Pick LangChain if
engineers building agents in Python or JS who will read traces when something breaks.
Read the LangChain pageLangChain vs LiteLLM
Our take
Pick LangChain if engineers building agents in Python or JS who will read traces when something breaks. Pick LiteLLM if platform teams who already pay model vendors and want keys, budgets, and fallbacks in one proxy. Skip LangChain if no-code ops teams (Zapier / Make) or people who only want a visual canvas (Langflow / Dify). Skip LiteLLM if people who want a local chat app (Ollama) or traces-first observability
Best for
LangChain Engineers building agents in Python or JS who will read traces when something breaks
LiteLLM One proxy in front of many model APIs
Free plan
LangChain $0 · langChain / LangGraph: no license fee. You pay model providers
LiteLLM $0 · , “free forever” on the page. You still pay upstream model APIs
Lowest paid
LangChain LangSmith Plus $39/mo
LiteLLM Not published by the vendor
Coding agent
LangChain OSS libraries
LiteLLM Playground / Models / Agents / MCP / Guardrails
Runs where
LangChain Hosted
LiteLLM Local; you host it
Watch out
LangChain OSS is not a studio
LiteLLM $0 is the proxy, not the tokens
Last checked
LangChain 2026-10-19 · langchain.com/pricing
LiteLLM 2026-10-19 · litellm.ai/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick LiteLLM if
platform teams who already pay model vendors and want keys, budgets, and fallbacks in one proxy.
Read the LiteLLM page