head to head · open source
llama_index vs Helicone
llama_index has 52,237 GitHub stars, 8,178 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Helicone has 6,165 stars, 672 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. llama_index leads on adoption by 747% (52,237 vs 6,165 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; Helicone is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Helicone 11%. llama_index was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| llama_index | Helicone | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 6.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.2K | ⑂ 672 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick llama_index if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Helicone if
- You want the Helicone feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Helicone fits your workflow better
About llama_index
LlamaIndex is an MIT licensed, open source Python framework for building agentic applications — retrieval augmented generation systems, agents and multi agent workflows — on top of private documents and data, and it is aimed at AI engineers and teams who need to connect large language models to their own sources of context.
read the full llama_index overview →
About Helicone
Helicone is an open source AI gateway and LLM observability platform for AI engineers who need to monitor, evaluate, and experiment with applications built on large language models.
read the full Helicone overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama_index or Helicone more popular?
llama_index has 52,237 GitHub stars and Helicone has 6,165. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and Helicone free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT and Helicone under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama_index and Helicone?
llama_index is written in Python and Helicone in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, llama_index or Helicone?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,237 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Helicone if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.