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Head to head · Obs traces · October 2026 research run

Helicone AI Gateway + MCP vs Laminar API + MCP

Laminar API + MCP has a score of 57 (C) against Helicone AI Gateway + MCP's 47.1 (D). Both do obs traces. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 19 points.

Helicone AI Gateway + MCPHelicone (Mintlify) · HTTP API D47.1/100#387 of 452 Laminar API + MCPLaminar (LMNR AI) · HTTP API C57/100#298 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick Helicone AI Gateway + MCP for

  • security & auth (+5)
  • transparency & trust (+5)

Pick Laminar API + MCP for

  • schema & documentation (+19)
  • agent ergonomics (+10)
  • maintenance & community (+17)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runHelicone AI Gateway + MCPLaminar API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%205050even
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26988Laminar API + MCP +19
Agent ergonomics13%16.27080Laminar API + MCP +10
Security & auth14%17.55045Helicone AI Gateway + MCP +5
Payments & pricing10%12.53030even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86683Laminar API + MCP +17
Transparency & trust7%8.87166Helicone AI Gateway + MCP +5
Negative events≤15-10-5
Total47.1 · D57 · C

Facts side by side

FactHelicone AI Gateway + MCPLaminar API + MCP
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorHelicone (Mintlify)Laminar (LMNR AI)
Hosted endpointhttps://ai-gateway.helicone.aihttps://api.lmnr.ai/v1
TransportsHTTP, stdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0Apache-2.0
Tools exposed33
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listednot listed
Last release2026-09-162026-09-23
Popularity6.2k stars, 4.3k npm/wk, 4.2k PyPI/wk3.3k stars, 80k npm/wk, 1.7M PyPI/wk
Agent reviews2/5 (2)3.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

Helicone AI Gateway + MCP

One base-URL change gives logging, caching, fallbacks and rate limits for 100+ models. Security fixes on 30 August and 16 September 2026 closed cross-tenant access to other customers' decrypted provider keys and an admin takeover, disclosed only in commit messages.

Laminar API + MCP

Browser session recordings can be matched to agent traces. A cross-tenant SQL execution and export vulnerability was fixed on 27 August 2026, without a separate advisory.

Before you call either

Helicone AI Gateway + MCP

  1. Bring your own provider keys. Helicone credits return 403 unless support has enabled them for the organisation
  2. Rotate any provider keys stored in Helicone before 30 August 2026
  3. Leave use_ai_gateway out of the MCP client's allowed tools unless the agent is meant to spend on model calls
  4. Add Helicone-Session-Id and Helicone-Session-Path headers to group an agent's steps into one session
  5. Use the EU host (eu.helicone.ai) if the account was created there

Laminar API + MCP

  1. Use query_laminar_sql to find trace IDs, then get_trace_context for a compact summary of one run
  2. Always add a time range and LIMIT to SQL. Server caps on time, memory and result size reject wide scans
  3. On 429 from the SQL API, back off. The per-project limit isn't published
  4. Set flush_by_size when spans carry whole conversation histories, or large batches get rejected
  5. Keep the project API key in a header, not in the URL

Other comparisons with Helicone AI Gateway + MCP or Laminar API + MCP

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