title: The best error tracking tools for developers, compared
date: 2025-11-07
rootPage: /blog
sidebar: Blog
showTitle: true
@@ -12,31 +12,41 @@ featuredImage: >-
featuredImageType: full
category: General
tags:
- Alternatives
- Comparisons
seo:
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metaTitle: '6 best error tracking tools for developers',
metaTitle: 'The best error tracking tools for developers, compared',
metaDescription: 'Compare the top error tracking tools for developers, including PostHog, Sentry, and SigNoz. See which platforms offer the best context, speed, and control.',
}
---
Every developer has shipped a bug that slipped through tests. What matters isn't perfection, it's how quickly you find out, understand the cause, and ship a fix. Great error tracking tools give you context, not just stack traces: they show what the user did right before the exception, which release it came from, and what else broke as a result.
import { CalloutBox } from 'components/Docs/CalloutBox'
The toperror monitoring tools give you this context, and in this guide, we'll compare the best options for developers across open-source options, enterprise suites, and all-in-one platforms.
Every developer has shipped a bug that slipped through tests: no one is perfect. What matters is how quickly you find out, understand the cause, and ship a fix. Enter, error tracking tools.
## What are the features of a great error tracking tool
A good error tracking tool will give you context, not just stack traces: it'll show you what the user did right before the exception, which release it came from, and what else broke as a result.
Before jumping into the list, here are the features we are looking for in each tool:
This guide compares the most popular error tracking tools for developers right now, what features they do and don't offer, and who they're built for, so you can decide which one is right for your needs.
## What features do you need in your error tracking tool?
At a minimum, most good error tracking tools will offer things like:
- Real-time error capture and grouping
- Full stack traces, source maps, and contextual metadata
- Alerts and assignment workflows for triage
- SDKs for major languages and frameworks
- Integration with CI/CD, logs, and performance data
- Clear pricing and scalability
- Behavioral data context (session replays, user data, or analytics)
## Quick comparison
The absolute best error tools tend to go a bit further by including things like:
- **Integration with session replay:** Useful for linking session recordings to real user sessions, so you can better understand the context of when an error occurs and debug the steps.
- **Integration with product analytics:** Useful so you can correlate the impact of errors on product usage, conversion, and revenue.
- **Very broad SDK and framework support:** Support for the likes of Next.js, Python, and React are typical among all the tools in this list, but some tools go deeper by offering SDKs for less popular frameworks, and even video game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity.
Here's how some of the most popular error tracking tools compare at a glance:
### 1. PostHog: Best for contextual debugging and developer control
## What's the best error tracking tool for developers?
**TL;DR:** Most error trackers stop at stack traces, but PostHog goes further. It combines [error tracking](/error-tracking), [session replay](/session-replay), [analytics](/product-analytics), and [feature flags](/feature-flags) in one platform, giving developers full context on every issue.
### 1. PostHog
Error tracking is only one part of building great products, and that's the real advantage of PostHog. It's not a tool you bolt on after the fact, it's part of the feedback loop between shipping, learning, and improving. Each exception can be linked to the related sessionreplay, user, and feature flag version. You can see the user's actions, console output, and API calls leading up to the issue, then ship a fix behind a featureflag, test it, and measure the impact in analytics.
PostHog is an all-in-one developer platform that goes beyond error tracking and stack traces by combining [error tracking](/error-tracking), [session replay](/session-replay), [analytics](/product-analytics), and [feature flags](/feature-flags) into one platform.
You're also able to autocapture unhandled exceptions, filter by error type, and set event-based alerts that trigger when specific issues occur.
Each exception can be linked to the related session replay, user, and feature flag version. You can also view the user's actions, console output, and API calls leading up to the issue, then ship a fix behind a feature flag, test it, and measure the impact in analytics without ever having to switch between tools.
**Strengths**
PostHog also [supports autocapture of unhandled exceptions](/docs/error-tracking/capture), [filter by error type](/docs/error-tracking/monitoring), and [set event-based alerts](/docs/error-tracking/alerts) that trigger when specific issues occur, and offers built in [LLM analytics](/llm-analytics) for teams that need to observe and optimize AI products as well.
