MCPSpendCompare · Helicone
MCPSpend vs. Helicone
Both tools answer the question "what is my AI costing me?" — at different layers. Helicone is a fantastic LLM-layer observability platform — it sees every OpenAI / Anthropic / Replicate API call by wrapping the SDK. MCPSpend is the layer below — it sees every MCP tool call made by an agent during those LLM calls, including agents running inside closed IDEs (Cursor, Claude Desktop) where you cannot replace the SDK.
| Dimension | MCPSpend | Helicone |
|---|---|---|
| Primary unit tracked | MCP tool call (server + tool + cost + latency) | LLM chat completion (provider + model + tokens) |
| Install path | One CLI command — auto-detects Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Claude Code | Replace OpenAI / Anthropic SDK with Helicone-wrapped SDK (or change BASE_URL) |
| Tool call visibility | Every tool call: server name, tool name, latency, success/error, payload size | Only as part of the model trace; no native tool concept |
| Per-MCP-server cost breakdown | Yes, built-in | Build manually with custom properties |
| Per-project / per-customer attribution | Built-in (projects + per-org) | Yes, via custom properties |
| Dollar budget + alerts | $ budget at 50/80/100% via email + Slack | Cost tracking yes; configurable $ thresholds depend on plan |
| Self-hosted core | Proxy + MCP server MIT on npm | Self-host edition available |
| Free tier | 25,000 tool calls / month forever | 10,000 requests / month free |
| Paid entry point | $29 / month (Pro) | From ~$20 / month |
| Sees agent activity in closed IDEs (Cursor, Claude Desktop) | Yes — config-only wrap, no code change needed | No — requires the IDE to call your wrapped SDK; closed IDEs are out of reach |
Choose MCPSpend if…
- ✓ Your agents live in Cursor, Claude Desktop, Windsurf, or VS Code
- ✓ You care about which MCP server / which tool is driving the spend
- ✓ You want install-without-code-change
- ✓ You need per-project attribution and budget alerts
Choose Helicone if…
- ✓ You build your own LLM application with the OpenAI / Anthropic SDK
- ✓ You don't use MCP servers — your agent calls the model directly
- ✓ You can change the SDK or BASE_URL in your code
- ✓ Token-level prompt and response logging is critical
They're complementary.
A lot of teams run both — Helicone on the LLM side, MCPSpend on the MCP side. Together they give you full top-to-bottom cost visibility.