Is Helicone open source?

Helicone's core is licensed under Apache 2.0, so it can be self-hosted.

How much does Helicone cost?

There is a free tier. Paid plans are listed on the pricing page, and the figures should be checked there before relying on them.

Does Helicone have guardrails?

This directory has not verified guardrail support, so check Helicone's documentation.

Helicone

Open-source LLM observability with an OpenAI-compatible gateway

Open-source proxyHosted or self-hostedFree tier · paid plans on the pricing pageApache 2.0 licenseSelf-hostable with Docker ComposeHosted or self-hosted

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What is Helicone?

Helicone is an open-source LLM observability platform. Its gateway gives an OpenAI-compatible endpoint in front of many providers, and every request is logged with cost and latency so you can analyse usage.

Reported gateway features include fallbacks and caching. Hosted plan prices differ between sources, so confirm current rates on the pricing page before budgeting.

Key features

Core capabilities this platform advertises.

OpenAI-compatible gateway in front of many providers
Request logs, analytics and cost tracking
Fallbacks and caching
Apache 2.0 open-source core you can self-host

Strengths and tradeoffs

What this tool does well, and the limitations to keep in mind.

Pros

Observability is the core product
Open-source core with a Docker Compose setup

Cons

Guardrails and load balancing are not verified here
Hosted pricing should be confirmed on the pricing page

Plans & pricing

What's included in each plan, and how the tiers compare.

Free

Free tier to get started

Paid plans

See pricing

Higher request volume and team features

Fee on tokens: See pricing page

View pricing

Common use cases

Helicone fits teams that want detailed request logs and analytics alongside a gateway.

Apps that need request logs and cost analytics from the start
Teams that want to self-host logging and the gateway

Helicone and Spro

Both are LLM gateways, with different strengths. Here is how they fit.

Where Spro can help

Spro adds guardrails, sensitive-data protection and output validation on every request.
Spro's observability covers traces across an agent run as well as usage logs.

Where Helicone is stronger

Observability is the core product
Open-source core with a Docker Compose setup

Read the full Spro vs Helicone comparison

Helicone integrations

Tools, SDKs and platforms that Helicone works with.

OpenAI-compatible SDKsDocker Compose and Kubernetes (Helm chart on request)

Helicone FAQs

Common questions about Helicone.

0% markup on tokens

See how Spro compares

Spro is an OpenAI-compatible gateway with failover, caching, guardrails and tracing built in, 0% markup on tokens and a free trial, so you can test it with your own traffic before deciding.