Inference Labs › Alternatives › vs Helicone
Inference Labs vs Helicone
Honest, dated comparison of Inference Labs and Helicone -- router architecture, eval pipeline, pricing, public utilities, and when to pick each. Updated 2026-05-28.
Helicone
Open-source LLM observability + caching proxy, popular for monitoring OpenAI / Anthropic usage.
Strengths
- Easy drop-in proxy: change the base URL and traces start flowing.
- Strong cost + latency dashboards out of the box.
- Active open source (MIT) with self-hosted option.
- Wide framework support and good documentation.
Inference Labs
Vendor-neutral multimodal router + cache + eval pipeline. BYO provider keys, per-workspace policy router, JSONL eval/SFT exports, MCP server for Claude Desktop.
Where Inference Labs differs
- Inference Labs is router-first, not proxy-first: policy-based model selection per request, not just observability on top of one upstream.
- Built-in eval pipeline + JSONL dataset exports from production traces -- not just dashboards.
- Public free pricing API + MCP server + embeddable widgets, all zero-auth.
- Atomic per-workspace credit ledger + Stripe billing wired in.
Feature-by-feature
| Capability | Helicone | Inference Labs |
|---|---|---|
| Proxy vs router | Proxy | Router (with proxy semantics on top) |
| Observability dashboards | Yes (strong) | Yes |
| Per-request policy routing | Limited | Yes |
| Cache (exact + semantic) | Exact | Both |
| Eval / fine-tune dataset pipeline | No | Built-in |
| Public free pricing API | No | Yes |
| MCP server for Claude Desktop/Cursor | No | Yes |
Which one should you pick?
Pick Helicone if…
you only need observability + caching on top of providers you've already chosen, with minimal config change.
Pick Inference Labs if…
you want the router to pick the right model per request based on your cost / quality / latency policy, plus the same observability stack on top.
Many teams adopt both: Helicone for one workload (or its specific strength) and Inference Labs for the routing + evaluation layer. The platforms are not mutually exclusive.
Try Inference Labs free. 500 credits, no card required, takes 30 seconds to send your first routed request. Create an account → or read the 5-min quickstart.
Frequently asked
Is this comparison biased toward Inference Labs?
We try to be honest. We name Helicone's real strengths up front, then describe where Inference Labs is genuinely different -- not better at everything. If you spot something factually wrong, email [email protected] and we will update the page.
Can I use both?
Yes. Inference Labs is BYO-provider-key and never requires you to drop another tool. Many users wire Helicone for one surface (e.g. observability) and Inference Labs for the routing + eval pipeline.
Where can I see live pricing?
Our public dataset is at /api/prices.json (CC BY 4.0) and the human view is at /benchmarks.html. To estimate your spend, use the cost calculator.