What is Respan?
Respan — formerly Keywords AI, rebranded and backed by $5 million in seed funding from Y Combinator and Gradient in March 2026 — is a proactive LLM observability platform that combines a multi-provider AI gateway with an OpenTelemetry-based tracing SDK and an automated evaluation agent. It routes traffic across OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, AI21 Labs, and AssemblyAI through a single base URL, then captures token consumption, request latency, cost per call, and error rates in a unified analytics layer. The core infrastructure problem Respan addresses is production blindness: AI applications often fail silently, degrade gradually, or hallucinate in edge cases that only surface after users report them. The platform's automated evaluation agent continuously monitors production agent behavior against defined quality metrics, identifies regression root causes across trial batches, and recommends specific prompt updates or evaluation additions rather than simply flagging that quality has drifted. As of May 2026, Respan processes over one billion logs and two trillion tokens per month across more than 100 startup and enterprise customers, with ClickHouse Cloud providing the columnar storage that keeps dashboard queries fast at that scale. Integration paths are designed for minimal friction: teams using OpenAI-compatible APIs can redirect traffic through Respan's gateway by changing a single base URL. The Python and JavaScript SDKs use decorators — @workflow, @task, @agent — to attach structured traces to existing code without rewrites. Pricing includes a permanent free tier with 100,000 logs per month, and the Team plan at $249 per month adds unlimited datasets, evaluators, and prompts alongside a private Slack channel for direct support. Respan is a good fit for production AI applications but adds meaningful overhead for very simple prototypes or single-model integrations where basic provider dashboards already supply sufficient visibility.
Respan is an LLM observability platform routing AI traffic across OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini, with a free tier covering 100k logs per month.
Respan is widely used by professionals, developers, marketers, and creators to enhance their daily work and improve efficiency.
Key Features
Pros & Cons
Who Uses Respan?
Respan vs Lutra AI vs Convergence vs Illumex
Detailed side-by-side comparison of Respan with Lutra AI, Convergence, Illumex — pricing, features, pros & cons, and expert verdict.
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Pricing |
Paid | Freemium | Free | unknown |
Rating |
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Free Trial |
✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
Key Features |
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Pros |
Fine-grained token, cost, latency, and error analytics Base URL substitution for gateway mode and a few decora Supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, AI21 Labs, | Describing a workflow in plain English and having it ex Data extraction and enrichment tasks that take an analy Pre-built connections to Airtable, Slack, HubSpot, Goog | Proxy handles the full execution of delegated tasks aut At $20 per month for the Pro tier, Convergence provides Natural language task setup removes the technical barri | Illumex's live duplication detection and semantic asset By maintaining a single, semantically consistent defini The platform's semantic layer grows more contextually a |
Cons |
Adopting the gateway proxy mode requires redirecting al Security and compliance teams will need to evaluate how The free tier covers 100,000 logs per month with full p | Users new to automation concepts may initially write in Workflows connecting to tools outside Lutra's pre-integ | Users unfamiliar with AI agent delegation often underus The free plan caps the number of Proxy sessions and aut Proxy's ability to execute web-based tasks is entirely | Data contributors unfamiliar with semantic data platfor Illumex's enterprise positioning places it at a price p Illumex's semantic integration layer maps relationships |
Best For |
AI product teams | E-commerce Businesses | Busy Professionals | Financial Institutions |
Verdict |
Compared to relying on individual provider dashboards from O… | For digital marketing agencies and financial analysts runnin… | For busy professionals managing high volumes of repetitive o… | For telecommunications companies and financial institutions … |
Try It |
Visit Respan ↗ | Visit Lutra AI ↗ | Visit Convergence ↗ | Visit Illumex ↗ |
Respan vs Lutra AI vs Convergence vs Illumex — Which is Better in 2026?
Choosing between Respan, Lutra AI, Convergence, Illumex can be difficult. We compared these tools side-by-side on pricing, features, ease of use, and real user feedback.
Respan vs Lutra AI
Respan — Respan is an AI Tool that functions as both a multi-provider LLM gateway and a proactive observability layer, giving engineering teams visibility into token cos
Lutra AI — Lutra AI is an AI Agent that executes multi-step data workflows autonomously based on natural language input, with pre-built connections to Airtable, Slack, Goo
- Respan: Best for AI product teams, Data and platform engineers, ML and prompt engineers, Startups and agencies, Uncom
- Lutra AI: Best for E-commerce Businesses, Digital Marketing Agencies, Research Institutions, Financial Analysts, Uncomm
Respan vs Convergence
Respan — Respan is an AI Tool that functions as both a multi-provider LLM gateway and a proactive observability layer, giving engineering teams visibility into token cos
Convergence — Convergence is an AI Agent that autonomously handles repetitive online tasks — browsing, form-filling, data aggregation, and scheduled workflows — through its n
- Respan: Best for AI product teams, Data and platform engineers, ML and prompt engineers, Startups and agencies, Uncom
- Convergence: Best for Busy Professionals, Managers, Researchers, Developers, Uncommon Use Cases
Respan vs Illumex
Respan — Respan is an AI Tool that functions as both a multi-provider LLM gateway and a proactive observability layer, giving engineering teams visibility into token cos
Illumex — Illumex is an AI Tool that applies semantic intelligence to enterprise data management, automating metric documentation and preventing the analytical duplicatio
- Respan: Best for AI product teams, Data and platform engineers, ML and prompt engineers, Startups and agencies, Uncom
- Illumex: Best for Financial Institutions, Healthcare Providers, Retail Chains, Telecommunications Companies, Uncommon
Final Verdict
Compared to relying on individual provider dashboards from OpenAI or Anthropic, Respan delivers a unified cross-provider view with agent-level tracing, automated eval, and actionable regression diagnosis rather than retrospective log inspection. For teams running multi-model or multi-step agent architectures, the context loss from provider-only dashboards is significant — Respan closes that gap with structured workflow spans. The primary limitation is that its automated evaluation agent works best with clearly defined quality metrics upfront; teams without a strong eval strategy will underutilize the platform's most differentiated capability.
FAQs
5 questionsExpert Verdict
Summary
Respan is an AI Tool that functions as both a multi-provider LLM gateway and a proactive observability layer, giving engineering teams visibility into token costs, latency distributions, and agent behavior across a complete AI application stack. Its OpenTelemetry-native tracing model, automated evaluation agent, and support for major providers make it a strong fit for AI product teams and platform engineers managing production LLM features at scale. The free tier at 100,000 logs per month allows meaningful evaluation before committing to a paid plan. Backed by Y Combinator and Gradient, Respan processes over one billion logs monthly across its customer base as of early 2026, providing a meaningful trust signal for teams evaluating observability vendor stability.
It is suitable for beginners as well as professionals who want to streamline their workflow and save time using advanced AI capabilities.
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