Braintrust vs Opik: when each option fits
Your evaluation program has outgrown ad hoc scripts, and you now need tracing, experiments and prompt management with a clear data boundary. Braintrust fits teams that want a managed control plane and are willing to pay for it. Opik fits teams that must keep traces, datasets and evaluation results inside their own infrastructure and can operate the supporting data stores. The decision turns on three things: your data residency and security review requirements, your team's capacity to run ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis, and how much the managed control plane is worth to you. Braintrust's self-hosting is available on its Enterprise plan and keeps the control plane with Braintrust, so the data boundary is not the same as a fully in-house deployment. Opik's README states that the full platform, including the server backend, web application, tracing, evaluations and prompt management, can be self-hosted without a commercial license.
Start by writing down what a security review will ask. Confirm with Braintrust whether its Enterprise self-hosting split meets your requirements for where the web UI, authentication and metadata live, and what the reviewer will need to see in writing. Then estimate who will own the Opik stack after go-live. Opik runs on ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis, and deploying it with Docker Compose for local use is different from running Helm charts on Kubernetes for production with backups, upgrades and capacity planning. Ask your platform team which of those components they already operate, and whether they can own patching and restores for the new ones. Opik's README also reports handling 40M+ traces per day, which gives you a reference point, but your own trace volume and retention settings will drive the load you need to size for.
Treat the managed control plane as a line item you can test. If your evaluations are small, your datasets are not sensitive, and your engineers would rather not run databases, the Braintrust subscription may cost less than the people time that Opik would require. If your traces contain regulated data, or if your evaluations feed release gates that auditors will inspect, the value of keeping everything in your own cloud rises. Before choosing, run the same dataset and one LLM-as-a-judge metric in both tools for a few weeks, and compare results, the operational hours spent, and the access controls each one gives you. Then request a written quote for Braintrust Enterprise self-hosting, and a written scope for the Opik deployment, so the comparison rests on the same terms.
Which option fits which scenario
This table matches common team situations to the option that fits best and the reason behind it. Read each row against your own constraints, since the right answer changes with platform staff, data control rules and existing infrastructure.
| Scenario | Better fit | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| No dedicated platform or DevOps staff | Braintrust | Its managed control plane removes the work of running ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis, provided your data rules allow a third-party hosted service. |
| Regulated workload that cannot send trace data to a third-party control plane | Opik | Opik's README states the full platform can be self-hosted without a commercial license, so traces and evaluations stay inside your own network. |
| Team already runs ClickHouse in production | Opik | Opik uses ClickHouse as a core store, so the storage skills and monitoring your team already has carry over, though MySQL and Redis are still added. |
| Team that depends on Braintrust-specific workflows and integrations | Braintrust | Opik has native integrations with LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, CrewAI and 60+ frameworks, but any Braintrust feature without an Opik equivalent must be rebuilt, so map your workflows first. |
| Team piloting evaluations with a small trace volume | Opik | Running Opik through Docker Compose with the opik.sh script lets a pilot start locally, and a hosted Comet.com trial is an alternative if you accept a hosted service. |
| Team that needs the vendor to own uptime, upgrades and support | Braintrust | A managed service shifts operations to the vendor, but confirm the contractual SLA, support tiers and data region in writing before you commit. |
| Team that must run every component in its own cloud account with a Helm-based deployment | Opik | Opik supports Kubernetes with Helm charts for production, which fits a platform team that already standardizes on that deployment model. |
| Team comparing evaluation cost at higher trace volumes | Opik | Self-hosting shifts cost to infrastructure and staff time, so the comparison depends on your volume and on who you pay to operate the stack, which the cost page covers in detail. |
How evaluation workflows and experiment comparison differ
The core question for this section is whether Opik can run the same evaluation cycle your team uses in Braintrust today. An evaluation cycle has four steps: defining a dataset of inputs and expected outputs, scoring each output with LLM-as-a-judge metrics or custom code, running an experiment that records those scores against a model or prompt version, and comparing that run with a baseline. In Opik, the README lists LLM-as-a-judge metrics for hallucination, moderation and RAG, online evaluation rules that score production traces as they arrive, and prompt management with a playground for iterating on prompt text. Custom code is instrumented with the @track decorator, so your own functions can appear as spans in the same trace tree that the judge metrics score.
