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Tools/Langfuse/vs LangSmith
Langfuse

Langfuse

observability
vs
LangSmith

LangSmith

observability

Langfuse vs LangSmith — Comparison

15 integrations1 features870,710 npm/wkMerger / Acquisition
15 integrations14 featuresSeries B
The Bottom Line

LangSmith excels in providing comprehensive observability for AI agents with cloud-based infrastructure, though it faces critiques for its cost and lack of open-source options. Langfuse offers deep visibility into LLM operations and boasts significant community engagement with 24,100 GitHub stars and 870,710 npm downloads/week, though it may lack in agent topology understanding.

Best for

Langfuse is the better choice when seeking robust community support and extensive metrics visibility for LLM applications, suited for smaller teams looking for flexible subscription options.

Best for

LangSmith is the better choice when managing deployment and monitoring of AI agents in production is crucial, especially for teams deeply integrated within CI/CD workflows.

Key Differences

  • 1.LangSmith offers a comprehensive set of features for AI agent management, including version control and deployment management, absent in Langfuse.
  • 2.Langfuse demonstrates significant community engagement with 24,100 GitHub stars, far surpassing openly reported LangSmith metrics.
  • 3.LangSmith utilizes a cloud-only service model, while Langfuse provides subscription-based, tiered pricing starting at $29/month.
  • 4.Langfuse integrates with tools like Trello and Clickhouse, while LangSmith excels in multi-agent system support and CI/CD workflow integration.
  • 5.LangSmith is supported by a larger team with approximately 98 employees, compared to Langfuse's 19-employee team.

Verdict

LangSmith is ideal for organizations focused on extensive AI agent evaluation and deployment workflows, despite the higher cost. In contrast, Langfuse offers an excellent choice for smaller teams prioritizing LLM application metrics, with budget-friendly pricing and a strong user community. Choose based on specific operational needs and growth stage.

Overview
What each tool does and who it's for

Langfuse

Traces, evals, prompt management and metrics to debug and improve your LLM application.

Langfuse is recognized for its capability to effectively track LLM calls, providing visibility into AI operations which is crucial for production environments. However, some users have raised concerns about its lack of understanding of agent topology and potential interoperability limitations with other tracing formats. There isn't much specific sentiment mentioned about pricing, but there seems to be an implication that it's a paid solution compared to some open-source alternatives. Overall, Langfuse is appreciated as a valuable tool for observability in AI, though it faces some competition from both paid and open-source tools offering varied features.

LangSmith

View in LangSmith

LangSmith is recognized for its capabilities in providing observability for AI agents, a necessary feature due to the risk associated with running these agents in production environments. A key complaint highlighted is that LangSmith is a cloud-only service with paid access, which may not be ideal for all users, especially those preferring open-source alternatives. The general sentiment around its pricing is somewhat negative, as users express a preference for non-commercial options. Overall, LangSmith appears to have a solid reputation for its functional strengths but faces criticism regarding its availability and cost structure.

Key Metrics
24,100
GitHub Stars
—
2,434
GitHub Forks
—
870,710
npm Downloads/wk
—
19,249,322
PyPI Downloads/mo
—
Mention Velocity
How discussion volume is trending week-over-week

Langfuse

-50% vs last week

LangSmith

Stable week-over-week
Where People Discuss
Mention distribution across platforms

Langfuse

Reddit
53%
YouTube
29%
Hacker News
12%
Dev.to
6%

LangSmith

YouTube
45%
Reddit
36%
Hacker News
18%
Community Sentiment
How developers feel about each tool based on mentions and reviews

Langfuse

24% positive76% neutral0% negative

LangSmith

18% positive73% neutral9% negative
Pricing

Langfuse

subscription + tiered

Pricing found: $29 / month, $8/100k, $199 / month, $8/100k, $300/mo

LangSmith

Use Cases
When to use each tool

Langfuse (8)

Monitoring LLM performance in productionTracking API usage and costsAnalyzing user interactions with LLMsIdentifying bottlenecks in LLM workflowsDebugging multi-agent systemsOptimizing LLM response timesConducting A/B testing on LLM outputsCollecting feedback for LLM improvements

LangSmith (9)

Monitoring AI agent performance in productionDebugging issues in multi-agent systemsEvaluating the effectiveness of AI agentsPreventing data loss in AI applicationsManaging deployment of AI agentsIntegrating observability into CI/CD workflowsTracking user interactions with AI agentsAnalyzing agent behavior over timeSetting up alerts for performance anomalies
Features

Only in Langfuse (1)

Gain deep visibility into your traces

Only in LangSmith (14)

