Langfuse vs LangSmith
Two of the most-asked-about agents in the developer-tools space. Here's how they actually stack up.
Langfuse
Open-source LLM observability with full self-hosting and production-ready tracing
Free tier
Read full review →LangSmith
LLM observability, testing, and evaluation platform from the LangChain team
Free tier
Read full review →Side-by-side comparison
| Langfuse | LangSmith | |
|---|---|---|
| Tagline | Open-source LLM observability with full self-hosting and production-ready tracing | LLM observability, testing, and evaluation platform from the LangChain team |
| Pricing | Free tier | Free tier |
| Categories | developer-tools, open-source, api | developer-tools, api, productivity |
| Made by | Langfuse | LangChain |
| Launched | 2023-07 | 2023-09 |
| Platforms | Web, API, Self-hosted | Web, API |
| Status | active | active |
Langfuse highlights
- + Full trace and span logging for any LLM framework or direct API calls
- + Self-hosting via Docker Compose or Kubernetes: own your data completely
- + Prompt management with versioning, tags, and production/staging environments
- + Dataset and evaluation system: run evals on curated test sets
- + Score collection for human feedback and LLM-as-judge evaluation
LangSmith highlights
- + Full trace logging for LLM chains with nested step visibility
- + Dataset management: build eval datasets from production traces
- + Automated evaluation with LLM-as-judge scoring
- + Human annotation queues for labeling and quality review
- + Prompt hub for storing and versioning prompts
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Langfuse or LangSmith?
Neither is universally better. Langfuse (Free tier) leans into developer-tools, while LangSmith (Free tier) is closer to developer-tools. Pick based on which workflow you actually do every day.
What is the price difference between Langfuse and LangSmith?
Langfuse is free tier. LangSmith is free tier. See the pricing row in the comparison table.
Can I use Langfuse and LangSmith together?
In most cases, yes. They serve overlapping but distinct needs, so running them side by side is common until you decide which fits your workflow.