checked September 26, 2026, 3 sources

Apps and profiles

Get the app
App StoreGoogle Play
Elsewhere
Xgithub.com

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Bring your own key is supported, so model spend stays with your provider account
  • A free tier lets you download the platform and start before paying anything
  • Self-hosting is free of platform fee
  • Cloud tiers sit alongside prepaid credits, so usage and platform cost are billed apart

Cons

  • Paid Vellum Cloud tiers add a base fee on top of the plan price on Super and Ultra
  • Prepaid credits are bought separately from the subscription
  • Support runs on email, help centre and community only, with no phone channel among them
Vellum

Ready to try Vellum?

Scored 9.1 / 10 by DeployCue.

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Who it suits

  • Developers prototyping prompts and evaluations before a launch
  • Teams already holding provider keys who want that spend to stay in-house
  • Small teams that want a free start and can run the platform themselves

Who should look elsewhere

  • Teams wanting a plain pay per token gateway, where LiteLLM self-hosting stays free
  • Buyers who want a flat subscription with no separate credit top-up, where Salad bills flat or per token
  • People who want a per user private network priced up front, where Supascale AI sets out its own terms

Plans, egress and billing

Vellum runs on a freemium subscription: downloading it and getting started is free, and a free tier is included. Vellum Cloud adds paid tiers named Mighty, Super and Ultra, and Super and Ultra each carry a base fee on top of the plan price. Model usage is bought apart from the subscription through prepaid credits. Self-hosting is free of platform fee.

The company behind it

Vellum is headquartered in the United States, so its terms of use are governed by that jurisdiction. Support runs on email, help centre and community, with questions handled by email, through the help centre or in the community. Teams based elsewhere should read the terms of use before a rollout, since contracting and data handling follow the governing jurisdiction.

How Vellum compares

Where Vellum is available

Available
Everywhere except Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria

Countries from the brand (Source, checked September 26, 2026)

Frequently asked questions

Does Vellum have a free tier?+

Yes. Vellum describes a freemium subscription where the download and the start are free, and a free tier is included. Paid Vellum Cloud tiers are only needed once a team wants the hosted control plane rather than a self-hosted install.

What do the Vellum Cloud plans cost?+

Vellum Cloud sells paid tiers named Mighty, Super and Ultra. Super and Ultra each add a base fee on top of the plan price, so the higher tiers cost more than the subscription price alone. Self-hosting stays free of platform fee.

How are model calls paid for?+

Model usage runs through prepaid credits bought separately from the Cloud plan, so a subscription and a credit top-up are separate line items. Each dollar of credit balance buys a single credit of usage.

Can I bring my own model keys?+

Yes, bring your own key is supported. Model spend then runs through your own provider accounts, and the Vellum plan covers the platform and evaluation tooling rather than the token usage itself.

Is self-hosting really free?+

Self-hosting is free of platform fee, which makes it the cheapest way to run Vellum. The Vellum Cloud plan tiers are what you pay for when you want the hosted version instead, on top of any prepaid credits.

Where is Vellum based?+

Vellum is headquartered in the United States, and its terms of use are governed by that jurisdiction. Teams based elsewhere should read those terms before a rollout, since contracting and data handling follow the governing jurisdiction.

How do I get help from Vellum?+

Support runs on email, help centre and community, so you reach the team by email, through the help centre or in the community. A phone channel is not among them, which matters if you want voice support during an incident.

Sources

  • vellum.ai/docs/llms.txt checked September 26, 2026

    Backs: Support channels

    “Get help with Vellum - community, GitHub issues, email support, and what information to include.”

  • vellum.ai/docs/vellum-terms-of-use checked September 26, 2026

    Backs: Bring your own key, Headquarters

    “The Services may require you to provide API keys or credentials ("API Keys") for certain Third-Party Services.”

  • vellum.ai/pricing checked September 26, 2026

    Backs: Fee model, Free tier

    “Vellum is free to download and start. If you choose Vellum Cloud, subscription plans start at $30/month (Mighty), $100/month (Super), or $200/month (Ultra) with dedicated compute, storage, and...”

Compiled from 3 source pages, checked September 26, 2026. We did not open an account.

Not confirmed yet: Providers routed.

Vellum

Vellum

Teams building and testing LLM apps that want a free start and their own model keys

9.1/10See alternatives