KLA vs Helicone
Helicone is a strong gateway + observability layer across providers. KLA governs workflow decisions with approvals and exports auditor-ready evidence packs.
Tracing is necessary. Regulated audits usually ask for decision governance + proof: enforceable policy gates and approvals, packaged as a verifiable evidence bundle (not just raw logs).
For teams who want quick visibility and routing across many LLM providers with minimal integration effort.
Last updated: Dec 17, 2025 · Version v1.0 · Not legal advice.
Who this page is for
A buyer-side framing (not a dunk).
For teams who want quick visibility and routing across many LLM providers with minimal integration effort.
What Helicone is actually for
Grounded in their primary job (and where it overlaps).
Helicone is built around a proxy/gateway approach for LLM observability: centralized logging/analytics, routing patterns, and operational controls (often with cloud and self-host options depending on plan).
Overlap
- Both can help capture what happened in production and support audit conversations.
- Both can coexist: Helicone for request-level visibility and KLA for decision-time approvals and evidence exports.
- The key distinction is request governance vs workflow decision governance.
What Helicone is excellent at
Recognize what the tool does well, then separate it from audit deliverables.
- Gateway + observability patterns for tracking and experimenting across providers.
- Fast adoption for logging and monitoring request flows.
- Operational proxy capabilities like routing/caching/rate limiting (product-dependent).
Where regulated teams still need a separate layer
- Decision-time approval queues and escalation for workflow decisions (not only proxy logs).
- Policy checkpoints that enforce controls at decision time for business actions (block/review/allow).
- Evidence Room exports mapped to Annex IV and audit evidence checklists (manifest + checksums), not just raw logs.
Out-of-the-box vs build-it-yourself
A fair split between what ships as the primary workflow and what you assemble across systems.
Out of the box
- Proxy/gateway integration for centralized request logging and analytics.
- Request-level routing/operational controls (depending on setup and plan).
- Visibility across providers with minimal instrumentation effort.
Possible, but you build it
- A decision-time approval gate for high-risk workflow actions (with escalation and overrides).
- Decision records tied to the business action, including reviewer context and rationale.
- A packaged evidence export mapped to Annex IV/oversight deliverables with verification artifacts.
- Retention and integrity posture suitable for audits (multi-year, verification drills, redaction rules).
Concrete regulated workflow example
One scenario that shows where each layer fits.
Customer support workflow (high-risk action)
An agent drafts customer responses and can trigger account actions (e.g., issue a refund). A proxy helps govern requests; regulated workflows often also require an approval gate before the business action executes.
Where Helicone helps
- Centralize request logs and provider visibility for debugging and incident response.
- Apply request-level controls and operational patterns at the proxy layer.
Where KLA helps
- Block the high-risk action until an authorized approver signs off (with escalation rules).
- Capture approvals/overrides as workflow decision evidence with context and timestamps.
- Export a verifiable evidence pack suitable for audits and third-party review.
Quick decision
When to choose each (and when to buy both).
Choose Helicone when
- You need provider visibility and request-level observability quickly.
Choose KLA when
- You need to govern business workflows with approvals and export audit-ready evidence packs.
When not to buy KLA
- You only need request-level logging and routing.
If you buy both
- Use Helicone for request visibility and observability across providers.
- Use KLA for workflow governance, oversight, and evidence exports for audits.
What KLA does not do
- KLA is not a proxy/gateway; it does not aim to replace request routing and middleware observability.
- KLA is not a prompt experimentation suite.
- KLA is not a governance system of record for inventories and assessments.
KLA’s control loop (Govern / Measure / Prove)
What “audit-grade evidence” means in product primitives.
Govern
- Policy-as-code checkpoints that block or require review for high-risk actions.
- Role-aware approval queues, escalation, and overrides captured as decision records.
Measure
- Risk-tiered sampling reviews (baseline + burst during incidents or after changes).
- Near-miss tracking (blocked / nearly blocked steps) as a measurable control signal.
Prove
- Tamper-proof, append-only audit trail with external timestamping and integrity verification.
- Evidence Room export bundles (manifest + checksums) so auditors can verify independently.
Note: some controls (SSO, review workflows, retention windows) are plan-dependent — see /pricing.
RFP checklist (downloadable)
A shareable procurement artifact (backlink magnet).
# RFP checklist: KLA vs Helicone Use this to evaluate whether “observability / gateway / governance” tooling actually covers audit deliverables for regulated agent workflows. ## Must-have (audit deliverables) - Annex IV-style export mapping (technical documentation fields → evidence) - Human oversight records (approval queues, escalation, overrides) - Post-market monitoring plan + risk-tiered sampling policy - Tamper-evident audit story (integrity checks + long retention) ## Ask Helicone (and your team) - Can you enforce decision-time controls (block/review/allow) for high-risk actions in production? - How do you distinguish “human annotation” from “human approval” for business actions? - Can you export a self-contained evidence bundle (manifest + checksums), not just raw logs/traces? - What is the retention posture (e.g., 7+ years) and how can an auditor verify integrity independently? - How do you move from proxy logs to a self-contained audit evidence pack that includes approvals and policy enforcement?
Sources
Public references used to keep this page accurate and fair.
Note: product capabilities change. If you spot something outdated, please report it via /contact.