Helicone vs OpenRouter
Helicone
helicone.ai
OpenRouter
openrouter.aiSide by side
| Figure | Helicone | OpenRouter |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $79/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · LLM Gateway Software | 8.3 (#9) | 7.7 (#17) |
| Spec score · Llm Developer Tools | 8.1 (#9) | 7.5 (#18) |
| Spec score · LLM gateways | 8.3 (#12) | 7.8 (#20) |
| Spec score · Byok System | 8.3 (#11) | 7.5 (#18) |
| Compliance | Helicone states that its cloud is SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliant. | The OpenRouter Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2 under compliance. |
| Support | The pricing page lists community support through GitHub and Discord. | OpenRouter directs users to its help center, support ticket form, documentation, and community Discord; pricing lists community, email, or dedicated support according to plan. |
Plans
In their own words
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.
OpenRouter
OpenRouter has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.