# Helicone — LLM observability & cost tracking

Pricing: Free tier; usage-based

## Verdict

Long the default open-source LLM cost dashboard. Acquired by Mintlify in March 2026 and now maintenance-only — existing deployments keep working (security fixes and new-model pricing continue), but no new features. Fine to keep; think twice before adopting fresh.

## Strengths

- Dead-simple one-line proxy integration for cost logging
- Solid per-request cost dashboards and caching stats

## Limitations

- Maintenance-only since the Mintlify acquisition — no new feature work
- New adopters should compare gateway-native analytics (LiteLLM, Portkey) first

Website: https://helicone.ai

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Canonical: https://cutmyaispend.com/tools/helicone