Software · head to head
Helicone vs Arize AI
Helicone
Software
Open-source LLM observability and gateway platform for AI applications
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -

Arize AI
Software
AI engineering platform for observability and evaluation of agents and LLM apps
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Helicone the free Hobby plan is capped at 10,000 requests per month, which teams with production traffic can exceed quickly.; Arize AI the free plan caps trace spans at 25,000 per month with only 15 days of retention.
- They diverge on capability: Helicone covers Request dashboard and tracking, Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Helicone and Arize AI actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), platforms (web, api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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 Helicone
- Request dashboard and tracking
- Sessions and segments
- Helicone Query Language (HQL)
- Prompt datasets and improvement
- Playground
- Rate limits and alerts
Only in Arize AI
- End-to-end tracing
- Evaluation framework
- Prompt testing and improvement
- Alyx AI engineering agent
- Custom dashboards
- Data warehouse integrations
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Helicone
- Monitoring cost and latency of production LLM applicationsnot Arize AI
- Debugging multi-step agent sessionsnot Arize AI
- Managing and iterating on prompts across a teamnot Arize AI
- Routing requests across multiple LLM providersnot Arize AI
Arize AI
- Tracing and debugging production AI agentsnot Helicone
- Running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessionsnot Helicone
- Improving prompts before production rolloutnot Helicone
- Storing and querying GenAI traces alongside a data warehousenot Helicone
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Helicone
- The free Hobby plan is capped at 10,000 requests per month, which teams with production traffic can exceed quickly.
- Advanced compliance features like SOC 2 and HIPAA are only available starting at the $799/month Team plan.
- Usage beyond the free tier is billed on top of the base subscription, adding cost unpredictability at scale.
- On-premises deployment is restricted to the custom Enterprise tier.
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.
Pricing, plan by plan
Helicone
Free- HobbyFree
- 10,000 free requests
- 1 GB storage
- 1 seat
- Pro$79/month
- 10K free requests included, usage-based beyond
- 7-day free trial
- Unlimited playgrounds and workspaces
- Team$799/month
- 5 organizations
- SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance
- Dedicated Slack channel access
- Enterprise$undefined/mo
- Custom MSAs and SAML SSO
- On-premises deployment
- Bulk cloud discounts
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
Which should you pick?
Choose Helicone if
- You need request dashboard and tracking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, api.
- You also want sessions and segments.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Helicone or Arize AI better?
- Neither clearly leads. Helicone starts at Free and Arize AI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Helicone or Arize AI?
- Helicone starts at Free and Arize AI at Free.
- Does Helicone or Arize AI run on more platforms?
- Both run on web, api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Helicone for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Helicone best used for?
- Helicone is most often used for monitoring cost and latency of production llm applications, debugging multi-step agent sessions, managing and iterating on prompts across a team, routing requests across multiple llm providers. Of those, monitoring cost and latency of production llm applications and debugging multi-step agent sessions are not what Arize AI is typically brought in for.
- What can Helicone do that Arize AI cannot?
- Helicone covers Request dashboard and tracking, Sessions and segments, Helicone Query Language (HQL), Prompt datasets and improvement. Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing, Evaluation framework, Prompt testing and improvement, Alyx AI engineering agent.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Helicone: What does Helicone cost?
Helicone offers a free Hobby plan, a Pro plan at $79/month, a Team plan at $799/month, and custom Enterprise pricing, with usage-based charges applying beyond included request limits.
SourceArize 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.
SourceHelicone: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?
The free Hobby plan includes 10,000 requests per month, 1 GB of storage, 1 seat, and 1 organization, aimed at kickstarting AI projects.
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.
SourceHelicone: Are there discounts available?
Helicone offers 50% off the first year for qualifying startups, discounts for non-profits, a $100 annual credit for open-source projects, and free access for students.
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.
SourceRelated pages
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