Helicone
What is Helicone?
Helicone is an AI gateway and observability platform for AI teams that routes LLM traffic, caches responses, enforces rate limits, and falls back when providers misbehave. It adds traces, sessions, user analytics, alerts, reports, and queryable logs with HQL, and it integrates with OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, LiteLLM, OpenRouter, and Gemini. Plans run Hobby free, Pro $79/month, Team $799/month, and Enterprise custom.
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At a glance
- Helicone is best for AI teams that need observability, routing, and cost control across multiple LLM providers.
- Hobby Free; Pro $79; Team $799; Enterprise Custom
- 7 days, no credit card
What does Helicone do?
Helicone routes LLM traffic through an AI gateway that can cache responses, enforce rate limits, and fall back automatically when a provider misbehaves. Its dashboard then turns those requests into traces, sessions, user analytics, alerts, reports, and queryable logs with HQL, so teams can spot failures and cost spikes without stitching together separate tools. The platform is built around provider flexibility, with integrations for OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, LiteLLM, Anyscale, Together AI, OpenRouter, and Gemini. At scale, Helicone says more than 1,000 AI teams use it, with 9.8 billion requests processed and 2.4 trillion tokens a month. It also supports self-hosting and enterprise deployment, including on-prem options, SAML SSO, and custom MSAs. Customer stories show DeepAI, Brand.dev, Sunrun, Greptile, and Wordware, while the site also points to SOC 2 and HIPAA coverage for higher-tier plans.
Why use Helicone?
- Helicone combines gateway routing with observability, so teams can control traffic and inspect failures in one workflow.
- Its provider flexibility reduces lock-in when you need to switch between model vendors or run multi-provider setups.
- Self-hosting and on-prem deployment support make it workable for teams with stricter infrastructure requirements.
- Usage analytics, alerts, and HQL help teams move from raw logs to actionable debugging and cost analysis.
- The platform is already used by 1,000+ AI teams and has processed 9.8 billion requests, which signals operational maturity.
Who is Helicone for?
- LLM platform engineers who need one gateway for routing, caching, and fallback behavior.
- Product teams shipping AI features who want request-level visibility and alerting.
- Founders and operators who need to track usage, errors, and spend across providers.
- Enterprise engineering teams that need self-hosting, SSO, and compliance controls.
- Developers debugging agent workflows who need traces, sessions, and queryable logs.
What are Helicone's key features?
AI Gateway Routing
Route requests across OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, LiteLLM, and OpenRouter to compare providers and keep traffic moving when one model underperforms.
Smart & Speedy LLM Routing
Send prompts to the best-fit model from 100+ models, including Gemini and Together AI, so teams can balance quality, latency, and cost.
Trace and debug
Inspect traces end to end to find failing prompts and model behavior faster, reducing debugging time across 9.8 billion processed requests.
Get complete visibility
Track 63.4 million users and 2.4 trillion monthly tokens with request-level visibility, helping teams understand usage and spot anomalies early.
Rate Limits
Set request controls to prevent runaway usage and protect budgets when traffic spikes across supported providers like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Alerts
Trigger alerts and reports when usage or errors cross thresholds, so teams can respond before issues affect production AI apps.
Filter by Provider
Slice logs by provider across OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, and Gemini to compare reliability, latency, and cost by vendor.
Filter by Model
Filter traces by model across 300+ models to isolate regressions, benchmark outputs, and choose the right model for each task.
What does Helicone integrate with?
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Azure
- LiteLLM
- Anyscale
- Together AI
- OpenRouter
- Gemini
- TogetherAI
What are Helicone's use cases?
Platform routing for AI engineers
LLM platform engineers use Helicone to send requests through a single control layer, using AI Gateway Routing and Smart & Speedy LLM Routing to direct traffic across providers and keep fallback behavior predictable. They can also apply Rate Limits to protect downstream APIs during spikes.
Debugging agent workflows
Developers debugging agent workflows use Helicone to inspect failures and replay behavior with Trace and debug and Get complete visibility. They can narrow issues by Filter by Provider or Filter by Model, then Share the trace with teammates to speed up root-cause analysis.
Usage tracking for operators
Founders and operators use Helicone to monitor spend, errors, and request volume across AI providers, relying on Monitor and Alerts to catch regressions before they become costly. Actionable insights and custom properties help them tie usage patterns back to products, customers, or internal teams.
Enterprise controls for teams
Enterprise engineering teams use Helicone to centralize AI observability while keeping deployment and access controls in place. With self-hosting support, Rate Limits, and Alerts, they can enforce internal policies and maintain oversight without losing visibility into production traffic.
How does Helicone work?
- Connect your first model provider in AI Gateway Routing, then choose where traffic should go with Route and Smart & Speedy LLM Routing so requests can fail over cleanly.
- Turn on Trace and debug to capture each request, then use Get complete visibility to inspect prompts, responses, latency, and errors from one place.
- Set Rate Limits and Alerts to catch runaway usage early, and Monitor spend or failures as traffic grows across teams and environments.
- Filter by Provider or Filter by Model to isolate patterns, then use custom properties and Actionable insights to understand which apps, customers, or workflows are driving cost.
- Share traces and logs with teammates, and keep the same workflow running in production with caching and self-hosting when you need tighter control.
How much does Helicone cost?
Hobby
Free- Kickstart your AI project.
- 10,000 free requests
- 1 GB storage
- 1 seat, 1 organization
Pro
$79- Pro
- For growing teams.
- Everything in Hobby
- Unlimited seats
- Alerts & reports
- HQL (Query Language)
- Usage-based pricing applies
Team
$799- Everything in Pro
- 5 organizations
- SOC-2 & HIPAA compliance
- Dedicated Slack channel
- Usage-based pricing applies
Enterprise
Contact us- Custom-built packages.
- Everything in Team
- Custom MSA
- SAML SSO
- On-prem deployment
- Bulk cloud discounts
- Contact us
Frequently asked questions
What is Helicone?
Helicone is an AI gateway and observability platform for AI teams that routes LLM traffic, caches responses, enforces rate limits, and falls back when providers misbehave. It adds traces, sessions, user analytics, alerts, reports, and queryable logs with HQL, and it integrates with OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, LiteLLM, OpenRouter, and Gemini. Plans run Hobby free, Pro $79/month, Team $799/month, and Enterprise custom.
How much does Helicone cost? Is it free?
Helicone has a free plan, with paid tiers including Pro at $79, Team at $799, Enterprise at Contact us. A 7-day free trial is available.
What is Helicone used for? Who is it for?
Helicone is used for AI Gateway Routing, Smart & Speedy LLM Routing, and Trace and debug. It's built for LLM platform engineers, Product teams shipping AI features, and Founders and operators.
Does Helicone have an API and what does it integrate with?
Helicone doesn't publish a public API. It integrates with OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, LiteLLM, Anyscale, and 4 more.
Editor's read
Check whether the Pro plan's usage-based pricing and the Team plan's 5-organization limit match your expected request volume and account structure. If you need SAML SSO, on-prem deployment, or a custom MSA, those are reserved for Enterprise.
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