Kong AI Gateway vs Helicone

Kong AI Gateway8.8Visit Helicone8.7Visit

Higher score Kong AI Gateway #3 in Byok System 8.8/10 30-day trial Free trial✓ 0 of 3 features Visit Kong

vs

Helicone #4 in Byok System 8.7/10 Free plan · 7-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 0 of 3 features Visit Helicone

• Kong AI Gateway fits best

  Organizations governing AI traffic across teams

• Helicone fits best

  Teams combining BYOK gateway and deep observability

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Side by side

Feature	Kong AI Gateway 8.8/10 Visit ↗	Helicone 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.8	8.7
Ranking	#3 in Byok System	#4 in Byok System
Best for	Organizations governing AI traffic across teams	Teams combining BYOK gateway and deep observability
Pricing model	Paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	—	$79/mo
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	30 days	7 days
Free trial length	30 days · no card needed	7 days
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Email, Tickets	Email, Community, Docs
Integrations	14 integrations	10 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Kong AI Gateway 0/3 · Helicone 0/3
Request routing	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Team key sharing	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Self-hosting	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Key storage	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Supported providers	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Usage limits	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Routes across LLM providers with load balancing and automatic failover Combines token, cost, latency, and error analytics with spend controls Supports cloud and self-hosted deployment for LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic	OpenAI-compatible gateway supports 100+ models, with rate limits and fallbacks Traces requests and agent workflows, and tracks costs and evaluation scores Offers cloud and Docker-based self-hosted deployment
Cons	The $0 offer lasts 30 days; there is no perpetual free plan Plus limits gateway counts and supports up to 5 unique LLM models Enterprise uses custom pricing, making costs less predictable upfront	Hobby is limited to 10,000 free requests, 1 GB storage, 1 seat, and 1 organization Pro and Team subscriptions also have usage-based pricing Enterprise uses custom-built packages rather than a fixed listed price
Our verdict	Kong AI Gateway sits between applications, agents, MCP servers, and model providers, giving platform and infrastructure teams a shared layer for production AI traffic. It brings routing, authentication, access controls, analytics, rate… Read the review →	Helicone brings an LLM gateway and observability tools together for developers and teams building AI applications. It routes, logs, traces, and analyzes model requests, with dashboards for requests, sessions, users, prompts, datasets,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Kong AI Gateway — where it wins

  • Routes across LLM providers with load balancing and automatic failover
  • Combines token, cost, latency, and error analytics with spend controls
  • Supports cloud and self-hosted deployment for LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic

  Where it doesn't

  • The $0 offer lasts 30 days; there is no perpetual free plan
  • Plus limits gateway counts and supports up to 5 unique LLM models
  • Enterprise uses custom pricing, making costs less predictable upfront

• Helicone — where it wins

  • OpenAI-compatible gateway supports 100+ models, with rate limits and fallbacks
  • Traces requests and agent workflows, and tracks costs and evaluation scores
  • Offers cloud and Docker-based self-hosted deployment

  Where it doesn't

  • Hobby is limited to 10,000 free requests, 1 GB storage, 1 seat, and 1 organization
  • Pro and Team subscriptions also have usage-based pricing
  • Enterprise uses custom-built packages rather than a fixed listed price

• Kong AI Gateway8.8/10 · 30-day trial

  A governed gateway for routing, controlling, and analyzing production AI traffic.

  Visit KongFull verdict →
• Helicone8.7/10 · Free plan · 7-day trial

  Routes and analyzes model requests, with tracing, prompt tools, and cloud or self-hosted deployment.

  Visit HeliconeFull verdict →