heliconevsopenobserve
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| helicone | openobserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #23 of 123 in AI | #7 of 105 in Monitoring & observability |
| GitHub stars | 6 277 | 23 009 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +71 | +719 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 22 |
| Latest release | — | v1.1.2 · 20 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
openobserve scores 80/100 against 68/100 for helicone, so it is the safer default.
openobserve ships more often: 22 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for helicone.
If you want the quickest setup, openobserve is easier to run; helicone needs more configuration.
openobserve is growing faster right now (+719 stars in 30 days).
Key differences
- License: helicone is Apache-2.0, openobserve is AGPL-3.0.
- Platforms only helicone lists: Build from Source, Helm.
- Features only helicone lists: Agent Tracing, AI Gateway, Cost Tracking, Datasets and 10 more.
- Features only openobserve lists: AI Assistant, AI/LLM observability, Dashboards, Data Pipelines and 9 more.
- Both offer: Alerts.
helicone details →openobserve details →