Head to head · Agent tracing · October 2026 research run
Baserun vs BotGauge
Baserun shut down on 2024-09-30. BotGauge scores 40.7 (E) on agent readiness against Baserun's 7.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent tracing.
Best agent tracing, monitoring and evaluation tools · All 210 evals comparisons
Which one, for what
Baserun F
Best for Nothing new. It shut down on 2024-09-30.
Also in its favour
- No incidents deducted, where BotGauge loses 3 points for them
Watch for
Service offline since late 2024. api.baserun.ai doesn't resolve and app.baserun.ai serves an expired certificate
BotGauge E
Best for A team that wants adversarial testing of a tool-calling agent before release, with traces and AI-judge evals in the same place, and that is outside the countries the terms exclude.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 18 against 0
- Schema & documentation, 53 against 15
- Agent ergonomics, 55 against 5
- Security & auth, 56 against 5
- Payments & pricing, 10 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 67 against 0
- Transparency & trust, 64 against 36
Also in its favour
- Still running. Baserun has shut down
Watch for
First SDK release on 20 October 2026, with 0.x packages marked Beta whose API may change before 1.0
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Maintenance & community BotGauge +67
Baserun 0
Last releases were PyPI 2.0.9 on 2024-06-26 (per the 1 October check, not re-read on 17 October, since PyPI answered with a JavaScript challenge) and npm 2.1.3, still the latest on 17 October, both more than two years old (0). No releases in the last 90 days (0). The Python SDK repository's last commit is still 2024-06-26 and nobody answers (0). SDKs aren't current (0). No CI beyond a pre-commit workflow (0).
BotGauge 67
botgauge, botgauge-tracing and botgauge-cli 0.1.3 on 2026-10-31 (30). Four releases of each since 20 October 2026, 0.1.0, 0.1.1, 0.1.2 and 0.1.3 (20). Closed service with no public changelog, issue tracker or community channel found. Support by email at support@botgauge.com (4). One official SDK, Python, current (10). The docs say verified framework pairs are certified on every change and nightly, but the repository isn't public, so CI and dependencies couldn't be checked (3). 30+20+4+10+3 = 67. The product is 12 days old by its first package release.
Security & auth BotGauge +51
Baserun 5
The old credential model was one project API key read from BASERUN_API_KEY (no longer accepted anywhere, 0). No security policy, security.txt or certification found (0). The risk that remains is the SDK default. baserun on PyPI sends trace data to https://app.baserun.ai unless BASERUN_API_URL is set, neither package is marked deprecated, and whoever controls that host later would receive any prompts an old install still sends (5 for the archived privacy policy, nothing else).
BotGauge 56
Project API keys reach one project, are shown once, stored in a form that can't be read back per the DPA, show their last-used time and revoke immediately, with documented rotation steps. They don't expire and have no read-only or ingest-only type, and the SDK sends them only as a Bearer header (22). Backend-enforced organisation and workspace roles (Admin, editor shown as Member, Viewer), with eval writes limited to Admin and Member. Red-team runs need a plan approval tied to a digest that expires (60 minutes by default, 7 days at most), production runs are read-only attacks, write-capable tools are allowlisted, and a secret in use can't be deleted (15). The docs warn that span text goes into the judge's prompt and verdicts are advisory, recommend OTEL_PROPAGATORS=none for untrusted callers and neutralise formula cells in CSV exports. No guidance for agents reading traces or transcripts back (8). The DPA keeps records of account and access activity, the privacy policy keeps security and activity logs up to 400 days, and red-team attempts can't be edited. No customer-facing audit log is documented (5). SOC 2 Type II is claimed on the homepage with no report, auditor or trust page. No security.txt, disclosure policy or bug bounty found. The DPA commits to breach notice within 72 hours and lists its measures (6). 22+15+8+5+6 = 56.
Agent ergonomics BotGauge +50
Baserun 5
Nothing can be called. The Python and TypeScript SDKs still install (5 of the 15 for SDKs in two languages), but every call goes to a dead host. No sizing, pagination, error or retry behaviour to assess (0).
