LangChain Free Plan: What You Actually Get Before Paying
LangChain is free in two parts: the MIT-licensed framework and the LangSmith Developer plan. Here is what each includes, the limits, and when to upgrade.
By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-10T19:35:18+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-10T19:35:18+00:00
LangChain Free Plan: What You Actually Get Before Paying
LangChain has two free layers, and they are not the same thing. The LangChain framework is free forever under the MIT license. LangSmith, the tracing and deployment platform, has a free Developer plan. This guide explains what each free layer includes, where the limits bite, and when you need to pay. Prices come from LangChain's own pricing page, checked in November 2026.
The LangChain free plan starts with the framework
The LangChain framework costs nothing. It is MIT licensed and free to use, modify, and ship commercially. There is no seat fee and no execution meter in the library. The same applies to LangGraph, the durable runtime underneath it. Your only framework costs are the ones you choose. Model API calls are billed by your model provider. Hosting is yours. If you run LangChain on your own server, LangChain Inc. charges you nothing for the code. This is the most generous free layer in the LangChain ecosystem. It never expires and never asks for a card.
What the LangSmith Developer plan includes
LangSmith is the paid platform around the free framework. Its Developer plan costs $0 per seat per month. It includes up to 5,000 base traces a month, then pay as you go. It includes community support. It includes access to tracing, evaluations, datasets, annotation queues, Prompt Hub, and the Playground. The pricing page also lists a small monthly allowance of LangChain Standard Units for Fleet and Sandboxes. Fleet gets 7 LSU a month. Sandboxes get 8 LSU a month. One LSU costs $1.00. Base traces are kept for 14 days. You can upgrade a base trace to extended retention of 180 days for an extra fee. LangChain states that LangSmith does not use your data to train models.
LangChain free plan: the limits that matter
| Limit | Developer plan | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Seats | 1, hard maximum | A second user needs Plus at $39 per seat per month |
| Base traces | 5,000 a month included | Pay as you go beyond that, or capped at 5,000 without a payment method |
| Trace retention | 14 days for base traces | Upgrade to 180-day extended retention for a fee |
| Deployment | Not included | Plus includes 1 free small serverless deployment |
| Support | Community forum and support portal | Plus adds a support portal and email support; Enterprise adds an SLA |
The one-seat cap is the sharpest limit. You cannot share traces with a teammate on the free plan. The moment a colleague needs to look at a trace, your team needs Plus. The trace cap is the second limit. Without a payment method on file, Developer is capped at 5,000 traces a month. Add a payment method and usage beyond the allowance bills pay as you go. Deployment is not included at all on Developer. Engine, Tuned Evaluators, and the full Deployment service sit on Plus and Enterprise.
How to stay free for as long as possible
Five habits keep you on the free plan. First, trace selectively. Trace your agent in development and in a small production sample, not every call. Second, keep your team at one seat while you prototype. Invite no one until you need shared access. Third, use the framework alone where you can. Local logging covers many debugging needs. Fourth, watch your trace volume weekly. The pricing page has a usage calculator for estimates. Fifth, remember that base traces expire after 14 days. Export anything you need to keep before it disappears. If your agent is a personal project or a prototype, these habits can keep your LangChain bill at zero for a long time.
When the free plan stops being enough
Upgrade to Plus when one of three things happens. Your team grows past one person. Your trace volume passes 5,000 a month and stays there. Or you need to deploy an agent on LangSmith's managed infrastructure. Plus costs $39 per seat per month. It raises the trace allowance to 10,000 a month, adds unlimited seats, and includes one free small serverless deployment. Enterprise is for teams that need self-hosted or hybrid deployment, custom SSO, and a support SLA. Its pricing is custom. Do not upgrade for features you have not used yet. Try the free Developer plan first and let real usage decide.
One more option exists for young companies. LangChain offers discounted rates and up to $10,000 in credits for VC-backed startups building on LangSmith. That can stretch the free period well past the Developer limits. Apply on the pricing page if you qualify. For everyone else, the rule stays simple. Start free, measure real usage, and pay only when a limit you actually hit forces the move.
Bottom line
The LangChain free plan is genuinely free in two parts. The framework costs nothing, forever, under the MIT license. The LangSmith Developer plan costs nothing for one seat and 5,000 traces a month. The catch is the one-seat cap and the lack of deployment. For solo developers and prototypes, that is enough. For teams and production agents, budget for Plus at $39 per seat per month.