Langfuse cost tuning

Langfuse Cost Tuning

Overview

Track, analyze, and optimize LLM costs using Langfuse's built-in token/cost tracking, the Metrics API for programmatic cost analysis, model routing for cost reduction, and automated budget alerts.

Prerequisites

• Langfuse tracing with token usage captured (via observeOpenAI or manual usage fields)
• For Metrics API: @langfuse/client installed
• Understanding of LLM pricing models

How Langfuse Tracks Costs

Langfuse automatically calculates costs for supported models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) when token usage is captured. For custom models, you can configure pricing in the Langfuse UI under Settings > Model Definitions.

Cost tracking works on observations of type generation and embedding. The observeOpenAI wrapper captures usage automatically; for manual tracing, include usage in your observation updates.

Instructions

Step 1: Ensure Token Usage is Captured

// Automatic: observeOpenAI captures everything
import { observeOpenAI } from "@langfuse/openai";
const openai = observeOpenAI(new OpenAI());
// Tokens, model, latency, and cost are all auto-tracked

// Manual: include usage in generation observations
import { startActiveObservation, updateActiveObservation } from "@langfuse/tracing";

await startActiveObservation(
  { name: "llm-call", asType: "generation" },
  async () => {
    updateActiveObservation({ model: "gpt-4o" }); // Model required for cost calc

    const response = await openai.chat.completions.create({
      model: "gpt-4o",
      messages: [{ role: "user", content: prompt }],
    });

    updateActiveObservation({
      output: response.choices[0].message.content,
      usage: {
        promptTokens: response.usage?.prompt_tokens,
        completionTokens: response.usage?.completion_tokens,
        totalTokens: response.usage?.total_tokens,
      },
      // Optional: override inferred cost (in USD)
      // costInUsd: 0.0015,
    });
  }
);

Step 2: Query Costs via Metrics API

import { LangfuseClient } from "@langfuse/client";

const langfuse = new LangfuseClient();

// Fetch aggregated cost metrics
async function getCostReport(days: number) {
  const fromTimestamp = new Date(Date.now() - days * 86400000).toISOString();

  // Use the API to list traces with cost data
  const traces = await langfuse.api.traces.list({
    fromTimestamp,
    limit: 1000,
    orderBy: "timestamp",
  });

  const costByModel = new Map<string, { cost: number; tokens: number; count: number }>();

  for (const trace of traces.data) {
    const observations = await langfuse.api.observations.list({
      traceId: trace.id,
      type: "GENERATION",
    });

    for (const obs of observations.data) {
      const model = obs.model || "unknown";
      const existing = costByModel.get(model) || { cost: 0, tokens: 0, count: 0 };
      existing.cost += obs.calculatedTotalCost || 0;
      existing.tokens += obs.totalTokens || 0;
      existing.count += 1;
      costByModel.set(model, existing);
    }
  }

  console.log("\n=== LLM Cost Report ===");
  console.log(`Period: Last ${days} days\n`);

  let totalCost = 0;
  for (const [model, data] of costByModel.entries()) {
    console.log(`${model}:`);
    console.log(`  Calls: ${data.count}`);
    console.log(`  Tokens: ${data.tokens.toLocaleString()}`);
    console.log(`  Cost: $${data.cost.toFixed(4)}`);
    totalCost += data.cost;
  }
  console.log(`\nTotal: $${totalCost.toFixed(4)}`);
}

getCostReport(7);

Step 3: Implement Smart Model Routing

Route requests to cheaper models when appropriate:

import { observe, updateActiveObservation } from "@langfuse/tracing";

interface ModelConfig {
  model: string;
  costPer1MInput: number;
  costPer1MOutput: number;
  maxComplexity: "simple" | "moderate" | "complex";
}

const MODELS: ModelConfig[] = [
  { model: "gpt-4o-mini", costPer1MInput: 0.15, costPer1MOutput: 0.60, maxComplexity: "simple" },
  { model: "gpt-4o", costPer1MInput: 2.50, costPer1MOutput: 10.00, maxComplexity: "moderate" },
  { model: "claude-sonnet-4-20250514", costPer1MInput: 3.00, costPer1MOutput: 15.00, maxComplexity: "complex" },
];

