kitio.aiHerald vs Middleware
A side-by-side look at pricing plans, free tiers, features, pros and cons, updated for 2026. Herald starts at See pricing page and Middleware starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
At a glance
Best for
Pricing model
Starting price
Free plan
Made by
Based in
Rating
Key features
- Predictive issue detection
- Root cause analysis
- Suggested resolutions
- CLI agent
- Slack and Teams collaboration
- Bring your own model
- OpsAI SRE agent
- Infrastructure monitoring
- APM and tracing
- Log monitoring
- Real user monitoring
- LLM observability
| Feature | Herald | Middleware |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | AI SRE that finds production issues and their root cause early | Full-stack observability platform with an AI SRE agent that fixes issues |
| Category | Coding | Coding |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | See pricing page | See pricing page |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Made by | Herald | Middleware |
| Based in | – | United States |
| Rating | No ratings yet | No ratings yet |
| Key features |
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Pricing compared
Herald starts at See pricing page and Middleware starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Free plan
Cheapest paid plan
Top plan
Free trial
4 plans
Hobby
Free
- Herald CLI agent
- Local integrations
- Limited agent requests
Individual
$20/mo billed yearly
- Root cause analysis
- Predictive detection
- Suggested resolutions
Teams
$40/user/mo billed yearly
- Per user
- Cloud agent and integrations
- Slack and Teams collaboration
Enterprise
Contact sales
- Custom deployment
3 plans
Free Forever
Free
- Up to 100GB data
- 1k RUM sessions
- 20k synthetic checks
- 14-day retention
Pay As You Go
$0.3 / GB
- $1 per 1K RUM sessions
- OpsAI error solving
- 30-day retention
- SSO and security features
BYOC
Custom
- Bring your own cloud
- Custom data retention
- 24x7 support
Prices in USD, checked Oct 29, 2026 or later. Plans change often, so confirm on each tool's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
Herald
- Free CLI tier without a card
- Catches issues before alerts fire
- Bring your own model or cloud
- Cloud agent needs the Teams plan
- Per-user pricing for teams
- Recently rebranded from RunLLM
Middleware
- Generous 100GB free tier
- Simple per-GB usage pricing
- AI agent suggests and applies fixes
- Usage costs can be hard to forecast
- Free tier keeps data only 14 days
- Smaller ecosystem than older APM vendors
Which one should you choose?
Choose Herald if you want:
- Free CLI tier without a card
- Catches issues before alerts fire
- Bring your own model or cloud
Watch out: cloud agent needs the teams plan.
Choose Middleware if you want:
- Generous 100GB free tier
- Simple per-GB usage pricing
- AI agent suggests and applies fixes
Watch out: usage costs can be hard to forecast.
Herald vs Middleware FAQ
What is the difference between Herald and Middleware?
Herald: AI SRE that finds production issues and their root cause early. Middleware: Full-stack observability platform with an AI SRE agent that fixes issues. Both are coding tools.
Is Herald or Middleware cheaper?
Herald starts at See pricing page and Middleware starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Do Herald and Middleware have free plans?
Herald: Yes. Middleware: Yes.
Who makes Herald?
Herald is made by Herald.
Who makes Middleware?
Middleware is made by Middleware, based in United States.
Which should I choose, Herald or Middleware?
Choose Herald if you value free cli tier without a card and catches issues before alerts fire. Choose Middleware if you value generous 100gb free tier and simple per-gb usage pricing.