Braintrust Alternative? Braintrust vs Helicone
Cole Gottdank· March 21, 2025As the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) grows, selecting the right observability and evaluation tools becomes crucial for the success of AI-powered applications. In this blog, we'll compare two key players: Helicone and Braintrust, focusing on their features, strengths, and which might be the best fit for your needs.
Let's get into it!
How is Helicone different?
1. Helicone is easy to set up
Helicone is designed to be extremely simple to set up for the cloud offering. The proxy comes with built-in caching, intuitive prompt experiments and Sessions to trace your LLM workflow.
We also try to be as transparent as possible about our pricing. Our generous free tier comes with 10k logs/month and supports integrations with all the major LLM providers. No credit card required.
2. Helicone is designed for teams
Helicone is a complete observability tool that supports the full LLM lifecycle, from logging and experimentation to evaluation and deployment. Helicone is suited for cross-functional teams given the ability to have non-technical members involved in prompt design and evaluation.
At a Glance: Helicone vs. Braintrust
Here's an overview of how Braintrust compares to Helicone:
| Aspect | Helicone | Braintrust |
|---|---|---|
| Best For | Any team (startups to enterprises) | Enterprise teams focused on evaluations |
| Pricing | Generous free tier. Paid plans start at $20/seat/month | Custom enterprise pricing. Free tier available. |
| Integration | One-line proxy or async integration | Requires SDK to set up. Supports proxy with limited features. |
| Architecture | Distributed (Cloudflare Workers, ClickHouse, Kafka) | Partially centralized architecture separate planes for data and UI (control) |
| Scalability | Processed over 2.4 billion requests and 3.3 trillion tokens | - |
| Strengths | Comprehensive logging, high reliabilty and scalability, data aggregation | Advanced evaluations, CI/CD integration |
| Drawback | Simple built-in evaluations (advanced coming soon) | Simple analytics and limited dashboard features |
Platform & Features
| Feature | Helicone | Braintrust |
|---|---|---|
| One-Line Integration | ✅ | ✅ |
| Open-Source | ✅ | 🟠 The AI proxy is open-source |
| Self-Hosting | ✅ | ✅ |
| Supported Providers & Frameworks | ✅ All providers supported (See Gateway integration) | 🟠 Over 100 providers |
| Dashboard & Analytics | ✅ Comprehensive dashboard with detailed analytics | 🟠 Basic analytics available for logs |
| Cost Analysis | ✅ | 🟠 |
| Prompt Management Version and test your prompts | ✅ | ✅ |
| Experimentation Test and compare prompt variations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Evaluation LLM-as-a-judge, online and offline evaluations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tracing Track multi-step LLM workflows and agent interactions | ✅ | ✅ |
| User Tracking Monitor end-user interactions with your LLM app | ✅ | ❌ |
| Gateway Features Manage request routing, caching, and rate limits | ✅ | ✅ |
| LLM Security Out-of-the-box to protect against prompt injections | ✅ | ❌ |
| Supported Languages | Python and JS/TS. No SDK required | Python and JS/TS. SDK required for full feature set. |
| Workflow Style UI-based vs. code-heavy | Mainly code-based. Some features offer UI workflow such as prompts and experiments. | More code-based workflows |
UI & Dashboard Comparison
For Helicone users, the dashboard is the main way to view your data. In Helicone, you can drill down into the data to get more details, segment them by custom properties, users, models, etc. to get more insights.
Helicone Dashboard
Braintrust Dashboard
LLM Monitoring
| Feature | Helicone | Braintrust |
|---|---|---|
| Caching Built-in caching via headers to reduce API costs and latency | ✅ | ✅ |
| Key Vault Manage and distribute API keys safely | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rate Limits Customizable rate limits separate from API provider limits | ✅ | ❌ |
| Cost & Usage Tracking Detailed cost tracking with rich dashboards | ✅ | ❌ |
| Alerting & Webhooks Automate LLM workflows, trigger actions, and get alerts for critical events | ✅ | ❌ |
| Security Features Out-of-the-box security, including prompt injections protection | ✅ | ❌ |
Security, Compliance, Privacy
| Helicone | Braintrust | |
|---|---|---|
| Data Retention | 1 month for Free 3 months for Pro/Team forever for Enterprise | Undisclosed |
| HIPPA-compliant | ✅ | ❓ |
| GDPR-compliant | ✅ | ✅ |
| SOC 2 | ✅ | ✅ |
| Self-hosted | ✅ | ✅ |
Ready to scale your LLM app?
Track your LLM usage, optimize costs, improve your prompts, and scale your LLM app with Helicone.
