Helicone: LLM Gateway, Logging, and Cost Controls

Helicone sits in front of LLM APIs as a gateway: one endpoint for multiple providers, with logging, caching, rate limits, and cost visibility. It is popular for teams that outgrow raw SDK calls but are not ready for a full internal AI platform.

• Multi-provider routing (OpenAI, Anthropic, open-weight via proxies)
• Need request/response logs without building a warehouse first
• Want simple caching for repeated prompts

• Drop-in proxy patterns for OpenAI-compatible clients
• Cost and latency dashboards
• Caching and user/session tracking hooks
• Useful for agent fleets where every tool loop multiplies token spend

• Gateway is another hop — latency and reliability must be monitored
• Advanced policy (per-tool budgets, dual-approval) still belongs in your agent broker
• Feature depth varies between OSS self-host and managed cloud

Start on free or OSS for logging. Paid plans make sense when seats, retention, and SSO matter. Token spend remains the dominant bill.