Home / Comparisons
Langfuse vs Helicone
Quick verdict
Key difference: Langfuse is OpenTelemetry-native (no lock-in) while Helicone uses a proprietary SDK.
Side-by-side comparison from the Agent Observability Index: licensing, self-hosting, pricing model and integrations — no vendor copy, primary sources linked.
| Langfuse | Helicone | |
|---|---|---|
| One-liner | Open-source (MIT) LLM engineering platform combining tracing, prompt management, evals and datasets, widely used as the default self-hosted observability stack. | Proxy/gateway-based LLM logging with one-line setup, unified cost and latency visibility across providers; now under Mintlify ownership. |
| Category | Observability & Tracing | Observability & Tracing |
| OpenTelemetry-native | Yes | No |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Pricing notes | Free Hobby tier (50k units/mo); Core $29/mo, Pro $199/mo, unlimited users on paid tiers; MIT core fully self-hostable | Free tier + per-seat paid plans; reported in maintenance mode after Mintlify acquisition (Mar 2026) |
| Frameworks | langchain, openai-sdk, llamaindex, litellm, opentelemetry, vercel-ai, haystack | openai-sdk, anthropic, langchain, litellm, vercel-ai |
| GitHub stars | 29k | 5.8k |
| Maturity (GitHub signal) | 90/100 (Mature) | 97/100 (Mature) |
| Funding / ownership | YC W23; $4M seed (Lightspeed, La Famiglia) | YC W23; acquired by Mintlify (Mar 2026) |
How to choose
- Both link to primary pricing sources below — verify current tiers before committing; this market shifts monthly.
Frequently asked questions
Is Langfuse or Helicone open source?
Langfuse: Yes. Helicone: Yes.
Can Langfuse and Helicone be self-hosted?
Langfuse: Yes. Helicone: Yes.
Langfuse vs Helicone: which should I choose?
Key difference: Langfuse is OpenTelemetry-native (no lock-in) while Helicone uses a proprietary SDK.