kitio.aiLangSmith vs Portkey
A side-by-side look at pricing plans, free tiers, features, pros and cons, updated for 2026. LangSmith has the lower starting price: about $39 a month, against $49 for Portkey.
At a glance
Best for
Category
Pricing model
Starting price
Free plan
Made by
Based in
Rating
Key features
- Agent tracing
- Datasets and evaluators
- Prompt hub
- Agent deployment
- Online monitoring
- Universal LLM API
- Fallbacks and load balancing
- Logs and traces
- Guardrails
- Prompt management
- Budgets and rate limits
| Feature | LangSmith | Portkey |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Tracing, evaluation and deployment platform for LLM agents | AI gateway with observability, guardrails and prompt management |
| Category | Models & APIs | Models & APIs |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $39/mo | $49/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Made by | LangChain | Portkey (Palo Alto Networks) |
| Based in | United States | United States |
| Rating | No ratings yet | No ratings yet |
| Key features |
|
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Pricing compared
LangSmith has the lower starting price: about $39 a month, against $49 for Portkey.
Free plan
Cheapest paid plan
Top plan
Free trial
3 plans
Developer
Free
- 1 seat
- 5k base traces / month, then pay as you go
- Community support
Plus
$39/mo
- Per seat
- 10k base traces / month, then pay as you go
- Access to Deployment and Engine
- Unlimited seats
Enterprise
Custom
- Self-hosted and hybrid deployment
- Custom SSO, ABAC and RBAC
- Support SLA
3 plans
Developer
Free
- 10k recorded logs per month
- 3-day log retention
- AI gateway and observability
- Community support
Production
$49/mo
- 100k recorded logs per month
- $9 per extra 100k requests
- 30-day log retention
- Alerts and traces
Enterprise
Custom
- 10M+ recorded logs per month
- SSO and RBAC
- Custom guardrails
- Self-hosting
Prices in USD, checked Oct 28, 2026 or later. Plans change often, so confirm on each tool's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
LangSmith
- Detailed agent traces
- Strong LangGraph integration
- Works with any framework
- Per-seat pricing adds up
- Trace retention costs extra
- Self-hosting is enterprise-only
Portkey
- One API for many model providers
- Request flow isn't cut at log limits
- Self-hosting option for enterprises
- Free plan keeps logs only 3 days
- SSO and RBAC need Enterprise
- Brand is shifting under Palo Alto Networks
Which one should you choose?
Choose LangSmith if you want:
- Detailed agent traces
- Strong LangGraph integration
- Works with any framework
Watch out: per-seat pricing adds up.
Choose Portkey if you want:
- One API for many model providers
- Request flow isn't cut at log limits
- Self-hosting option for enterprises
Watch out: free plan keeps logs only 3 days.
LangSmith vs Portkey FAQ
What is the difference between LangSmith and Portkey?
LangSmith: Tracing, evaluation and deployment platform for LLM agents. Portkey: AI gateway with observability, guardrails and prompt management. Both are models & apis tools.
Is LangSmith or Portkey cheaper?
LangSmith has the lower starting price: about $39 a month, against $49 for Portkey.
Do LangSmith and Portkey have free plans?
LangSmith: Yes. Portkey: Yes.
Who makes LangSmith?
LangSmith is made by LangChain, based in United States.
Who makes Portkey?
Portkey is made by Portkey (Palo Alto Networks), based in United States.
Which should I choose, LangSmith or Portkey?
Choose LangSmith if you value detailed agent traces and strong langgraph integration. Choose Portkey if you value one api for many model providers and request flow isn't cut at log limits.