LLM gateways and observability · September 2026 Edition
LiteLLM vs Helicone
Five of twelve models named LiteLLM first on the direct prompt; one named Helicone. Both were named by all twelve models and LiteLLM carries 51 labels and Helicone 30, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share38%9%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate18%13%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#3A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels5130A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, LiteLLM reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Portkey was named alongside these two in nine of the twelve direct answers. LiteLLM vs Portkey · Portkey vs Helicone
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the LLM gateways and observability page.
By framing
How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
LiteLLMFirst choices, of twelve modelsHelicone
Direct51
Paraphrase021 against Helicone
Comparative60
Budget-constrained1112 against Helicone
Scale-constrained10
Negative009 against LiteLLM · 1 against Helicone
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where LiteLLM and Helicone stood in it.
Both were the first choice
1 of 12 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.Mistral SmallHelicone, LiteLLM alternatives: Braintrust, OpenRouter
LiteLLM first, Helicone an alternative
4 of 12 modelsHelicone was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Gemini 3.5 FlashLiteLLM alternatives: Bifrost, Cloudflare AI Gateway, Portkey, TrueFoundry
Perplexity SonarLiteLLM, Portkey alternatives: Bifrost, Cloudflare AI Gateway, Kong AI Gateway
DeepSeek V4 FlashLiteLLM alternatives: Cloudflare AI Gateway, Portkey
Kimi K2LiteLLM alternatives: Helicone, Portkey, Requesty
Neither was the first choice, one was named
6 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Portkey alternatives: LiteLLM, OpenRouter
GPT-5.4 miniPortkey / Prisma AIRS AI Gateway alternatives: Kong AI Gateway, LiteLLM
Grok 4.1 FastPortkey alternatives: LiteLLM
Qwen 3.7 FlashPortkey alternatives: Bifrost, Cloudflare AI Gateway, LiteLLM
GLM 4.7 FlashXPortkey alternatives: Helicone, LiteLLM
MiniMax M2.5Merge Gateway, Portkey alternatives: LiteLLM
Neither was named
1 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
LiteLLM leads by thirty-seven points.
LiteLLM46%#1 of 6Helicone10%#4 of 6Mid-marketThe figures above
LiteLLM leads by twenty-nine points.
LiteLLM38%#1 of 9Helicone9%#3 of 9Enterprise
LiteLLM leads by twenty-seven points.
LiteLLM29%#1 of 9Helicone2%#7 of 9What the models said about LiteLLM
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Be cautious with self-hosted or open-source LLM gateways like LiteLLM and Ollama, especially if internet-exposed, due to documented security risks... actively exploited and CISA KEV-listed” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · hard negative
“LiteLLM (Critical Risk) ... Why it is dangerous: Recent research has shown that compromised LiteLLM instances can lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE) and full privilege escalation.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid or exercise extreme caution with LiteLLM and LMDeploy in production or security-sensitive environments” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“LiteLLM (Best Self-Hosted / Open-Source): The most popular open-source, Python-based gateway... Excellent choice if you want to deploy a gateway inside your own Kubernetes cluster.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“It is the standard choice for building internal developer platforms (IDPs) because it is open-source and fits into any existing architecture.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“LiteLLM (for flexibility and cost control) or Helicone (for observability and ease of use) are the best LLM gateway choices” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Helicone
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid depending on Helicone — it's now in maintenance mode” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Avoid if you need active development.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“Some sources note Helicone's roadmap/maintenance has been evolving; if stability matters, bias toward Portkey or Braintrust.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“LiteLLM (for flexibility and cost control) or Helicone (for observability and ease of use) are the best LLM gateway choices” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice
“Portkey and Helicone are the most frequently recommended LLM observability and routing platforms” Mistral Small · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“LiteLLM (self-hosted, free) and Helicone (free tier, low-cost Pro plan) are the top picks” Mistral Small · budget prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.