Helicone
An open-source observability platform that logs and analyses LLM calls through a proxy.
Helicone observes model usage with minimal effort: route calls through its proxy (often a one-line change) and it logs requests, costs, latency, and errors, with dashboards and caching on top.
The proxy approach makes it one of the quickest ways to get visibility into model spend and behaviour, and it self-hosts.
Where it fits
A fit when you want fast, low-effort visibility into model calls, costs, and latency through a simple proxy.
Where it does not fit
Proxy-based logging is less suited to deep, nested agent traces than a tracing-first tool.
Alternatives to Helicone
The closest options on the map, and where each fits instead.
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Langfuse LLM observability
A strong default whenever an AI system reaches production and you need to see what it actually did, call by call.
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Lunary LLM observability
A fit when you want observability and versioned prompt management together, in a self-hostable tool.
Unlike Helicone Maturity: growing
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Opik LLM observability
A fit when you want an open-source, self-hostable platform spanning tracing, evals, and production monitoring.
Unlike Helicone Maturity: growing
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LangSmith LLM observability
A natural fit when a project is built on LangChain or LangGraph and you want tracing and evals from the same ecosystem.
Unlike Helicone ProprietaryNot self-hostable
Pairs with
Commonly used alongside it.
