Helicone
Open-source LLM observability — one-line proxy, full request logs, cost tracking.
Visit Helicone Free 100k requests/mo, Pro $25/mo
Quick verdict
- Best for
- Indie hackers tracking AI costs
- Pricing
- Free 100k requests/mo, Pro $25/mo
- Not ideal if
- Proxy approach adds tiny latency
What is Helicone?
Helicone is the open-source observability platform for LLM applications. Add one line to your code (point requests through their proxy) and get full request logs, cost tracking, latency monitoring, and caching. Free self-hosted; cheap hosted tier.
Key features
- One-line proxy integration
- Full request + response logs
- Cost tracking per user / per endpoint
- Prompt caching built-in
- Open source self-host
- OpenAI / Anthropic / multi-provider
Pros
- Easiest LLM observability to set up
- Open source — self-hostable for free
- Caching saves serious money at scale
Cons
- Proxy approach adds tiny latency
- Eval features less mature than LangSmith
- UI less polished than competitors
Best for
Indie hackers tracking AI costsStartups shipping AI to productionTeams wanting OSS observabilityAnyone debugging an LLM bill