Braintrust organizes the same steps around its own objects: scorers, datasets, experiments and comparison views. Your team must confirm, in its own test suite, how each Braintrust scorer maps onto an Opik metric or a custom function, whether Braintrust dataset versions can be reproduced as Opik datasets with the same rows and expected outputs, and whether the side-by-side comparison view for two experiments shows the same score breakdowns and regressions your reviewers rely on. Run one representative experiment in both systems with the same inputs, the same judge model and the same scoring code, then check that scores agree within a tolerance your team sets in advance. Until that check passes, do not assume feature parity, and do not treat a judge metric name in Opik as equivalent to a scorer of the same name in Braintrust.
Record the results of that check as a decision input before you plan the migration. Confirm which judge model Opik calls and where its API key is stored, because the judge runs in your environment and its calls leave your network only if the judge model is hosted. Confirm how baselines are pinned, so that a CI gate compares a new run against a fixed reference rather than the most recent run. Also confirm whether your reviewers need the exact dataset version used for each past score, since that determines how dataset snapshots are kept. These answers decide whether the evaluation workflow survives the move unchanged or needs new pipeline steps, and they belong in the written scope before any engineering starts.
Three ways to run Opik and what each asks of your team
The local option starts Opik on a single host with Docker Compose, using the opik.sh script from the project repository. It is intended for evaluation, development and proof-of-concept work rather than for a shared production service. Your team operates the host, the containers and every stateful service, and all traces, prompts and evaluation results stay on that machine.
- Operations: one engineer maintains the host, container images, storage volumes and upgrades, usually with no redundancy.
- Data location: trace payloads, datasets and results remain on the host you choose, which makes this the simplest option for testing with synthetic or non-sensitive data.
- Backups: nothing is backed up by default, so define how ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis data is preserved before you rely on any results.
- Capacity: size the host against your own expected span volume, since the single-host setup does not provide high availability.
- Upgrades: pin the release you test, for example release 2.2.103 published on October 16, 2026, and compare it with the GitHub releases page before moving to a newer tag.
Confirm with the project README that the local setup matches your operating system and container runtime, and decide how you will move from this environment to production before you start.
The production option deploys Opik on Kubernetes using the Helm charts published with the project. It runs the same platform components as the local setup, but your platform team owns cluster capacity, networking, ingress, secrets, persistence and monitoring. Traces, prompts and evaluation data stay inside the cluster and the storage you attach to it, which fits an environment where your security team already controls the cloud account or data center.
- Stateful services: you run ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis, so plan storage classes, replication, backup schedules and restore tests for each one.
- Sizing: the README states the platform handles 40M+ traces per day, but treat that figure as the project's claim and test your own trace volume and query patterns under realistic load.
- Access control: place the ingress behind your identity provider and confirm how authentication and workspace separation are configured in your chosen release.
- Upgrades: budget engineering time for Helm chart changes, database migrations and rollback rehearsals on each release.
- Observability: monitor the platform itself, since a failed ClickHouse or MySQL node will stop tracing and evaluations.
Before choosing this path, ask who on your team will own on-call for the data stores and confirm the Helm chart version you will deploy.
The hosted option uses the Opik service offered by Comet, the company that maintains the project, at Comet.com. Comet operates the infrastructure, upgrades and availability, so your team focuses on instrumenting applications and reviewing results. Your trace data is processed in Comet's environment rather than in your own cluster, so this option changes where data lives and who can access it.
- Operations: Comet runs the databases, scaling and upgrades, reducing the on-call work your team takes on.
- Data location: confirm with Comet which regions are available, where data is stored, how long it is retained and how deletion requests are handled.
- Contract terms: ask for the written service terms, support scope and any service levels before committing, since none are stated here.
- Exit path: confirm how you would export traces, datasets and prompts if you later move to a self-hosted deployment.
