OpenLLMetry is OpenTelemetry for LLM calls - an open-source standard plus a SaaS (Traceloop) that stores and visualizes the traces. It's the best option if you care about data portability and want to keep traces in a vendor-neutral format. It's inside-out and doesn't run live outside validations. Agent Status is the complementary user-side layer.
One-line summary
- Agent Status: Agent Status runs live validations against your agent and asserts on response shape and content from multiple regions.
- OpenLLMetry: OpenLLMetry is an OpenTelemetry extension. It instruments LLM calls in your code and emits spans you can send to any OTEL backend.
Feature matrix
| Capability | Agent Status | OpenLLMetry |
|---|---|---|
| OpenTelemetry native | No | Yes |
| Vendor-neutral trace format | No | Yes |
| Self-hostable backend | No | Yes |
| User-side uptime validations | Native | No |
| Per-request content assertions | Native | No |
| Geographic alerting | Native | No |
| Bring-your-own-backend integration | Webhook | Any OTEL collector |
When to use Agent Status
- You need to know your users' experience, not your servers'.
- Your agent depends on a third-party model provider and you need to catch their outages.
- Your users are distributed geographically and you need regional alerting.
- You want alerts in seconds, not minutes of aggregated latency data.
When to use OpenLLMetry
- You want LLM traces in a vendor-neutral OpenTelemetry format.
- You need to self-host the observability backend (e.g., into existing Tempo/Jaeger/Grafana).
- You're standardising on OTEL across the whole stack and don't want an LLM-specific silo.
- You prefer open-source-first tooling with commercial SaaS as an option.
What OpenLLMetry does that we don't
OpenTelemetry alignment and data portability. If the rest of your stack runs on OTEL, OpenLLMetry slots in with no data-model mismatch and no vendor lock-in.
What we do that OpenLLMetry doesn't
User-side is simply not something a tracing library can do from inside the process. Traces can't tell you that a user in Singapore is getting a 9-second response right now - they can only tell you what your server saw.
Pricing
- Agent Status: Hobby: $19.99/mo for 500 tests. Starter and above unlock higher volume and outcome verification. Public MCP Index listings remain free. No per-seat fees.
- OpenLLMetry: Open-source free. Traceloop SaaS has a free tier then usage-based paid plans.
Most teams use both
These products don't overlap much. Teams that care about data portability will run OpenLLMetry for tracing and Agent Status for user-side validating. Neither replaces the other.
Related
- /vs/langfuse - Langfuse comparison.
- /vs/arize-phoenix - Phoenix comparison.
- /blog/what-is-outside-in-monitoring - User-side primer.
- /platform - The product overview.
Frequently asked questions
Is Agent Status a replacement for OpenLLMetry?
No. OpenLLMetry is OpenTelemetry instrumentation for LLM calls (inside-out). Agent Status provides independent third-party validation. They answer different questions and pair well.
Should I run both?
Yes - OpenLLMetry for traces in your existing OpenTelemetry backend, Agent Status for external user-facing validation and alerting.
What does Agent Status add?
Active probing from 70 countries with content assertions, so you catch user-facing failures even when traces look clean.
Do I need OpenTelemetry to use Agent Status?
No. Agent Status works without any instrumentation; it validates your public endpoint directly.
Try Agent Status alongside OpenLLMetry
Hobby starts at $19.99/mo with 500 tests/month - enough to validate the pattern against your real traffic with a 10-minute setup and no code changes to the agent itself. See pricing or jump straight to the platform overview.
