Helicone
Open-source LLM observability and monitoring platform for AI applications with request logging, caching, and cost tracking across all major providers.
Overview
Helicone is an open-source LLM observability platform that provides comprehensive monitoring, logging, and cost tracking for AI applications. With a single line of code integration, developers can track every request, cache responses, monitor costs, and analyze performance across OpenAI, Anthropic, and 100+ other providers. Trusted by thousands of developers, Helicone offers real-time alerts, prompt management, and detailed analytics to help teams build more reliable and cost-effective AI applications.
The Verdict
Who Should Use Helicone?
Best For
- Developers building production LLM applications who need observability
- Teams wanting to track and reduce AI API costs across multiple providers
- Startups that need powerful monitoring with a generous free tier
- Organizations requiring self-hosted, open-source LLMOps solutions
Not Ideal For
- Users who only need basic logging without analytics features
- Teams that prefer fully managed enterprise-only solutions
What's Great
- One-line integration with minimal code changes required
- Open-source with self-hosting option for data privacy
- Built-in caching can reduce API costs by up to 90%
- Supports 100+ LLM providers with unified interface
- Real-time cost tracking and usage alerts
- Generous free tier for startups and small projects
Watch Out For
- Smaller community compared to enterprise monitoring solutions
- Advanced features like custom dashboards require paid plans
- Documentation could be more comprehensive for complex use cases
Team Budget & Governance
Helicone is the visibility-first choice. With a one-line integration it gives you per-request cost tracking and per-user breakdowns across 100+ providers — the fastest way to answer "where is the money going?" before committing to a heavier architecture.
The important caveat: Helicone primarily observes, it doesn't enforce. There are no hard per-user spend caps that block requests at a limit. If your goal is enforcement rather than visibility, pair it with — or move to — a proxy like LiteLLM, Portkey, or Cloudflare AI Gateway. Note also that Helicone was acquired by Mintlify in early 2026, so its long-term roadmap is uncertain.
Pricing
View all features & details
Key Features
- Request logging and tracing across all LLM providers
- Built-in caching to reduce costs and latency
- Real-time cost tracking and budget alerts
- Prompt management and versioning
- User analytics and session tracking
- Custom properties and metadata tagging
- Rate limiting and retry logic
- A/B testing for prompts
Platforms
- Python, Node.js, TypeScript SDKs
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, Google Vertex AI
- Self-hosted or cloud deployment
- REST API for custom integrations
How It Compares
| Feature | Helicone | LiteLLM Proxy | Portkey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Self-Hosting | Yes | Yes | No |
| Free Tier | 10K req/mo | Unlimited (OSS) | 10K req/mo |
| Starting Price | $20/mo | Pay-per-use | $99/mo |
| Caching | Built-in | Yes | Yes |
| Providers | 100+ | 100+ | 250+ |
| Best For | Cost-conscious teams | Developers needing flexibility | Enterprise teams |