- Cost: request a quote that separates subscription, usage and support charges, and note which of these recur monthly or annually.
If your security or residency review requires that trace content never leave your own network, this option is unlikely to meet that requirement, so confirm it with Comet and your compliance lead first.
Braintrust vs Opik feature by feature
This table compares Braintrust and Opik across tracing, evaluation, prompt management, licensing and hosting. Opik cells rely only on the published Opik README and repository facts, while Braintrust cells describe the category and what to verify, so treat any row marked for confirmation as a check to run against your own test cases before deciding.
| Capability | Opik (open source) | Braintrust (commercial) |
|---|---|---|
| Tracing and multi-step agent tracing | Multi-step agent tracing is a listed feature of the platform | Hosted tracing of LLM calls and logs; confirm agent step depth and span limits in current docs |
| LLM-as-a-judge evaluations | Built-in judge metrics for hallucination, moderation and RAG | Scorers and judge-based scoring; confirm which built-in metrics match your use case |
| Experiments and comparison | Evaluation runs supported; confirm side-by-side comparison views against your test set | Experiment tracking and comparison in the UI; confirm export and diff behavior |
| Datasets | Supported as part of the evaluation workflow; confirm versioning and import formats | Dataset management in the platform; confirm versioning and how datasets export |
| Prompt management and playground | Prompt management with a playground included in the platform | Prompt management and playground; confirm version history and team permissions |
| Online evaluation rules | Supported: rules can score production traces as they arrive | Online scoring available on the hosted platform; confirm rule triggers and cost drivers |
| Guardrails | Opik Guardrails is a listed feature; confirm coverage for your policy categories | Not a primary focus of the product; confirm with the vendor before relying on it |
| OpenTelemetry support | Supported as a trace ingestion path | Confirm OpenTelemetry ingestion and exporter options in current documentation |
| Framework integrations | Native integrations with LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, CrewAI and 60+ other frameworks, plus a @track decorator | Integrations with common LLM frameworks; confirm the list against your stack |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Commercial, proprietary; confirm contract terms for data use and exit |
| Self-hosting | Full platform self-hostable without a commercial license, via Docker Compose or Helm | Self-hosting is an Enterprise option that keeps the control plane with Braintrust; confirm scope |
| Hosted option | Available as a hosted service on Comet.com | Primary delivery model; confirm regions and data residency options |
Where trace data lives and who holds the control plane
Braintrust and Opik differ most in where the control plane sits, not only in where traces are stored. The cards below cover the decisions that a security review, residency assessment or renewal discussion will hit first. Confirm each Braintrust detail in writing with the vendor, because its self-hosting terms sit in an Enterprise contract.
Trace and dataset storage location
With Braintrust's Enterprise self-hosting, the data plane in your cloud holds traces and datasets, while the web UI and metadata run in Braintrust's control plane. With self-hosted Opik, traces, datasets and the web application all run in your environment, so the storage location is fully yours to define. Ask Braintrust exactly which objects, logs and metadata leave your account, and map each one against your residency policy.
Control plane ownership
The control plane is the component that handles the UI, authentication and project metadata. Braintrust keeps this layer in its own environment under Enterprise self-hosting, so an outage, change or policy decision on its side can affect your team. Opik's self-hosted deployment moves that layer into your Kubernetes or Docker environment, where your change board controls it.
Identity and access controls
Ask how Braintrust maps its SSO, role assignments and API keys onto your identity provider, and where session data is recorded. With self-hosted Opik, you decide the authentication layer in front of the web application and the API, so you control user lifecycle, offboarding and access reviews. Document which accounts can export traces, since exports carry prompt and output content.
Network isolation and egress
Confirm whether Braintrust's data plane requires outbound connections to its control plane, and which hostnames and ports those connections use. A self-hosted Opik deployment on ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis can run on an internal network without an external control plane. Test the egress rules in a staging environment before the security review, and record the results.
