Opik vs Laminar
Both are observability & tracing tools. Here is how they actually differ on price, billing model and deployment.
Opik
Comet's open-source LLM observability and eval platform - the cheapest paid cloud in the category at $19/mo, and the most permissive OSS license. Apache-2.0, full feature set self-hosted, and the fastest-growing project of its peers.
Laminar
An open-source, OpenTelemetry-native tracing and eval platform for AI agents, written in Rust. The only tool here you can self-host in full - but its billing unit, "Signals" measured in tokens spent reading traces, is genuinely hard to forecast.
| Opik | Laminar | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Observability & Tracing | Observability & Tracing |
| Our rating | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| Starting price | $19/mo | $30/mo |
| Billing meter | span | span |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free self-hosting | Yes, free | Yes, free |
| Best for | Teams that want a genuinely feature-complete open-source observability platform, or the cheapest managed cloud, without a license or feature-gate catch | Teams building AI agents - especially browser agents - who want OpenTelemetry-native tracing they can self-host completely and don't mind an unusual billing model |
Our verdict on Opik
The most honest open-source deal in the category - Apache-2.0, the full feature set self-hosted with no gates, and if you want managed, the cheapest cloud tier here at $19/mo. It is also the fastest-growing project of its peers, which tells you the market agrees. The one real watch-out is per-seat pricing - it scales poorly as your team grows, and a few large-project users report UI slowdown.
Full Opik review →Our verdict on Laminar
Laminar is the one platform here you can genuinely self-host end to end, and for a browser-agent or long-running-agent stack it's the most purpose-built option, with real credibility from OTel's co-creator as an angel and Browser Use documenting it as their integration. Two honest reservations. It's the youngest and smallest, and its billing - data GB plus Signals measured in tokens spent reading traces - is the hardest to forecast in the category. Self-host is the escape hatch from the billing puzzle, but the exact feature gap versus cloud isn't clearly documented, so verify it before you commit.
Full Laminar review →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between Opik and Laminar?
Opik: Teams that want a genuinely feature-complete open-source observability platform, or the cheapest managed cloud, without a license or feature-gate catch Laminar: Teams building AI agents - especially browser agents - who want OpenTelemetry-native tracing they can self-host completely and don't mind an unusual billing model Both sit in Observability & Tracing, so the decision usually comes down to billing model and deployment rather than raw capability.
Which is cheaper, Opik or Laminar?
It depends entirely on your workload shape, because they meter differently - Opik bills on span and Laminar bills on span. Published starting prices are $19/mo and $30/mo respectively, but those numbers are not comparable until you apply them to the same traffic. Use our cost calculator to model both against your own request volume and span count.
Can I self-host Opik or Laminar?
Opik: Yes, free. Laminar: Yes, free. Free self-hosting means no licence fee, not no cost - you still own the infrastructure, upgrades and on-call.