Helicone
Designed for: Any team size (startups to enterprises)
What is Helicone?
Helicone is an open-source, fast-growing LLM observability platform offering comprehensive features like advanced caching, extensive logging, robust security measures, and detailed analytics.
Designed for scalability, it is built on Cloudflare Workers, ClickHouse, and Kafka, ensuring high performance for applications of all sizes. Acting as a data aggregator, Helicone provides deep insights into your LLM usage like cost, latency, and time to first token.
Top Features
-
Comprehensive Observability and Analytics
- Offers extensive aggregations, custom properties, and user tracking.
- Provides advanced analytics with cost breakdowns by model, feature, user, and more.
- Facilitates in-depth analysis and optimization.
-
Supports All Use Cases
- Caters to small teams, large enterprises, and everything in between.
- Provides flexibility to adapt to various project needs.
-
Scalability at Its Core
- Has handled 2.4 billion LLM logs and counting.
- Powered by ClickHouse and Kafka for high-throughput data ingestion and analytics.
Braintrust
Designed for: Enterprise Teams Focused on Evaluations
What is Braintrust?
Braintrust is a platform centered around LLM evaluations. It provides advanced tools for testing and optimizing LLM performance, including trials, hill climbing, and detailed test case management.
Braintrust, like Helicone, integrates with CI/CD pipelines, allowing for continuous improvement. It however focuses primarily on being an evaluation suite as compared to Helicone which is more of an all-rounder tool.
Top Features
-
Advanced Evaluations
- Robust evaluation tools with comprehensive documentation.
- Supports trials and hill climbing to refine model performance.
-
CI/CD Integration
- Integrates with GitHub Actions.
- Automates testing and deployment processes.
-
Prompt Experimentation
- Has a robust suite of experimentation features.
- Supports a seamless human review process for evaluating and comparing experiments.
Which tool is best for your team?
Both platforms offer valuable observability and evaluation features, but they cater to different team needs and priorities.
Helicone is more suited for teams that want a comprehensive observability platform that specializes in logging, tracing and analytics. Braintrust, however, is more geared towards LLM evaluation.
Here's a guide to help you decide:
| Choose Helicone if you need: | Choose Braintrust if you need: |
|---|---|
| 🔹 A comprehensive observability platform that supports the entire LLM lifecycle | ⬥ Advanced evaluation capabilities as your primary focus |
| 🔹 An intuitive, user-friendly interface that works well for cross-functional teams | ⬥ Strong CI/CD integration for automated testing workflows |
| 🔹 A solution that scales from startups to enterprises | ⬥ A platform specifically designed for large enterprise evaluation use cases |
| 🔹 Robust cost tracking, caching, and analytics to optimize expenses | ⬥ Specialized tools for prompt optimization through techniques like trials and hill climbing |
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Frequently Asked Questions
What sets Helicone apart from Braintrust?
Helicone provides a comprehensive observability platform with an intuitive UI, one-line integration, and extensive analytics. It's designed for teams of all sizes and technical backgrounds. Braintrust focuses more narrowly on advanced evaluations with a more technical, code-heavy approach primarily targeting enterprise evaluation use cases.
Which platform is easier to set up?
Helicone is easier to integrate with its one-line proxy setup or async logging options. Braintrust offers a proxy integration as well with fewer features available than Helicone. For enterprise teams, Braintrust requires more technical knowledge and code to get started.
Which platform has better analytics and dashboards?
Helicone offers more detailed, intuitive, and customizable dashboards with a centralized view of key metrics. Braintrust provides less detailed analytics with a more complex UI that has a steeper learning curve.
How do the pricing models compare?
Helicone offers transparent pricing with several tiers (Free, Pro, Team, Enterprise). Braintrust's pricing is enterprise-focused with custom pricing. Both platforms have feature usage limits in the free tier.
Which tool is better for reducing costs?
Helicone provides better cost optimization tools. While they both support caching, Helicone takes things a step further with rate limits and in-depth cost analytics for better decision-making.
Which platform has better prompt management and experimentation?
Both platforms offer robust prompt management and experimentation capabilities. Helicone's strength is in its UI-driven approach that makes it accessible to non-technical team members. Braintrust offers powerful experimentation features but requires more technical knowledge to use effectively.
Which platform offers better security features?
Helicone provides more robust security features out-of-the-box, including API key management and LLM security to prevent prompt injections. Braintrust offers fewer built-in security capabilities.
How do the integrations compare?
Helicone supports a wider range of integrations with LLM providers with its gateway integration. Braintrust offers over 100 providers, but not all.
Questions or feedback?
Are the information out of date? Please raise an issue or contact us, we'd love to hear from you!