Braintrust Alternative? Braintrust vs Helicone

Introduction

As the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) grows, selecting the right observability and evaluation tools becomes crucial for the success of AI-powered applications. In this post, we’ll compare two key players: Braintrust and Helicone, focusing on their features, strengths, and which might be the best fit for your needs.

Quick Comparison

Here’s an overview of how Braintrust compares to Helicone:

Overview: Helicone vs. Braintrust

Use Case Scenarios

Different tools excel in different scenarios. Here’s a quick guide to help you choose the right tool for your specific needs:

1. Teams Creating Custom Evaluations

   • Best Tool: Helicone
   • Why: Many teams build their own bespoke evaluations and post the results to Helicone’s API. This flexibility allows for tailored evaluation processes that suit specific project needs.

2. Teams Needing Built-in Evaluations

   • Best Tool: Braintrust
   • Why: Braintrust excels in advanced built-in evaluations with features like trials, hill climbing, and detailed test cases. Alternatively, Helicone allows teams to create custom evaluations and post the results to its API, catering to bespoke evaluation needs.

3. Organizations Seeking Comprehensive Features Across All Use Cases

   • Best Tool: Helicone
   • Why: Supports all use cases with features like caching, user tracking, comprehensive aggregations, and advanced analytics. Built-in evaluation features are coming soon.

4. Enterprises Requiring High Scalability and Advanced Analytics

   • Best Tool: Helicone
   • Why: Built to handle high-volume LLM usage with over 2 billion logs and 1.6 trillion tokens processed. Offers advanced analytics with detailed cost breakdowns.

5. Projects Prioritizing Ease of Use and Detailed Observability

   • Best Tool: Helicone
   • Why: Provides an intuitive UI, one-line integration, and in-depth observability features like cost breakdowns by model, feature, user, etc.

Helicone

Designed for: All Teams (Small to Enterprise)

What is Helicone?

Helicone is an open-source LLM observability platform offering comprehensive features like advanced caching, extensive logging, robust security measures, and detailed analytics. Designed for scalability, it’s built on Cloudflare Workers, ClickHouse, and Kafka, ensuring high performance for applications of all sizes. Acting as a data aggregator, Helicone provides deep insights into your LLM usage.

Top Features

1. Comprehensive Observability and Analytics

   • Offers extensive aggregations, custom properties, and user tracking.
   • Provides advanced analytics with cost breakdowns by model, feature, user, and more.
   • Facilitates in-depth analysis and optimization.

2. Supports All Use Cases

   • Caters to small teams, large enterprises, and everything in between.
   • Provides flexibility to adapt to various project needs.

3. Scalability at Its Core

   • Handles over 2 billion LLM logs and 1.6 trillion tokens.
   • Powered by ClickHouse and Kafka for high-throughput data ingestion and analytics.

4. Intuitive UI and Easy Integration

   • One-line integration simplifies setup.
   • User-friendly interface enhances usability.

Helicone’s Experiments Feature

Discover Helicone’s Experiments, a new spreadsheet-like interface designed for efficient LLM prompt experimentation. Easily manage multiple prompt variations, run flexible experiments, and gain data-driven insights to optimize your AI prompts.

Braintrust

Designed for: Enterprise Teams Focused on Evaluations

What is Braintrust?

Braintrust is a platform centered around LLM evaluations. It provides advanced tools for testing and optimizing LLM performance, including trials, hill climbing, and detailed test case management. It integrates with CI/CD pipelines, allowing for continuous improvement. Braintrust focuses primarily on being an evaluation suite.

Top Features

1. Advanced Evaluations

   • Robust evaluation tools with comprehensive documentation.
   • Supports trials and hill climbing to refine model performance.

2. CI/CD Integration

   • Integrates with GitHub Actions.
   • Automates testing and deployment processes.

3. Prompt Experimentation

   • Uses Mustache templating for prompts.
   • Allows uploading datasets for input and expected outputs.

Considerations

While Braintrust shines as an advanced evaluation suite, it lacks a dashboard and advanced analytics capabilities. This absence of detailed observability tools like cost breakdowns and performance metrics may hinder teams needing comprehensive insights. Using Braintrust alone may not be fully comprehensive for all project needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What sets Helicone apart from Braintrust?

   Helicone offers a broader feature set tailored for scalability and comprehensive observability, including advanced analytics with detailed cost breakdowns and performance metrics. While it lacks built-in advanced evaluations (coming soon), it allows teams to post custom evaluation results via its API. Braintrust focuses primarily on advanced evaluations and CI/CD integration but lacks a dashboard and advanced analytics.

2. Do I need to use another evaluation platform with Helicone?

   Currently, Helicone does not have built-in advanced evaluation features (they are coming soon). Many teams create their own bespoke evaluations and post the results to Helicone’s API, leveraging its data aggregation and analytics capabilities.

3. Is Braintrust suitable for large-scale applications?

   Likely not on its own. Braintrust lacks the scalability features and advanced analytics crucial for handling high-volume LLM usage and in-depth analysis.

4. Which platform is more cost-effective?

   Helicone offers transparent and flexible pricing with a generous free tier, supporting small teams to enterprise. Braintrust’s enterprise pricing is non-transparent, which could lead to unexpected costs.

5. Can I self-host these platforms?

   Helicone is open-source, allowing for self-hosting and greater control. Braintrust does not offer an open-source option.

6. How easy is it to integrate these tools into my existing workflow?

   Helicone provides a one-line integration and supports various popular tools. Braintrust may require more effort due to its lack of simple integration methods and potentially confusing UI.

Conclusion

Choosing between Helicone and Braintrust depends on your project’s priorities. If you require a scalable, feature-rich platform with comprehensive observability, advanced analytics, and an intuitive interface that supports all team sizes and use cases, Helicone is the superior choice. While Helicone is in the process of adding built-in advanced evaluation features, it currently allows you to post custom evaluation results via its API, accommodating bespoke evaluation needs. For enterprise projects that prioritize advanced evaluations, Braintrust offers robust tools but may not be fully comprehensive for all needs.

For further reading, check out our previous comparison: Langfuse Alternatives? Langfuse vs Helicone.

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