Envoy AI Gateway vs Helicone
Envoy AI Gateway
aigateway.envoyproxy.io
Helicone
helicone.aiSide by side
| Figure | Envoy AI Gateway | Helicone |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $79/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · LLM Gateway Software | 8.4 (#8) | 8.3 (#9) |
| Spec score · LLM gateways | 8.4 (#10) | 8.3 (#12) |
| Spec score · Byok System | 8.4 (#8) | 8.3 (#11) |
| Observability | The CLI supports OpenTelemetry tracing and can record request and response details; the documentation describes configuration to hide input and output content. | Helicone visualizes multi-step LLM interactions, logs requests in real time, and helps identify error root causes. |
| Purpose | The open-source project routes and manages generative AI traffic between applications and AI services, with rate limiting and policy control. | Helicone routes, debugs, and analyzes AI applications. |
| Support | The project directs users to its community Discord and GitHub issues for help. | The pricing page lists community support through GitHub and Discord. |
Plans
In their own words
Envoy AI Gateway
Envoy AI Gateway, now named Agent Router, is an open-source control plane for managing AI and agent traffic through Envoy. It provides an OpenAI-compatible API for hosted and self-hosted models and MCP servers, with integrations for providers including OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini, AWS Bedrock, Mistral, and Anthropic. Traffic controls include model virtualization, provider failover, token quotas, and usage-based rate limiting. Its MCP gateway supports server multiplexing, tool routing, OAuth authentication, and observability; InferencePool support adds routing and load balancing for inference endpoints. Credentials can be managed centrally, and supported short-lived credential flows include AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, and GCP Vertex AI. The project describes metrics collection and monitoring for AI workloads. The free open-source project is listed at free. Its CLI supports local use on Linux and macOS; production Kubernetes deployment uses Envoy Gateway and requires compatible dependencies. The project uses the Apache 2.0 license and points users to Discord and GitHub issues for help.
Helicone
Helicone routes, debugs, and analyzes AI applications through a gateway and observability tools. The gateway provides access to more than 100 models through the OpenAI SDK by changing the model name, and supports load balancing, automatic failovers, and response caching across providers. Helicone logs requests in real time and visualizes multi-step LLM interactions to help locate error causes. Listed integrations include OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, LiteLLM, Anyscale, Together AI, and OpenRouter. It can run in customer infrastructure through single-click deployment or a production-ready Helm chart; Helicone also states that its cloud is SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliant. A LangGraph integration tracks calls, sessions, performance, and costs, while an API cost calculator covers more than 300 models and providers. The free Hobby plan includes 10,000 requests, 1 GB storage, one seat, one organization, and seven days of retention. Pro costs $79.00 per month. A seven-day trial is advertised. Helicone says its services remain live in maintenance mode following acquisition by Mintlify, with security updates, new models, and bug and performance fixes continuing.