---
title: 'Logfire vs Braintrust: Production AI Improvement, Not Just Evaluation'
description: Compare Logfire and Braintrust for production AI systems. Logfire connects full-stack observability, online and offline evaluation, annotation queues, trace-backed optimization, and managed agent configuration in one OpenTelemetry-native product.
canonical: https://pydantic.dev/logfire/vs-braintrust
last-reviewed: 2026-07-23
---

> Markdown version of [Logfire vs Braintrust](https://pydantic.dev/logfire/vs-braintrust) — the canonical HTML page.
>
> Site index: [/llms.txt](https://pydantic.dev/llms.txt)

---

# Logfire vs Braintrust

Logfire is the production AI improvement system: investigate the complete agent and application trace, annotate the runs that matter, score production and offline datasets with Pydantic Evals, let the optimizer propose a trace-backed change, then ship managed prompts, agent specs, tools, and skills with targeting and rollout controls. Add infrastructure monitoring, browser session replay, feature flags, and the industry-leading agent trace investigator—all in one OpenTelemetry-native product, with $0 per 1,000 scores.

[Try Logfire free](https://logfire.pydantic.dev/)

## From a production run to a better agent

| Feature | Logfire | Braintrust |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Production context | Browser, agents, services, databases, logs, metrics, and infrastructure | AI and application traces, logs, and OpenTelemetry spans |
| Full-stack observability suite | Infrastructure monitoring, service maps, logs, metrics, traces, and AI | ✗ |
| Browser session replay | Browser tracing and session replay alongside the agent trace | ✗ |
| First-class feature flags | OpenFeature/OFREP flags, targeting, and controlled rollout | ✗ |
| Evaluation workflow | Pydantic Evals: one evaluator model online and offline | Experiments, playgrounds, CI/CD, and online scoring |
| Score pricing | $0 per 1,000 scores | $1.50 per 1,000 scores after 50K/month on Pro |
| Human review | Annotation queues on production runs and evals | Human-review scores and assigned trace review |
| From failure to change | Trace-backed optimizer and managed agent configuration | Prompt, scorer, dataset, and environment workflows |
| Managed agent configuration | Prompts, agent specs, tools, skills, versioning, targeting, and rollout | ✗ |
| Controlled rollout | Immutable versions, labels, targeting, weighted rollout, and feature flags | Prompt, dataset, and parameter environments |
| Investigation workflow | Agent trace investigator, PostgreSQL-compatible SQL, and MCP across full telemetry | Logs, trace views, SQL, and MCP for Braintrust data |
| Deployment options | Cloud, Dedicated, or the same product self-hosted on Kubernetes | Cloud or an Enterprise self-hosted data plane |

## Score freely at production scale

| Production coverage | Scores | Estimated Braintrust Pro monthly charge | Logfire score meter |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 10M runs × 10% sampled × 3 scores | 3M scores/month | $4,674/month | $0 score charges |
| 10M runs × 25% sampled × 5 scores | 12.5M scores/month | $18,924/month | $0 score charges |
| 100M runs × 10% sampled × 5 scores | 50M scores/month | $75,174/month | $0 score charges |

*Illustrative coverage models assume three or five recorded scores per sampled trace. Braintrust Pro published list pricing: $249/month + max(scores − 50,000, 0) ÷ 1,000 × $1.50. Figures include the platform fee, but exclude Braintrust processed-data and retention charges, and do not model provider or model costs an LLM-as-a-judge configuration may incur. Logfire charges $0 per 1,000 scores; telemetry records are billed on the selected Logfire plan.*

## The full production improvement loop

### Investigate the system, not only the output

An agent failure is often a browser, API, database, retrieval, tool, or infrastructure failure wearing an LLM-shaped mask. Logfire keeps those signals in one nested trace, with service maps, logs, metrics, SQL, and an agent trace investigator built for the production incident behind the score.

### Evaluate online and offline without rationing coverage

Use the same Pydantic Evals evaluators for fast offline feedback and online production monitoring. Cheap heuristics can run on every run; LLM judges can sample the traffic that deserves them. With $0 per 1,000 scores, coverage is a quality decision—not a new billing meter.

### Turn a human judgment into the next improvement

Annotation queues let reviewers work through the production runs that matter, with verdicts, failure categories, expected outputs, comments, and tags. That judgment stays linked to the trace, becomes a reusable evaluation case, and gives the optimizer grounded evidence for the next change.

### Change the agent safely, without a second control plane

Logfire manages prompts, agent specs, tools, and skills as versioned configuration. Review a trace-backed proposal, then target a cohort, canary a weighted rollout, watch the live result, and roll back by moving a label. The version that served every run is part of that run's trace.

## Which should you choose?

### Choose Logfire if...

- You need to diagnose agents in the context of the browser, service map, database, API, logs, metrics, and infrastructure.
- You want online and offline evaluation without a per-score charge.
- You want reviewers to work from annotation queues, then export an annotated failure into a reusable evaluation case.
- You want a trace-backed prompt optimizer to propose a production-grounded change.
- You want to version, target, canary, and roll back managed prompts, agent specs, tools, and skills.
- You want your coding agent to investigate the same telemetry with MCP and PostgreSQL-compatible SQL.

### Choose Braintrust if...

- You're already standardized on Braintrust and prefer not to migrate.

## FAQ

**How do Logfire and Braintrust compare on evaluation pricing?**

Logfire charges $0 per 1,000 scores, so online and offline evaluation do not add a per-score meter. Braintrust Pro lists a $249 monthly platform fee with 50,000 scores included, then $1.50 per 1,000 scores. At 3 million scores in a month, estimated platform and score charges are $4,674; at 12.5 million, $18,924; at 50 million, $75,174. Those Braintrust figures exclude processed-data and retention charges, and do not model provider or model costs that an LLM-as-a-judge configuration may incur.

**Do both Logfire and Braintrust support online and offline evaluation?**

Yes. Both support offline experiments and asynchronous scoring of production traffic. Logfire uses the same Pydantic Evals evaluators online and offline, keeps every result attached to its OpenTelemetry trace, and does not charge per score.

**What is Logfire's advantage for production AI systems?**

Logfire investigates the whole production system, not only the AI output: browser activity, agent and model calls, tool calls, APIs, databases, logs, metrics, services, and infrastructure. From a failing run, teams can annotate it, query it with SQL or MCP, export it into an evaluation case, use the prompt optimizer to propose a trace-backed change, and ship managed prompts, agent specs, tools, and skills with versioning, targeting, and rollout controls.

**Can Logfire replace Braintrust for production evaluation?**

Yes. Logfire combines online and offline Pydantic Evals, annotation queues, $0 per 1,000 scores, trace-backed prompt optimization, and managed configuration with the full production context around an agent: browser, services, databases, logs, metrics, and infrastructure.

## Ready to switch from Braintrust?

[Start free with Logfire](https://logfire.pydantic.dev/) or [talk to us](https://pydantic.dev/contact).