# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/helicone-vs-laminar
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/helicone-vs-laminar.md (~1,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/helicone-vs-laminar.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/helicone-vs-laminar.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

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 + MCP: grade D, 47.1/100, rank #387 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/helicone.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/helicone.json
- Laminar API + MCP: grade C, 57/100, rank #298 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/laminar.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/laminar.json

## 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

| Category | Weight | Helicone AI Gateway + MCP | Laminar API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 50 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 88 | Laminar API + MCP +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 80 | Laminar API + MCP +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 50 | 45 | Helicone AI Gateway + MCP +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 83 | Laminar API + MCP +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 66 | Helicone AI Gateway + MCP +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -10 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **47.1 · D** | **57 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Helicone AI Gateway + MCP | Laminar API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Helicone (Mintlify) | Laminar (LMNR AI) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://ai-gateway.helicone.ai` | `https://api.lmnr.ai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 3 | 3 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-23 |
| Popularity | 6.2k stars, 4.3k npm/wk, 4.2k PyPI/wk | 3.3k stars, 80k npm/wk, 1.7M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (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

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