function selectModel(task: string, inputLength: number): ModelConfig {
  const simpleTasks = ["classify", "extract", "summarize-short", "translate"];
  const isSimple = simpleTasks.some((t) => task.includes(t));
  const isShort = inputLength < 500;

  if (isSimple && isShort) return MODELS[0]; // gpt-4o-mini
  if (isSimple || inputLength < 2000) return MODELS[1]; // gpt-4o
  return MODELS[2]; // claude-sonnet-4
}

const costOptimizedLLM = observe(
  { name: "cost-optimized-llm", asType: "generation" },
  async (task: string, input: string) => {
    const config = selectModel(task, input.length);

    updateActiveObservation({
      model: config.model,
      metadata: {
        task,
        selectedReason: `${config.maxComplexity} tier`,
        estimatedCostPer1M: config.costPer1MInput,
      },
    });

    const response = await callModel(config.model, input);
    updateActiveObservation({
      output: response.content,
      usage: response.usage,
    });

    return response;
  }
);

Step 4: Budget Alerts

// scripts/cost-alert.ts -- run as cron job
import { LangfuseClient } from "@langfuse/client";

const langfuse = new LangfuseClient();

const ALERT_THRESHOLDS = {
  dailyWarn: 50,    // $50/day warning
  dailyCritical: 200, // $200/day critical
  perRequestWarn: 1,  // $1/request warning
};

async function checkCostAlerts() {
  const since = new Date(Date.now() - 86400000).toISOString(); // Last 24h

  const traces = await langfuse.api.traces.list({
    fromTimestamp: since,
    limit: 500,
  });

  let dailyCost = 0;
  let maxRequestCost = 0;

  for (const trace of traces.data) {
    const observations = await langfuse.api.observations.list({
      traceId: trace.id,
      type: "GENERATION",
    });

    const traceCost = observations.data.reduce(
      (sum, obs) => sum + (obs.calculatedTotalCost || 0), 0
    );

    dailyCost += traceCost;
    maxRequestCost = Math.max(maxRequestCost, traceCost);
  }

  console.log(`Daily cost: $${dailyCost.toFixed(2)}`);
  console.log(`Max request cost: $${maxRequestCost.toFixed(4)}`);

  if (dailyCost > ALERT_THRESHOLDS.dailyCritical) {
    await sendAlert("CRITICAL", `Daily LLM cost: $${dailyCost.toFixed(2)}`);
  } else if (dailyCost > ALERT_THRESHOLDS.dailyWarn) {
    await sendAlert("WARNING", `Daily LLM cost: $${dailyCost.toFixed(2)}`);
  }
}

checkCostAlerts();

Langfuse Dashboard Features

Langfuse provides built-in cost analytics in the UI:

• Cost Dashboard: Tracks token usage and costs over time by model, user, and session
• Latency Dashboard: Response times across models and user segments
• Custom Dashboards: Build custom views with multi-level aggregations
• Pricing Tiers: Supports complex pricing (cached tokens, audio tokens, per-model tiers)

Cost Optimization Strategies

Strategy	Savings	Effort	How
Model downgrade	50-95%	Low	Route simple tasks to gpt-4o-mini
Prompt optimization	10-30%	Low	Remove filler words, use structured prompts
Response caching	20-80%	Medium	Cache identical prompts with TTL
Batch processing	50%	Medium	Use OpenAI Batch API for offline tasks
Token limits	10-40%	Low	Set max_tokens on all calls

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Missing cost data	No usage in generation	Ensure usage is included with promptTokens/completionTokens
Wrong cost calculation	Model name mismatch	Use exact model ID (e.g., gpt-4o-2024-08-06)
Custom model no cost	No pricing configured	Add model pricing in Langfuse Settings > Model Definitions
Stale pricing	Model prices changed	Update model definitions periodically

Resources

• Token & Cost Tracking
• Metrics API
• Custom Dashboards
• Model Pricing Tiers