Compliance evidence
DeployOpen prepares controls, configurations and evidence for compliance assessments, but it does not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications. Independent auditors and certification bodies make those decisions. Ask Braintrust for its current audit reports and the scope of each, and collect your own evidence for Opik, such as access logs, backup tests and change records.
Upgrade and patch responsibility
Braintrust's Enterprise customers depend on the vendor's release schedule and its compatibility commitments, so write down what the contract says about version support. Opik releases are published on GitHub, and your team or DeployOpen would schedule upgrades, test the ClickHouse and MySQL migrations and roll back if needed. The cost of this work recurs for as long as you run the platform.
What drives Braintrust vs Opik total cost of ownership
Braintrust and Opik cost different things. Braintrust charges through a subscription or Enterprise contract and usage, while Opik moves the cost onto infrastructure and the people who run it, plus model calls both approaches incur. The cards below separate each component so you can see which ones recur and which ones your own volumes will move.
Braintrust subscription or contract
This is the recurring commercial line: a standard plan or an Enterprise contract, which is where self-hosting is offered. Ask Braintrust in writing which plan covers your seats, projects and support, and whether self-hosting is included, since the control plane stays with Braintrust in that model. Cost rises with seat count, support level and contract term, and the figure you need to compare is the total annual commitment, not the list rate.
Braintrust usage-based charges
Usage charges depend on how much data you send and keep, typically measured as processed data, scores and retention. Ask Braintrust to state each metered unit, the included allowance, the overage rate and how retention periods change the bill. Trace volume, prompt length, the number of scorers run on each trace and how long logs stay in the project all push this line up, so model your expected volume before signing.
Opik infrastructure
Self-hosting Opik means paying for compute, storage and backups for ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis, which the Opik README lists as its infrastructure. Costs grow with trace volume and retention, and they recur every month whether or not traces arrive. Ask your cloud or data center team to size these services for your peak trace load, and to price the storage class you need for retention and backups.
Engineering time to install, upgrade and back up
Opik's Docker Compose path suits local evaluation, while production runs on Kubernetes with Helm charts. Someone must install, patch, upgrade ClickHouse and MySQL, test restores and monitor the stack, and that work recurs with each release. Estimate the staff hours your platform team would spend per month and compare them with the vendor's support scope, rather than assuming self-hosting is free to run.
LLM-as-a-judge model calls
Evaluations that use an LLM as judge, such as hallucination, moderation or RAG metrics, call a model provider each time they score an output. Both Braintrust and Opik incur these calls, so they do not separate the two options, but they can dominate the bill at scale. Ask which judge models each platform uses by default, whether you can point it at your own gateway, and how many scorer calls each evaluation run makes.
One-time migration effort
Moving experiments, datasets, scorers and SDK instrumentation is a one-time cost that depends on how much of your evaluation history you need to keep. Plan for re-creating LLM-as-a-judge metrics, switching integrations and running both systems in parallel until results match. Ask Braintrust for its export options and limits before you scope the work, and ask your implementation partner for a written fixed scope.
Moving from Braintrust to Opik: what the work involves
The sequence moves a Braintrust evaluation practice into a self-hosted Opik deployment in stages, so each stage ends with a verifiable output and nothing is cut over until results match. It produces an inventory, a tested Opik environment, re-instrumented applications and a documented cutover record.
Inventory projects, datasets, scorers and CI gates
Start by listing every Braintrust project, dataset, experiment, online scorer and CI gate that your teams rely on, and note which application or pipeline feeds each one. Assign an owner to each item, usually the team that wrote the scorer or maintains the pipeline. The step is done when you have one document that maps each Braintrust asset to an owner, an application and a business use, so that nothing reaches cutover unassigned.
Decide which history must move
For each inventoried item, decide whether its history is needed for audits, regression baselines or model comparisons, or whether it can be retired with the Braintrust contract. Recent experiments that serve as current baselines usually matter most, while stale experiments from retired prompts often do not. Record the decision and the reviewer who approved it. The step is done when every dataset and experiment has a keep, move or retire label signed off by its owner.
