I Tested 6 LLM Monitoring Tools So You Do Not Have To

I tested 6 LLM monitoring tools over 2 weeks. Here is what I found.

The Tools Tested

1. DriftWatch (my own, so I am biased)
2. Helicone
3. Portkey
4. Athina
5. Braintrust
6. Custom (built-in logging)

What I Was Looking For

• Drift detection accuracy
• Cost tracking granularity
• Latency monitoring
• Ease of integration
• Alerting options
• Price

Results

DriftWatch

Strengths: Purpose-built for drift detection, automated weekly checks, affordable.
Weaknesses: Newer, smaller community.
Price: From £9.90/mo

Helicone

Strengths: Great API tracking, open source, good visualizations.
Weaknesses: No dedicated drift detection, more focused on generic API monitoring.
Price: Free tier + $50/mo Pro

Portkey

Strengths: Comprehensive observability, good alerting, multi-model support.
Weaknesses: Complex setup, expensive for small teams.
Price: Free tier + $100/mo Pro

Athina

Strengths: Good for LLM evaluation, nice UI.
Weaknesses: No drift detection specifically, evaluation-focused.
Price: $50/mo+

Braintrust

Strengths: Good for evals, open source.
Weaknesses: Not real-time monitoring, more for testing.
Price: Free tier + $100/mo

Custom

Strengths: Full control.
Weaknesses: Takes time to build, need to maintain.
Price: Your time

The Honest Recommendation

For most teams: Start with DriftWatch or Helicone.

DriftWatch if you care about drift detection specifically.
Helicone if you want broader API observability.

Portkey and Athina are enterprise-grade and expensive.
Braintrust is evaluation-focused, not production monitoring.
Custom is only worth it if you have specific requirements.

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Full disclosure: I built DriftWatch because I was not satisfied with existing tools for drift detection specifically. Try it: from £9.90/mo