Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · LLM Observability Tools

Langfuse vs LangSmith

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 8 checks side by side
Higher score Langfuse #2 in LLM Observability Tools 9.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 6 of 6 features Visit Langfuse
LangSmith #6 in LLM Observability Tools 8.9/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 6 of 6 features Visit LangSmith

Langfuse leads on 1 check, LangSmith on 0, and 7 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 8 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreLangfuse · 9.3/10
  • Lowest starting priceLangfuse · $29/mo
  • Free planboth

Langfuse scores higher on our rubric for llm observability tools: 9.3 against 8.9 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #6.

Langfuse is cheaper to start at $29/mo against $39/mo.

Langfuse is the better fit for teams seeking balanced open-source observability. LangSmith is the better fit for langChain-centric teams needing an integrated platform.

  • Langfuse fits best

    Teams seeking balanced open-source observability

  • LangSmith fits best

    LangChain-centric teams needing an integrated platform

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Langfuse 9.3/10 Visit ↗ LangSmith 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 8.9
Ranking #2 in LLM Observability Tools #6 in LLM Observability Tools
Best for Teams seeking balanced open-source observability LangChain-centric teams needing an integrated platform
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $29/mo (best) $39/seat/mo
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web Web
Support Email, Live chat, Community, Docs Community, Email, Tickets, Docs · 24/7
Compliance SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, SSO/SAML
Integrations 100+ integrations 7 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Langfuse 6/6 · LangSmith 6/6
LLM tracing ✓ ✓
LLM evaluations ✓ ✓
Prompt management ✓ ✓
Agent tracing ✓ ✓
Retrieval tracing ✓ ✓
Token cost tracking ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment options Both Both
Our review
Pros
  • Traces agents, tools, retrieval steps, prompts, costs, and evaluations
  • Supports managed cloud and self-hosted deployment
  • Includes OpenTelemetry, SDK, framework, model, and workflow integrations
  • Tracing, evaluations, prompt management, datasets, and monitoring in one platform
  • Agent and tool-call tracing alongside human feedback workflows
  • Cloud, hybrid, and self-hosted deployment options
Cons
  • Hobby limits usage, data access, and seats
  • Enterprise SSO and RBAC require the Teams Add-on
  • Advanced governance and SLA features are reserved for Enterprise
  • Usage-based charges apply after included trace allowances
  • Enterprise pricing is custom
  • Named integrations are narrower than some alternatives
Our verdict

Langfuse is an open-source platform for teams building and operating LLM applications. It captures hierarchical traces for model calls, agents, tool calls, and retrieval steps, while also covering prompt versioning, evaluations, datasets,…

Read the review →

LangSmith is a commercial platform for developing, testing, monitoring, evaluating, and deploying LLM applications and agents. It is particularly suited to teams building with LangChain or LangGraph, while also supporting applications…

Read the review →
  1. LangfuseLLM Observability Tools 9.3Free plan
  2. LangSmithLLM Observability Tools 8.9Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Langfuse — where it wins

    • Traces agents, tools, retrieval steps, prompts, costs, and evaluations
    • Supports managed cloud and self-hosted deployment
    • Includes OpenTelemetry, SDK, framework, model, and workflow integrations

    Where it doesn't

    • Hobby limits usage, data access, and seats
    • Enterprise SSO and RBAC require the Teams Add-on
    • Advanced governance and SLA features are reserved for Enterprise

  • LangSmith — where it wins

    • Tracing, evaluations, prompt management, datasets, and monitoring in one platform
    • Agent and tool-call tracing alongside human feedback workflows
    • Cloud, hybrid, and self-hosted deployment options

    Where it doesn't

    • Usage-based charges apply after included trace allowances
    • Enterprise pricing is custom
    • Named integrations are narrower than some alternatives

More comparisons

All LLM observability tools comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update