Deploy Opik in a test environment
Stand up Opik in a non-production environment in your own infrastructure. For local evaluation, Opik documents Docker Compose with its opik.sh script, and for production it documents Kubernetes with Helm charts. The platform uses ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis, so your platform team should confirm who will operate those components, how they are backed up and how access is controlled before anything carries real traces. The step is done when the test instance is reachable from your development network, authentication works for the test users and backups have been restored successfully at least once.
Re-instrument applications with the SDK or OpenTelemetry
Change each application so that traces reach Opik. Teams using supported frameworks can use Opik's native integrations, and custom code can use the @track decorator. Where your telemetry already runs on OpenTelemetry, you can point the exporter at Opik instead of rewriting spans. Test one application at a time in the test environment and check that multi-step agent traces, token counts and metadata appear with the structure you expect. The step is done when each migrated application produces traces in Opik that match the Braintrust traces for the same test inputs.
Recreate datasets and LLM-as-a-judge metrics
Rebuild the datasets you chose to keep in Opik, then recreate each scorer as an Opik evaluation metric. Opik provides LLM-as-a-judge metrics for hallucination, moderation and RAG, and custom metrics can be written in code. Where a Braintrust scorer relied on a specific judge model or prompt, copy that configuration exactly and record it, because a change in judge model alone can shift scores. The sibling migration page covers the export formats and mapping in detail. The step is done when each recreated metric returns scores on a fixed sample that your scorer owner has reviewed.
Run both systems in parallel until results match
Run the same evaluation suites against Braintrust and Opik for a period you agree in advance with the evaluation owners, and compare scores experiment by experiment. Investigate every difference, whether it comes from judge model variance, dataset ordering, prompt templates or instrumentation gaps, and fix the cause rather than accepting the gap. Keep the comparison log. The step is done when the agreed comparison window has closed and the owners have signed off that differences fall within the tolerance they set.
Cut over CI gates and production tracing
Switch CI pipelines and production tracing to Opik in a controlled change, with a rollback path that points back to Braintrust until the owners are satisfied. Update credentials, secrets and environment variables in your secrets manager, and confirm that failing evaluations still block merges. Monitor the first production runs closely. The step is done when CI gates fail and pass as they did before, production traces arrive in Opik, and the change record names the approver.
Archive Braintrust records and close out
Before the Braintrust subscription ends, archive the history you marked to keep, using the export steps described in the migration guide, and store the files in your own object storage with access controls and retention that match your policy. Record where each archive lives and who can read it. The step is done when the archive has been verified by opening sample records, the access list is approved and the closure record lists every decision made in the earlier steps.
Questions buyers ask before choosing Opik or staying with Braintrust
How much effort does self-hosting Opik take, and what must my team run?
Self-hosting Opik is a platform operations job, not a single install. The README describes two paths: Docker Compose through the opik.sh script for local use, and Helm charts on Kubernetes for production. The stack depends on ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis, so your team owns upgrades, backups, capacity planning, TLS, authentication and monitoring for each of them. The effort rises with trace volume, retention needs and how many teams share the instance. The README states the platform handles 40M+ traces per day, which is a useful ceiling to test against, but your own load profile will set the real sizing. Ask any partner to size the ClickHouse and MySQL tiers from your expected trace volume before committing to a design.
Can my team migrate from Braintrust to Opik without outside help?
Yes, a capable platform team can do the migration in-house, provided it has time, a test environment and engineers who already run ClickHouse-backed or Kubernetes services. The work breaks into four areas: exporting experiments, datasets and logs from Braintrust, recreating LLM-as-a-judge metrics and scorers in Opik, switching SDK instrumentation or OpenTelemetry exporters in each application, and running both systems in parallel until results match. Teams without that operations background often take longer because they learn the stack while migrating. A fixed-scope engagement with a partner shifts that learning curve into a written deliverable list.
How long does a Braintrust to Opik migration take?
