---
title: "Helicone Pricing, Features & Alternatives (2026)"
description: "Helicone review: AI Gateways & LLM Proxies tool — Free tier, plans, pros & cons, and the best Helicone alternatives compared for startups in 2026."
source: https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/helicone
retrieved: 2026-10-14
---

![Helicone logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=helicone.ai&sz=128)

[AI Gateways & LLM Proxies](https://appstackbuilder.com/categories/ai-gateway)Free tier

# Helicone: Pricing, Features & Alternatives

Helicone started as LLM request logging and now ships an open-source AI gateway alongside it, with caching, rate limits and automatic fallbacks across providers. Every request is logged with cost, latency and the full prompt, and can be queried with its HQL query language. The Hobby plan is free for 10,000 requests a month with 7-day retention. Pro is $79/month (unlimited seats, alerts, one-month retention) and Team is $799/month (SOC 2, HIPAA, three-month retention), both usage-based after the first 10K requests. You can also self-host it.

Category

AI Gateways & LLM Proxies

Pricing

Free tier available

Free tier

Yes

Best for

AI Gateways & LLM Proxies — llm-observability, open-source

[Visit Helicone official site](https://www.helicone.ai)

## Helicone Pricing Plans (2026)

| Plan       | Price                | Highlights                                            |
| ---------- | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Hobby      | $0                   | 10,000 requests / month · 1 seat · 7-day retention    |
| ProPopular | $79 / month + usage  | Unlimited seats · Alerts and reports · HQL queries    |
| Team       | $799 / month + usage | 5 organizations · SOC 2 and HIPAA · 3-month retention |
| Enterprise | Custom               | SAML SSO · On-prem deployment · Forever retention     |

Pricing summary: Free · paid from $79/mo. Always confirm current pricing on the official site.

## Key Helicone Features

* ✓Unlimited seats
* ✓Alerts and reports
* ✓HQL queries
* ✓1-month retention

### ✓ Pros

* +Open source and self-hostable
* +Cost and latency logging on every request
* +Generous free tier

### ✗ Cons

* −Pro jumps to $799 for compliance features
* −Usage charges on top of the plan fee
* −Short retention on the free plan

## Best Helicone Alternatives

[Compare all ](https://appstackbuilder.com/tool-alternatives/helicone)

[![LiteLLM logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=litellm.ai&sz=128)LiteLLMFree · paid plans by quote](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/litellm)[![Portkey logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=portkey.ai&sz=128)PortkeyFree · paid from $49/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/portkey)[![Cloudflare AI Gateway logo](https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=cloudflare.com&sz=128)Cloudflare AI GatewayFree · paid from $5/mo](https://appstackbuilder.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-gateway)

## Helicone Compared

[Helicone vs LiteLLM](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/helicone-vs-litellm)[Helicone vs Portkey](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/helicone-vs-portkey)[Helicone vs Cloudflare AI Gateway](https://appstackbuilder.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-helicone)

[In-depth guideOpenRouter vs LiteLLM (2026): Hosted AI Gateway vs Open-Source LLM ProxyOpenRouter is a hosted service: one key, 500+ models, a 5.5% fee on credits. LiteLLM is MIT-licensed software you run yourself, with virtual keys and budgets per team. How each works, what the gateway costs at three spend levels, and why this site runs on OpenRouter.](https://appstackbuilder.com/blog/openrouter-vs-litellm-2026)

## Helicone FAQ

What is Helicone used for?⌄

Helicone is a ai gateways & llm proxies tool. Open-source AI gateway and LLM observability: route requests across providers with caching and fallbacks, and log every call.

Is Helicone free?⌄

Yes — Helicone has a free tier you can start with, and paid plans for more usage and features.

How much does Helicone cost?⌄

Helicone offers a free tier, with paid plans starting at $79/month. Some plans are usage-based (pay-as-you-go).

What are the best Helicone alternatives?⌄

Popular Helicone alternatives include LiteLLM, Portkey, Cloudflare AI Gateway. Compare pricing and features on our Helicone alternatives page.

## Not sure if Helicone fits your stack?

Get a free, AI-powered tech stack tailored to your budget, app type, and team size — including the best ai gateways & llm proxies pick for you.

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