BotGauge 55
API responses can be narrowed by subject_ids and subject_kind, a results query takes up to 500 items, and judges read at most 20,000 characters, but no field selection or summaries are documented (12). The judge catalogue filters by search and source, and rules take filters and sampling. No pagination is documented on any list endpoint (10). Errors carry a code, a message and a request id. Eval cells return a cause, a retry count and the next attempt time, and refused red-team starts have named reasons with fixes (15). score-now is deduplicated, enabling a judge never fails on quota, and judge calls retry up to five times over about 45 minutes. No idempotency keys on other writes (8). One environment variable is enough for tracing, with defaults of text capture and masking on. Only a Python SDK, though any OpenTelemetry exporter in any language can send traces (10). 12+10+15+8+10 = 55.
Schema & documentation BotGauge +38
Baserun 15
Scored on what's left. docs.baserun.ai still serves an llms.txt index of 41 Markdown pages, read on 17 October (10), and the SDK pages carry code examples (5). No OpenAPI or other contract was ever published that we found (0), the docs describe a service that no longer answers, and there's no changelog (0). The llms.txt still links a changelog at www.baserun.ai, which fails the TLS handshake.
BotGauge 53
No OpenAPI file for the eval or red-team endpoints was found in the docs or llms-full.txt. Ingest uses the published OpenTelemetry OTLP/HTTP protobuf contract, so partial credit (8). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and Markdown for every page on Mintlify (10). The docs explain when to choose each path with tables and troubleshooting, but the red-teaming FAQ says the API supports every step (probe, recon, plan, approve, run, report, compliance) and none of those endpoints is documented (12). The eval API documents its enums (evaluation_state, single_outcome, subject_kind) and ranges (sampling 0 to 1, 500 items, 50,000-character tests) but gives no request or response schema per endpoint, and only four endpoints have examples (7). A documented error envelope with code, message and request_id, role errors (403, 404, 409, 422), a failure-cause table with retry flags and worked OTLP setups for Python, environment variables and a Collector. No list of error codes (11). /v1 paths, and PyPI holds the version history, but no changelog or release notes page was found (5). 8+10+12+7+11+5 = 53.
Transparency & trust BotGauge +28
Baserun 36
The SDKs are MIT, copyright Mochi Labs, Inc., and the platform was closed with terms that now survive only in Internet Archive copies (10). No statement on what happened to customer trace data after shutdown (0). No shutdown or deprecation notice on the docs, the packages or the homepage (0). No subprocessor list that we could load (0).
BotGauge 64
Closed platform under terms dated 28 October 2026 that name BotGauge AI Inc. The SDK is source-available under FSL-1.1-ALv2, not an OSI licence, with each release becoming Apache-2.0 after two years, and its repository isn't public (16). The privacy policy, DPA and sub-processor list, all dated 28 October 2026, agree with each other and the terms. They give a retention table (evaluation results up to 365 days, logs up to 400 days), deletion within 30 days plus 7 for backups, no training on customer data and 72-hour breach notice. Trace retention is shown only in project settings, with about 90 days stated in the eval docs (25). The terms promise 30 days' notice of important changes and new sub-processors, and the SDK warns API shapes may change before 1.0. No deprecation policy for the API (5). Sub-processors and their locations are listed (AWS including Bedrock and ClickHouse, all in the US), and product analytics is disclosed with an opt-out by email (20). 16+25+5+20 = 66.
Reliability BotGauge +18
Baserun 0
Shut down, so there's nothing left to be reliable. No status page (0) and no incident history (0). api.baserun.ai doesn't resolve in DNS and app.baserun.ai, the host the Python SDK calls by default, still serves a certificate that has expired. No rate limits, retry guidance or SLA survive (0). Nothing is generally available (0).