The duration depends on drivers you can measure before you start, and no supplied figure gives a fixed number of weeks. The main drivers are the number of applications instrumented with Braintrust, how many evaluators and scorers must be rebuilt, the volume of historical experiments you need to keep as a reference, the complexity of your CI gates, and how many people must approve parallel-run results. Self-hosted infrastructure readiness, including Kubernetes access, storage, identity and network approvals, often sets the critical path. Ask for a timeline in the written scope that lists each of these drivers separately, with the assumptions behind them.
What does a migration require from our internal staff?
Your staff must supply decisions and access that no outside team can make for you. Expect to name an owner for evaluation criteria, usually a product or ML lead who defines what a passing experiment looks like. Platform engineers must provide the Kubernetes cluster or Docker host, the ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis footprint, object storage if needed, and secrets handling. Application teams must allow SDK or OpenTelemetry changes and test them in staging. Security must review authentication, network exposure and data retention. The more of these roles that are shared or part-time, the longer the calendar time, even when the technical work is small.
Does Opik cover the same evaluations I run in Braintrust?
Opik covers the core evaluation categories, but you must verify each scorer you depend on. The README lists LLM-as-a-judge metrics for hallucination, moderation and RAG, online evaluation rules that score production traces, multi-step agent tracing, and prompt management with a playground. Opik also provides Opik Guardrails. Braintrust's own scorer and dataset workflows will not transfer automatically, so each custom scorer, threshold and baseline must be rebuilt and compared on the same test data. Build a list of every scorer your CI gates use, then run both systems side by side and record where scores differ and why.
Does the hosted Comet.com option change where my data lives?
Yes, using Comet.com changes where your data is stored, so it is a different decision from self-hosting. The Opik README states Opik is offered as a hosted service on Comet.com, which means traces and evaluation data sit in Comet's environment rather than your own. Self-hosting keeps Opik's server, ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis inside your cloud account, data center or air-gapped network. Before choosing, confirm with Comet the hosting region, sub-processors, retention controls and contract terms, and check them against your residency and security review requirements. The self-hosted path is the one that keeps data entirely in your infrastructure.
What should I ask for in a fixed-scope quote from an implementation partner?
Ask for a written scope that lists deliverables, not hours. A useful quote names the Opik deployment target, such as Docker Compose for evaluation or Helm on Kubernetes for production, and the ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis configuration with backup and upgrade procedures. It should list each Braintrust export, each dataset and scorer to rebuild, each application to re-instrument, the parallel-run acceptance criteria, the handover documentation and what is excluded. Ask how the partner handles security hardening and evidence for compliance reviews, noting that DeployOpen prepares systems and evidence but does not issue audit reports or certifications. Finally, ask which items are one-time and which recur, such as a retainer for upgrades and continuous testing. DeployOpen does not publish a price list; a quote follows from the written scope.
How DeployOpen helps you evaluate, implement or migrate Opik
DeployOpen plans, implements, hardens, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For Braintrust vs Opik, that means turning an evaluation question into a written scope, a running Opik deployment in your environment and a handover your team can operate.
How we scope
- Agree in writing which Braintrust workflows Opik must cover, such as experiments, datasets, scorers and trace review.
- Confirm the target environment, including cloud accounts, network isolation and where ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis will run.
- Define deliverables and timelines before work starts, since most engagements are fixed-scope and priced from that written scope.
How we build
- Deploy Opik with Docker Compose for evaluation or Helm charts on Kubernetes for production, matched to your scope.
- Instrument a representative application with Opik's framework integrations, @track decorator or OpenTelemetry, and check that traces arrive.
- Recreate LLM-as-a-judge metrics and online evaluation rules, then compare results against your current Braintrust baseline.
How we hand over
- Document the architecture, configuration, backup steps and the operational runbook for ClickHouse, MySQL and Redis.
- Provide test evidence from the evaluation comparison, so your team can see where Opik matches and where gaps remain.
- Walk your engineers through upgrades, access control and day-to-day evaluation workflows before the engagement closes.
How we support
- Offer ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing as a retainer if your team wants help after handover.
- Plan Opik version upgrades against the release notes you choose to adopt, with testing before each change in production.
- Confirm with your procurement and security teams which support levels and response terms a retainer would include.
