Agentic Index
AgentOps vs Helicone (2026)
Both are open source friendly observability options with low entry cost, watching different layers.
AgentOps watches the agent: framework aware traces and devtools for debugging production behaviour, free to start. Helicone watches the traffic: every request logged, routed, cached and costed through one OpenAI compatible endpoint, free to ten thousand requests a month then 79 dollars. If your question is why did the agent do that, AgentOps; if it is what is this costing and can we cache it, Helicone.
Choose AgentOps if
- Agent behaviour is the mystery, and traces need to understand frameworks and tool calls.
- You want devtools for debugging rather than a gateway in the request path.
- Framework breadth across how your team builds agents matters.
Choose Helicone if
- Cost visibility and caching are the reason you are looking, and the gateway pays for itself.
- One OpenAI compatible endpoint in front of everything simplifies your architecture.
- You want logging without instrumenting application code.
| At a glance | AgentOps | Helicone |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Agent infrastructure | Agent infrastructure |
| Entry price | Free tier · paid Pro tier · Enterprise custom | From $79/mo · free tier (10k requests/mo) + open source |
| Free / trial | Free Basic tier (event volume capped) | Free Hobby tier: 10,000 requests/month, 1GB storage, 1 seat, no card. Open source and self hostable. |
| Pricing confidence | public partial | public exact |
| Feature | A AgentOps |
H Helicone |
|---|---|---|
| Action & orchestration | ||
|
Integrations & Tool Calling Ability to connect agents to real systems through native integrations, OAuth-authenticated actions, custom tools, APIs, webhooks, or MCP-compatible tools. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Workflow Orchestration Ability to sequence, branch, retry, route, and combine deterministic workflow nodes with autonomous agent steps. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
|
Triggers & Channel Coverage How agents wake up and where they work: schedules, webhooks, message events, CRM events, inbox events, chat, email, voice, and collaboration tools. |
No / Not documented | Partial |
| Knowledge & context | ||
|
Knowledge Grounding & RAG Ability to ground agent behavior in company data through document ingestion, retrieval, external knowledge APIs, semantic search, or RAG layers. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
|
Memory & State Persistence Ability to persist context across a run, conversation, workflow, user, team, or longer-term memory layer. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
| Control & trust | ||
|
Human Oversight & Guardrails Approval steps, consent checkpoints, escalation rules, structured guardrails, policy constraints, and pause/resume controls. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
|
Security, Identity & Governance RBAC, SSO, auditability, encryption, least-privilege tool access, compliance posture, and data handling policy. |
Partial | Partial |
|
Observability & Auditability Traces, logs, execution histories, metrics, audit events, and debugging detail for production agent behavior. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Deployment & Data Residency Deployment modes and options, including SaaS, dedicated cloud, VPC, on-prem, hybrid, local runtime, and self-hosting. |
Partial | Full / Explicit |
| Solution readiness | ||
|
Prebuilt Agents, Templates & Packs Ready-made workflows, packaged employees, templates, blueprints, industry solutions, and role-specific agents that reduce time-to-value. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
| Platform extensibility | ||
|
Model Flexibility & Routing Ability to work across multiple foundation models, route tasks to different models, or let buyers bring their own providers and keys. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
APIs, SDKs & MCP Extensibility Composability layer: stable APIs, SDKs, MCP tool consumption/serving, custom tools, and integration into internal systems. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Testing, Debugging & Optimization Testing, debugging, scoring, retries, fallbacks, quality gates, and optimization loops for improving agent workflows before and after deployment. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
| Specialist automation | ||
|
Browser & Computer Use Browser, desktop, or remote/local computer control for workflows that cannot be handled through stable APIs alone. |
No / Not documented | No / Not documented |
Pricing snapshot
Sourced from the Index pricing dataset · open each vendor's profile for full detail.
| Pricing | A AgentOps |
H Helicone |
|---|---|---|
|
Entry price Lowest public entry point |
Free tier · paid Pro tier · Enterprise custom | From $79/mo · free tier (10k requests/mo) + open source |
|
Pricing confidence How public the numbers are |
Public — partial | Public — exact |
|
Billing Primary billing axis |
usage | Subscription tiers by features and seats, with usage based scaling above included request volume; AI Gateway billed as zero markup provider pass through |
|
Variable cost Workload / overage exposure |
Medium variable cost | Medium variable cost |
|
Free tier / trial Try before you buy |
Free tier
|
Free tier
|
|
Buying motion Self-serve vs sales call |
Mixed | Self-serve |