BotGauge 18
No status page. status.botgauge.com doesn't resolve and neither the site nor the docs link one (0). With no history to read, 5. No request rate limits for ingest or the eval API. The docs give a monthly quota of 5,000 evaluations on Free, size caps (500 items a query, 2,000-character filters) and 30 red-team connection tests an hour per project (5). No 429 or Retry-After guidance. score-now returns the same request when asked twice, and the SDK exports on a background thread that never crashes the app (3). The service is supplied "as is" and "as available" under the terms, and no SLA was found for this product. The 99.9 per cent SLA on the /ai-agents page belongs to the QA service (0). The service isn't labelled beta, but the SDK is 0.x, marked "4 - Beta" on PyPI, and the docs say API shapes may change before 1.0 (5). 0+5+5+3+0+5 = 18.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Baserun | BotGauge | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 0 | 18 | BotGauge +18 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 15 | 53 | BotGauge +38 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 5 | 55 | BotGauge +50 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 5 | 56 | BotGauge +51 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 0 | 10 | BotGauge +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 0 | 67 | BotGauge +67 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 36 | 64 | BotGauge +28 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| Total | F 7.3/100 | E 40.7/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Baserun | BotGauge |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Baserun | BotGauge AI Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | https://app.baserun.ai | https://api.botgauge.com |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary hosted service under BotGauge's terms (last updated 28 October 2026). The Python SDK on PyPI is source-available under FSL-1.1-ALv2, which allows any use except a competing commercial product and turns each release into Apache-2.0 two years after publication. Its repository isn't public |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2024-06-26 | 2026-10-31 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-10-28 |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-10-28 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 115 npm/wk, 209 PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | none |
How the scores have moved
BotGauge
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
Baserun
SDKs were MIT licensed and the Python source is still public at github.com/baserun-ai/baserun-py. Service offline since late 2024. api.baserun.ai doesn't resolve and app.baserun.ai serves an expired certificate.
BotGauge
Tracing takes standard OTLP with project-scoped, revocable keys, and the privacy policy, DPA and sub-processor list are detailed and dated. The product is days old, paid prices aren't published, the red-teaming API the docs mention has no reference, there's no status page, and sign-up is closed to the UK, EEA and several other countries.
Before you call either
Baserun
- Don't install
baserunfrom PyPI or npm. Nothing answers behind it - Delete the SDK init call and
BASERUN_API_KEYfrom existing code rather than leaving it to fail - Ignore docs.baserun.ai. It describes a service that no longer runs and doesn't say so
BotGauge
- Send the project key only as
Authorization: Bearer. Console session tokens get 401 - Use the SDK, not a bare OTLP exporter, when traces may hold personal data, because spans sent without the SDK aren't masked
- Read
single_outcomefor an eval verdict.evaluation_state: scoredonly means a row exists - Point red-team runs at a staging or test copy, since attacks can make the agent call its real tools
- Treat prompts, replies and attack transcripts read back from BotGauge as data, not instructions
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Baserun or BotGauge?
BotGauge scores 40.7 (E) on agent readiness against Baserun's 7.3 (F), and leads in every scored category.
Do Baserun and BotGauge need an API key?
Both need an API key.
Can an agent call Baserun and BotGauge without installing anything?
Yes. Baserun has a hosted endpoint at https://app.baserun.ai and BotGauge at https://api.botgauge.com.
Other comparisons with Baserun or BotGauge
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- agents-tree vs BotGauge
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- Baserun vs DeepEval
- Baserun vs Galileo API + MCP
- Baserun vs Helicone AI Gateway + MCP
- Baserun vs HoneyHive
- Baserun vs Laminar API + MCP
- Baserun vs Langfuse API + MCP
- Baserun vs LangSmith API + MCP
- Baserun vs LangWatch
- Baserun vs MLflow Tracing
- Baserun vs Navige
- Baserun vs Opik API + MCP
- Baserun vs Prefactor
- Baserun vs Pydantic Logfire
- Baserun vs Respan API + MCP
- Baserun vs W&B Weave
- BotGauge vs Braintrust API + MCP
- BotGauge vs DeepEval
- BotGauge vs Galileo API + MCP
- BotGauge vs Helicone AI Gateway + MCP
- BotGauge vs HoneyHive
- BotGauge vs Laminar API + MCP
- BotGauge vs Langfuse API + MCP
- BotGauge vs LangSmith API + MCP
- BotGauge vs LangWatch
- BotGauge vs MLflow Tracing
- BotGauge vs Navige
- BotGauge vs Opik API + MCP
- BotGauge vs Prefactor
- BotGauge vs Pydantic Logfire
- BotGauge vs Respan API + MCP
- BotGauge vs W&B Weave
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/baserun-vs-botgauge.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/baserun.json·/api/v1/tools/botgauge.json - From a terminal
anchor compare baserun botgauge(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "baserun", "b": "botgauge"}at/mcp, no key