What is Helicone?
Helicone is an LLMOps platform that sits between your application and LLM providers. It works as an AI gateway and observability layer: you route requests through it, and it records them so you can monitor performance, costs and behavior. The text says it is integrated with providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, LiteLLM, Anyscale, Together AI and OpenRouter, and that it is built to be a one-line integration.
Once connected, you can inspect requests, group them into sessions and user segments, and query your data with HQL (a query language). You can also work on prompts in a playground, manage prompt versions, run scores and datasets for evaluation, set rate limits and alerts, use caching, and configure automatic fallbacks between providers.
Key features
- AI gateway with caching, rate limits and automatic fallbacks
- Request logging, sessions and user analytics
- HQL query language for analyzing requests
- Prompt management, playground, scores and datasets
- Alerts, reports and webhooks
- One-line integration with major LLM providers
Who is it for
- Developers building LLM-powered applications
- AI engineering and LLMOps teams
- Startups and companies scaling AI products
Pros and cons
- Quick integration with multiple LLM providers
- Open-source, according to the comparison section
- Usage-based pricing with a free tier
- Usage-based costs apply on top of plan prices
- Free plan has limited requests, logs per minute and retention
Helicone pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | 0 USD / month | 10,000 requests, 1 GB storage, 1 seat, 1 organization, 7-day retention |
| Pro | 79 USD / month | Unlimited seats, alerts and reports, HQL, usage-based pricing applies, 7-day free trial, 1 organization, 1,000 logs/min, 1-month retention |
| Team | 799 USD / month | 5 organizations, SOC-2 and HIPAA compliance, dedicated Slack channel, usage-based pricing applies, 7-day free trial, 3-month retention |
Prices copied from Helicone pricing, checked October 12, 2026. Currency as shown by the vendor; taxes may apply.
Is Helicone free?
Yes, there is a free plan. Hobby plan: 10,000 free requests per month, 1 GB storage, 1 seat, 1 organization, 7-day retention, 10 logs/min, 10 API calls/min, community support. A 7-day free trial is offered for paid plans.
Helicone alternatives
| Tool | Price from | Free plan | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
 Arize Phoenix | 50 USD/mo | yes | APIs & models |
 LLM | not listed | yes | APIs & models |
 Together AI | not listed | ? | APIs & models |
 OpenRouter | not listed | yes | APIs & models |
 Groq | not listed | ? | APIs & models |
 Google AI Studio | 0,75 USD | ? | APIs & models |
All alternatives to Helicone →
FAQ
What is Helicone used for?
LLMOps platform for routing, monitoring, debugging and analyzing LLM requests in AI apps, aimed at developers and teams.
Is Helicone free?
Yes, there is a free plan. Hobby plan: 10,000 free requests per month, 1 GB storage, 1 seat, 1 organization, 7-day retention, 10 logs/min, 10 API calls/min, community support. A 7-day free trial is offered for paid plans.
How much does Helicone cost?
The cheapest paid plan is 79 USD/mo (vendor pricing, October 12, 2026).
What are the best Helicone alternatives?
Closest alternatives: Arize Phoenix, LLM, Together AI, OpenRouter, Groq.
Data checked October 12, 2026 on the vendor website (helicone.ai).