Agent debugging toolsPerformance monitoring dashboardsReal-time observability metricsError tracking and reportingAgent performance evaluationDeployment management for AI agentsCustomizable alerting systemIntegration with CI/CD pipelinesUser activity trackingData loss prevention mechanismsMulti-agent system supportCloud-based infrastructureVersion control for agent configurationsCollaboration tools for development teams
Integrations

Shared (11)

OpenAIAWS LambdaSlackZapierGitHubGoogle Cloud PlatformMicrosoft AzureJiraDatadogPrometheusGrafana

Only in Langfuse (4)

ClickhouseTrelloNotionSentry

Only in LangSmith (4)

CircleCIDockerKubernetesTwilio
Developer Ecosystem
18
GitHub Repos
—
828
GitHub Followers
—
20
npm Packages
—
22
HuggingFace Models
—
Pain Points
Top complaints from reviews and social mentions

Langfuse

cost tracking (3)anthropic bill (1)surprise bill (1)cost monitoring (1)usage monitoring (1)token usage (1)

LangSmith

cost tracking (4)anthropic bill (1)openai bill (1)token usage (1)
Top Discussion Keywords
Most mentioned keywords from community discussions

Langfuse

cost tracking (3)anthropic bill (1)surprise bill (1)cost monitoring (1)usage monitoring (1)token usage (1)

LangSmith

cost tracking (4)anthropic bill (1)openai bill (1)token usage (1)
Latest Videos
Recent uploads from official YouTube channels

Langfuse

Langfuse Context: All things MCP with Adam Jones (Tech Lead at Anthropic)

Langfuse Context: All things MCP with Adam Jones (Tech Lead at Anthropic)

Jan 6, 2026

Continuous Evaluation, Monitoring, and Operations of AI Agents with AWS Bedrock AgentCore & Langfuse

Continuous Evaluation, Monitoring, and Operations of AI Agents with AWS Bedrock AgentCore & Langfuse

Nov 25, 2025

Collect User Feedback of your LLM Agent in Langfuse

Collect User Feedback of your LLM Agent in Langfuse

Nov 14, 2025

Langfuse Launch Week Day 6: Dataset Schema Enforcement & Folders

Langfuse Launch Week Day 6: Dataset Schema Enforcement & Folders

Nov 8, 2025

LangSmith

No YouTube channel

Product Screenshots

Langfuse

Langfuse screenshot 1Langfuse screenshot 2

LangSmith

No screenshots

What People Talk About
Most discussed topics from community mentions

Langfuse

pricing3
api3
model selection3
agents3
cost optimization3
scalability2
open source2
streaming2

LangSmith

pricing1
performance1
documentation1
api1
open source1
deployment1
model selection1
RAG1
Top Community Mentions
Highest-engagement mentions from the community

Langfuse

Anyone actually built a real feedback loop for Claude agents in production? Because "run evals and pray" isn't cutting it

So I've been running a multi-agent setup with Claude for a few months now mostly customer-facing stuff, some internal tooling. And i keep hitting this problem that I think a lot of people here are probably dealing with too but nobody really talks about. You ship a prompt change. Or you swap from So

Redditby Fine-Discipline-818 source

LangSmith

After 6 months of running AI agents in production I think the framework you pick barely matters. The thing that kills them is something else.

Going to get downvoted for this but here we go. I've been running about 30 agents in production for paying customers for the last 6 months and I'm convinced the framework debate is mostly a distraction. LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen, OpenAI Agents SDK. Pick whichever one your team already knows. It do

Redditby DetectiveMindless652 source
Company Intel
information technology & services
Industry
information technology & services
19
Employees
98
$4.1M
Funding
$260.0M
Merger / Acquisition
Stage
Series B
Supported Languages & Categories

Only in Langfuse (5)

AI/MLDevOpsSecurityAnalyticsDeveloper Tools
Frequently Asked Questions
Is LangSmith or Langfuse better for monitoring AI agent performance?▼

LangSmith provides better tools for monitoring AI agent performance due to its features like real-time observability metrics and error tracking.

How does LangSmith pricing compare to Langfuse?▼

LangSmith is perceived as more expensive due to its cloud-only service model, in contrast to Langfuse's affordable subscription tiers starting at $29/month.

Which has better community support, LangSmith or Langfuse?▼

Langfuse, with 24,100 GitHub stars and 870,710 weekly npm downloads, offers better community support than LangSmith.

Can LangSmith and Langfuse be used together?▼

Yes, both tools can potentially be integrated together as they share common integrations like OpenAI, AWS Lambda, and GitHub.

Which is easier to get started with, LangSmith or Langfuse?▼

Langfuse may be easier to start with due to its tiered pricing model and large community resources.

View Langfuse Profile View LangSmith Profile