Helicone review

Helicone is an open-source gateway and observability platform for applications that use large language models. It routes requests to more than 100 models through one API key, and records request and response data so teams can inspect usage and troubleshoot issues. The product offers a managed cloud service and can also be self-hosted.

Its observability tools track latency, token use, errors, and costs. Teams can filter metrics by model, user, session, or custom properties, and inspect multi-step agent workflows, chains, and stateful interactions. Helicone also includes prompt versioning and deployment through the gateway, plus a UI playground for testing prompts, sessions, and traces. Caching can use Redis or S3, and request, token, or dollar-budget limits can be set.

In short, Helicone combines request routing with monitoring and debugging tools. It is not just a dashboard for reviewing LLM usage after the fact: the gateway sits in the request path and can also manage prompts, caching, and limits.

Helicone’s main draw is combining routing and observability in one layer. A single API key can route requests to more than 100 models, with failover and zero percent markup, according to the product details. That gives teams a way to centralize model traffic without treating monitoring and routing as separate systems.

The recorded request data also gives teams several useful ways to investigate behavior. Usage metrics include latency, token use, errors, and costs, with filters for model, user, session, or custom properties. For agent applications, the tracing view is designed to expose chains, multi-step workflows, and stateful interactions. Prompt versioning and deployment through the gateway can reduce the need to change application code when updating prompts.

• The prompt playground supports testing prompts, sessions, and traces.
• Caching supports Redis or S3, and limits can be set by requests, tokens, or dollar budget.
• The Hobby plan costs $0 per month and includes 10,000 requests, 1 GB of storage, one seat, one organization, and seven-day data retention.

The feature mix is broad for teams that want a shared gateway and an inspection layer, rather than separate tools for every task.

The free plan is tightly capped: 10,000 requests, 1 GB of storage, one seat and organization, and seven-day data retention. Pro costs $79 per month and raises the limits to one month of retention, 1,000 logs per minute, and 10 API calls per minute; it includes unlimited seats but only one organization. Team jumps to $799 per month for five organizations, three months of retention, and 15,000 logs per minute. The listed Team plan includes SOC-2 and HIPAA compliance.

Costs above the included request and storage amounts are usage-based, but the rates are not published. Annual billing and its rates are also not published. Enterprise pricing is custom and not listed, though the plan includes unlimited organizations, forever data retention, 30,000 logs per minute, 1,000 API calls per minute, and SAML SSO. That makes it harder to forecast costs before contacting sales or exceeding included amounts.

There is also a maintenance concern to weigh. One Reddit thread reports that Helicone was acquired by Mintlify and says the project is reportedly moving into maintenance mode, with security updates continuing but active feature development likely over. That is a user report, not confirmation from the published pricing information.

Helicone has a free Hobby plan, then paid plans at $79/month for Pro and $799/month for Team, according to the pricing page. That’s a $720 monthly jump: Team costs about 10 times as much as Pro, so the tier break matters more than the free entry point.

Hobby includes 10,000 requests, 1 GB of storage, one seat and organization, and seven-day data retention. Pro has unlimited seats but one organization, one month of retention, and caps of 1,000 logs/min ingestion and 10 API calls/min. Team allows five organizations, three months of retention, and 15,000 logs/min; it also lists SOC-2 and HIPAA compliance. Enterprise pricing isn’t published; its listed limits include 30,000 logs/min and 1,000 API calls/min.

The page lists monthly prices only; annual rates aren’t published. A seven-day free trial is listed, but its terms aren’t specified. Requests and storage above plan allowances incur usage-based charges, and those rates aren’t published. That makes overage costs hard to budget in advance.

Helicone’s gateway routes requests to more than 100 models through one API key. That may simplify initial integration, but switching away could mean replacing any Helicone features your app relies on, including analytics, agent traces, prompt versions, caching, or limits. The exact code changes and migration time aren’t published, so we wouldn’t assume a cutover is trivial.

Helicone is open source and can be self-hosted as an alternative to its managed cloud service. But the published materials don’t say which export formats are available or whether logs, prompts, and traces can all be exported. Check data portability before relying on Helicone to store information you’ll need elsewhere.

Our verdict flags a reported slowdown in development, but no Reddit posts or comments were provided. We can’t verify that report or claim to know what Reddit users cite as reasons for leaving. Published overage rates and confirmed active development are also unresolved in the available information.