Integrate Narev with Helicone Gateway for LLM Cost Optimization

The Problem with Helicone Gateway Alone

Helicone Gateway is an excellent observability platform—it provides detailed logging, analytics, caching, and cost tracking for your LLM infrastructure. But observability alone doesn't optimize: you need to know what changes to make.

With visibility into costs and usage patterns, teams often:

• See high costs but fear switching models without validation
• Test models manually by deploying to production and hoping for the best
• Guess at which model offers the best cost-quality-latency tradeoff
• Miss optimization opportunities because testing is time-consuming

The result? Most teams overspend on LLMs by 10-100x because they lack systematic testing.

How Narev + Helicone Gateway Work Together

Narev and Helicone Gateway complement each other perfectly:

The workflow:

1. Export production traces from Helicone Gateway's dashboard
2. Test alternative configurations in Narev with A/B experiments
3. Deploy winners with confidence
4. Monitor results using Helicone Gateway's analytics and repeat continuously

Integration Guide

Step 1: Export Your Helicone Gateway Usage Data

Narev works with your existing Helicone Gateway logs to create realistic test scenarios. Export your recent prompts, model selections, and response patterns from Helicone Gateway's dashboard to build experiments that reflect your actual production workload.

Step 2: Create Your First Experiment

Let's say you're currently using gpt-4o-mini through Helicone Gateway and want to explore if Claude 3.5 Haiku offers better performance.

Create an experiment in Narev testing:

Narev will test both variants on the same prompts and measure:

• Cost per request and per million tokens
• Latency (time to first token, total response time)
• Quality (accuracy, completeness, tone)

Step 3: Analyze Results with Confidence

Narev provides clear data on which model performs best:

Step 4: Update Your Helicone Gateway Configuration

With data-backed confidence, update your Helicone Gateway integration:

// Before: Using GPT-4o-Mini
import OpenAI from 'openai';
 
const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
  baseURL: "https://oai.helicone.ai/v1",
  defaultHeaders: {
    "Helicone-Auth": `Bearer ${process.env.HELICONE_API_KEY}`,
  },
});
 
const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: "gpt-4o-mini", // ← Old default
  messages: [...],
});
 
// After: Switch to Claude 3.5 Haiku based on Narev results
import Anthropic from '@anthropic-ai/sdk';
 
const client = new Anthropic({
  apiKey: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY,
  baseURL: "https://anthropic.helicone.ai",
  defaultHeaders: {
    "Helicone-Auth": `Bearer ${process.env.HELICONE_API_KEY}`,
  },
});
 
const response = await client.messages.create({
  model: "claude-3-5-haiku-20241022", // ← Tested winner
  messages: [...],
});

Step 5: Monitor and Iterate

Helicone Gateway's analytics dashboard will show you the real-world performance. Use Narev to:

• Test new models before switching in production
• Experiment with prompt variations
• Validate caching strategies with different model configurations
• A/B test temperature and parameter changes

Why Test Before Deploying with Helicone Gateway?

Helicone Gateway Features Narev Helps You Optimize

1. Model Selection

Helicone Gateway gives you: Visibility into which models you're using and their costs
Narev tells you: Which cheaper models actually work for your use case

2. Cost Tracking

Helicone Gateway gives you: Real-time cost tracking per model and per user
Narev tells you: How to reduce those costs by 50-99% without sacrificing quality

3. Caching Strategy

Helicone Gateway gives you: Request caching to reduce costs
Narev tells you: Which model + caching combinations provide maximum savings

4. Rate Limiting

Helicone Gateway gives you: Rate limiting controls
Narev tells you: Which faster models let you handle more requests within limits

5. Custom Properties

Helicone Gateway gives you: Custom properties for request tagging
Narev tells you: Which configurations work best for different request types

Common Helicone Gateway + Narev Use Cases

Pricing: Narev + Helicone Gateway

Helicone Gateway pricing: Free tier available, paid plans based on usage
Narev pricing: Free for experimentation, no fees on top of your model costs

Combined value: Test $1 worth of prompts in Narev to validate a configuration that saves $10,000/month in production costs tracked by Helicone Gateway.

Getting Started

Frequently Asked Questions

Start Optimizing Your LLM Costs Today

Stop guessing which models to use. Start testing systematically.