Langfuse
Langfuse is the open-source-first LLM observability platform: free Hobby with 50K units a month, Core at $29/mo for 100K units and 90-day retention, Pro at $199/mo with three-year retention, Enterprise at $2,499/mo.
Verified against: langfuse.comlangfuse.comlangfuse.com as of 2026-10-03
Quick verdict: Langfuse is the value pick of the LLM observability cluster, and the reason is arithmetic rather than features: $0 to 50K units, $29 for 100K units with unlimited users, $199 for three-year retention, and a self-hosted option at every step. You give up platform breadth versus LangSmith - no deployment, no engine - and 90-day retention on the tier most teams will actually buy. If your requirement is EU or on-prem data residency, this is the only vendor in the set where that is a documented plan rather than an Enterprise conversation.
- Our rating: 4.3/5
- Strongest dimension: Value (5/5, research only)
- Weakest dimension: Localization (2/5, research only)
- Pricing: Free plan · $29/mo (Core)
- Verification: Research-only pass over official sources, last checked 2026-10-03. Sources: langfuse.com, langfuse.com, langfuse.com
Langfuse pricing details
- Free plan available
- paid plans from $29/mo (Core)
- hobby $0 (50K units/mo included, 30-day data access, 2 users) · Core $29/mo (100K units included, extra $8/100K units, 90-day data access, unlimited users) · Pro $199/mo (100K units included, 3-year data access, SOC2 & ISO27001) · Enterprise $2,499/mo (audit logs, SCIM, uptime SLA)
- no published annual rate; Pro carries an optional Teams add-on at $300/mo for SSO, SSO enforcement and fine-grained RBAC
Usage is billed in units (100K units included on paid tiers, then $8 per additional 100K, lower at volume); a separate self-hosted pricing page exists for on-prem deployments
In our index: Hobby $0 (50K units/mo, 2 users, 30-day access) · Core $29/mo (100K units, $8 per extra 100K, 90-day access, unlimited users) · Pro $199/mo (3-year access, SOC2/ISO27001, Teams add-on $300/mo) · Enterprise $2,499/mo · self-host available
How Langfuse scores across our 6 index dimensions
- Functionality: 4/5 (research only)
- Usability: 4/5 (research only)
- Stability: 4/5 (research only)
- Collaboration: 4/5 (research only)
- Localization: 2/5 (research only)
- Value: 5/5 (research only)
Score rationale: The best value in the cluster by a wide margin: a real free tier with no credit card, $29 for the first paid step, published startup/research/open-source discounts, and both cloud and self-hosted deployment. What you give up versus LangSmith is the platform depth beyond tracing and evaluation - no deployment runtime, no autonomous engine - and retention on Core is still only 90 days.
What Langfuse does well
- A real free tier with no credit card: 50K units a month, all platform features, 30 days of data access and 2 users
- Core at $29/mo is by far the cheapest paid step in the cluster, with unlimited users on every paid tier
- Cloud and self-hosted deployment from the same product, so privacy-sensitive teams have a real path instead of a sales call
- Published discounts for startups, research and students, plus a documented open-source project track
Where Langfuse falls short
- Core retains data for 90 days only - three-year retention needs the $199 Pro plan
- No deployment runtime or autonomous debugging engine, so it covers tracing and evaluation but not the agent platform around them
- The optional Teams add-on for SSO and fine-grained RBAC is another $300/mo on top of Pro
- No published annual rate, so budget planning is monthly
How Langfuse compares to other LLM Observability tools
Our index tracks 5 LLM Observability tools. Langfuse sits at 4.3/5, with no published annual rate; pro carries an optional teams add-on at $300/mo for sso, sso enforcement and fine-grained rbac. Here are the 4 closest alternatives we hold pricing and scoring evidence for.
- LangSmith — 4.4/5 · Free plan · $39/seat/mo (Plus)
LangSmith is the observability and evaluation platform from the LangChain team: $0/seat with 5K base traces a month, Plus at $39/seat with 10K, then pay-as-you-go at $1.00 per LangChain Standard Unit. - Braintrust — 4.2/5 · Free plan · $249/mo (Pro)
Braintrust is the observability and eval platform with the most explicit score pricing in the cluster: Starter is $0 with 10K scores a month, Pro jumps to $249/mo with 50K scores plus cheaper per-1K rates. - Arize AX — 4.0/5 · Free plan · $50/mo (AX Pro)
Arize AX is the cheapest paid step in the cluster at $50/mo, with a $0 Free tier (25K spans, 1 GB, 15-day retention) and a free open-source sibling in Arize Phoenix for fully local tracing. - Helicone — 3.8/5 · Free plan · $79/mo (Pro)
Helicone is the request-level observability and gateway layer priced per request: Hobby free with 10,000 requests a month, Pro at $79/mo, Team at $799/mo, and usage-based pricing on top.
Frequently asked questions about Langfuse
How much does Langfuse cost?
Free plan available; paid plans from $29/mo (Core); hobby $0 (50K units/mo included, 30-day data access, 2 users) · Core $29/mo (100K units included, extra $8/100K units, 90-day data access, unlimited users) · Pro $199/mo (100K units included, 3-year data access, SOC2 & ISO27001) · Enterprise $2,499/mo (audit logs, SCIM, uptime SLA); no published annual rate; Pro carries an optional Teams add-on at $300/mo for SSO, SSO enforcement and fine-grained RBAC. Billing detail: Usage is billed in units (100K units included on paid tiers, then $8 per additional 100K, lower at volume); a separate self-hosted pricing page exists for on-prem deployments. Figures verified 2026-10-03.
Does Langfuse have a free plan?
Yes. Langfuse has a free tier; paid plans start at $29/mo (Core).
What is Langfuse rated in our index?
Langfuse sits at 4.3/5 in our index, strongest on value (5/5, research only) and weakest on localization (2/5, research only). Langfuse is the value pick of the LLM observability cluster, and the reason is arithmetic rather than features: $0 to 50K units, $29 for 100K units with unlimited users, $199 for three-year retention, and a self-hosted option at every step. You give up platform breadth versus LangSmith - no deployment, no engine - and 90-day retention on the tier most teams will actually buy. If your requirement is EU or on-prem data residency, this is the only vendor in the set where that is a documented plan rather than an Enterprise conversation.
What are the drawbacks of Langfuse?
Core retains data for 90 days only - three-year retention needs the $199 Pro plan No deployment runtime or autonomous debugging engine, so it covers tracing and evaluation but not the agent platform around them The optional Teams add-on for SSO and fine-grained RBAC is another $300/mo on top of Pro No published annual rate, so budget planning is monthly.
What does Langfuse do well?
A real free tier with no credit card: 50K units a month, all platform features, 30 days of data access and 2 users Core at $29/mo is by far the cheapest paid step in the cluster, with unlimited users on every paid tier Cloud and self-hosted deployment from the same product, so privacy-sensitive teams have a real path instead of a sales call Published discounts for startups, research and students, plus a documented open-source project track.
How was Langfuse verified?
Research-only pass over official sources, last checked 2026-10-03. Sources: langfuse.com, langfuse.com, langfuse.com.
What are the alternatives to Langfuse?
We track LangSmith, Braintrust, Helicone, Arize AX as the closest alternatives in our LLM Observability index, and 4 head-to-head comparisons against Langfuse are available.