AI Tools · head to head
Arize AI vs Upstash

Arize AI
AI Tools
AI engineering platform for observability and evaluation of agents and LLM apps
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Arize AI the free plan caps trace spans at 25,000 per month with only 15 days of retention.; Upstash hTTP-based REST API only, no TCP connections means higher latency than self-hosted or connection-pooled Redis
- They diverge on capability: Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing, Upstash covers Serverless Redis.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Arize AI and Upstash actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Arize AI
- End-to-end tracing
- Evaluation framework
- Prompt testing and improvement
- Alyx AI engineering agent
- Custom dashboards
- Data warehouse integrations
Only in Upstash
- Serverless Redis
- Serverless Kafka
- QStash
- Global Replication
- REST API
- Edge Functions Support
- Rate Limiting
- Caching
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Arize AI
- Tracing and debugging production AI agentsnot Upstash
- Running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessionsnot Upstash
- Improving prompts before production rolloutnot Upstash
- Storing and querying GenAI traces alongside a data warehousenot Upstash
Upstash
- Cachingnot Arize AI
- Session storagenot Arize AI
- Real-time messagingnot Arize AI
- Rate limitingnot Arize AI
- Serverless backendsnot Arize AI
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Arize AI
- The free plan caps trace spans at 25,000 per month with only 15 days of retention.
- Self-hosted deployment and Data Fabric integration are restricted to the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
- Pricing beyond the $50/month Pro plan requires a custom quote, making cost planning less transparent at scale.
- Advanced compliance features like HIPAA are only available on Enterprise.
Upstash
- HTTP-based REST API only, no TCP connections means higher latency than self-hosted or connection-pooled Redis
- Rate limiting occurs when traffic exceeds configured budget cap or request limits
- Kafka service discontinued in March 2025, requiring migration to Upstash Workflow or alternatives
- Limited Redis feature support compared to self-hosted Redis or Redis Cloud
- High-request-volume workloads can accumulate significant costs due to per-request pricing model
Pricing, plan by plan
Arize AI
Free- AX FreeFree
- 25k trace spans/month
- 1 GB storage/month
- 15-day retention
- AX Pro$50/month
- 50k trace spans/month
- 10 GB storage/month
- 30-day retention
- AX Enterprise$undefined/mo
- Custom trace spans, storage, and retention
- SaaS or self-hosted deployment
- Managed agents and Data Fabric
Upstash
Free- FreeFree
- 256 MB data
- 500K commands per month
- 10 GB bandwidth
- Pay-as-you-go$0.2/per 100K commands
- Per-request billing
- Storage at $0.25/GB
- Unlimited commands
- Fixed Plan$10/month
- 250 MB Redis
- Predictable pricing
- Global replication available at higher tiers
Which should you pick?
Choose Arize AI if
- You need end-to-end tracing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, api.
- You also want evaluation framework.
Choose Upstash if
- You need serverless redis.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on REST API, Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda.
- You also want serverless kafka.
Questions people ask
- Is Arize AI or Upstash better?
- Neither clearly leads. Arize AI starts at Free and Upstash at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Arize AI or Upstash?
- Arize AI starts at Free and Upstash at Free.
- Does Arize AI or Upstash run on more platforms?
- Arize AI runs on web, api. Upstash runs on REST API, Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda.
- Can I use Arize AI for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Arize AI best used for?
- Arize AI is most often used for tracing and debugging production ai agents, running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessions, improving prompts before production rollout, storing and querying genai traces alongside a data warehouse. Of those, tracing and debugging production ai agents and running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessions are not what Upstash is typically brought in for.
- What can Arize AI do that Upstash cannot?
- Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing, Evaluation framework, Prompt testing and improvement, Alyx AI engineering agent. Upstash covers Serverless Redis, Serverless Kafka, QStash, Global Replication.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Arize AI: What does Arize AX cost?
Arize AX offers a free plan, a Pro plan at $50/month, and a custom-priced Enterprise plan, with pricing based on trace spans, storage, and retention needs.
SourceUpstash: Does Upstash have a free tier?
Yes. The free tier provides 256 MB of data and 500,000 commands per month with 10 GB of bandwidth in a single region, no credit card required.
SourceArize AI: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?
The AX Free plan includes 25,000 trace spans and 1 GB of storage per month with 15-day retention, plus unlimited users, evaluations, and experiments.
SourceUpstash: How does Upstash work with edge platforms like Vercel and Cloudflare Workers?
Upstash uses a REST API instead of TCP connections, enabling it to work from Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers, and AWS Lambda without persistent connections or connection pooling.
SourceArize AI: What deployment options are available?
Free and Pro plans are SaaS-only, while Enterprise customers can choose SaaS or self-hosted deployment with custom SLAs.
SourceUpstash: What programming languages are supported?
Upstash provides native SDKs for Python, Node.js, Go, and Rust. Java, C#, and PHP developers can use the REST API or community libraries.
SourceUpstash: Is Upstash Kafka still available?
No. Upstash Kafka was deprecated on September 11, 2024 and fully discontinued on March 11, 2025. Upstash Workflow is now recommended for durable serverless messaging and task queuing.
SourceUpstash: How is Upstash pricing structured?
Upstash uses per-request pricing at $0.20 per 100K commands for Redis, $0.25/GB for storage, and $0.40 per 100K requests for Vector database. Idle applications cost nothing.
SourceUpstash: Can Upstash be used with AWS Lambda?
Yes. Upstash works with AWS Lambda via its REST API, eliminating the need for connection pooling and making it ideal for stateless serverless functions.
SourceRelated pages
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