Side by side

Helicone vs OpenLLMetry

Both stand on llm observability tools. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Helicone

Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

Helicone brings routing and observability tools together, with a free tier and self-hosting options. Its maintenance-mode status is worth weighing when considering it for a new deployment.

Visit Helicone

OpenLLMetry combines tracing, token cost tracking, and integrations for LLM applications in a free, Apache-2.0-licensed project. Check the seat and retention limits, default content logging, and Traceloop requirement for multi-modal visualization against your needs.

Visit OpenLLMetry

The facts

	Helicone	OpenLLMetry
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	API, Self-hosted, Web	API, Self-hosted, Web
Lowest paid plan	Pro: $79 a month	Free or on request
Plans published	4	2
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	helicone.ai	traceloop.com
On llm observability tools	#18 of 26	#23 of 26

Helicone: what it does well

Gateway access to more than 100 models
Supports load balancing, failovers, and response caching
Offers cloud and self-hosted deployment
Free Hobby plan and seven-day trial

What to know first

Hobby retention is seven days
Pro costs $79 a month
Services are in maintenance mode

OpenLLMetry: what it does well

OpenTelemetry-based tracing can export to existing observability stacks.
SDK guides cover Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Go, and Ruby.
Tracks LLM, agent, and retrieval activity plus token costs.
Free Forever includes up to 50K spans per month.
Self-hosting supports on-premise and restricted environments.

What to know first

Content logging is enabled by default.
Multi-modal trace visualization currently requires Traceloop.
Media files over 10MB may be truncated or linked.
Free Forever is limited to five seats and 24-hour retention.

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