**Strengths:**
- Replay-linked debugging
- Full user and session context
- Transparent usage-based pricing with configurable caps
- Unified suite: analytics, feature flags, surveys, experiments, and more
- Unified suite: analytics, feature flags, surveys, experiments, LLM analytics and more
**Best for:** Teams that want an integrated view of errors, user behavior, and product analytics in one place.
**Community:**
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imageSource="/images/customers/brandon.png"
size="md"
name="Brandon Jakobson"
title="Co-founder & CTO at Zealot"
quote={`“I can look at an error and see everyone who had it, then view their replays in two clicks. That's the part about PostHog that's so cool: you get all these tools for free, and the more you use, the more powerful they become.”`}
/>
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- PostHog is fully open source under the MIT license and actively maintained at https://github.com/PostHog/posthog.
**Community:**
PostHog is fully open source under the MIT license and actively maintained at [github.com/PostHog/posthog](https://github.com/PostHog/posthog). The repository has 29.8k+ stars, 360+ contributors, and sees daily commits from both the core team and community. Most development happens in public, including product discussions and roadmap planning.
- The [repository](https://github.com/PostHog/posthog) has 29.8k+ stars, 360+ contributors, and sees daily commits from both the core team and community.
### 2. Sentry: Best for production-scale error and performance tracking
- [Most development happens in public](/changelog), including product discussions and roadmap planning.
**TL;DR:** Sentry is a mature, battle-tested error and performance monitoring tool used across industries. It's stable, deeply integrated, and built for teams who value visibility over novelty.
<CalloutBox icon="IconStarFilled" title="PostHog is best for" type="fyi">
Sentry has earned its reputation by being the tool developers turn to when uptime and reliability are non-negotiable. It provides rich grouping, detailed stack traces, breadcrumbs, release tracking, and performance monitoring across frontend, backend, and mobile SDKs. It's highly scalable, with strong alerting and triage workflows.
Teams that want an integrated view of errors, user behavior, and product analytics in one place. It's also a great choice for any team that's building AI apps, since you get error tracking and an [LLM observability tool](/blog/best-open-source-llm-observability-tools) inside one platform as well.
</CalloutBox>
### 2. Sentry
Sentry is a mature, battle-tested error and performance monitoring tool used across industries. It's stable, deeply integrated, and built for teams who value visibility over novelty.
[Sentry](/blog/posthog-vs-sentry) has earned its reputation by being the tool developers turn to when uptime and reliability are non-negotiable. It provides rich grouping, detailed stack traces, breadcrumbs, release tracking, and performance monitoring across frontend, backend, and mobile SDKs.
It's highly scalable, with strong alerting and triage workflows.
**Strengths**
@@ -101,18 +109,27 @@ Sentry has earned its reputation by being the tool developers turn to when uptim
- Self-host option available
- Mature ecosystem and integrations
**Best for:** Established teams running large-scale web or mobile applications needing reliability and deep insight.
**Community**
Sentry is one of the most-starred monitoring tools, with ~42k stars and 800+ contributors on [GitHub](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry). It's licensed under the Business Source License (BSL), meaning the core is source-available with usage limits. The team is highly active with weekly releases and a strong community presence.
### 3. Rollbar: Best for CI/CD and release-aware workflows
- Sentry is licensed under the Business Source License (BSL), meaning the core is source-available with usage limits.
**TL;DR:** Rollbar connects errors directly to deploys, releases, and regressions. It's built for teams who deploy constantly and need to know the moment something breaks in production.
- It's one of the [most-starred monitoring tools](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry), with ~42k stars and 800+ contributors on GitHub.
Rollbar's superpower is speed. It specializes in tracking when new releases cause errors, and integrates with GitHub, GitLab, Jira, and Slack, automatically associating new exceptions with recent deployments. This tight loop between code and error makes it a favorite for fast-moving CI/CD teams.
- The team is highly active with weekly releases and there's a large selection of community supported SDKs as well.
You'd pick Rollbar if you value velocity and automation over depth. It's the tool that helps small teams ship multiple times a day without fear.
<CalloutBox icon="IconStarFilled" title="Sentry is best for" type="fyi">
Established teams running large-scale web or mobile applications needing reliability and deep insight, or game developers working with the Unreal and Unity engines.
</CalloutBox>
### 3. Rollbar
Rollbar connects errors directly to deploys, releases, and regressions. It's built for teams who deploy constantly and need to know the moment something breaks in production.
Their superpower is speed. Rollbar specializes in tracking when new releases cause errors, and integrates with GitHub, GitLab, Jira, and Slack, automatically associating new exceptions with recent deployments.
If you value velocity and automation over depth, this is a tool that can help you ship multiple times a day without fear.
**Strengths**
@@ -120,16 +137,25 @@ You'd pick Rollbar if you value velocity and automation over depth. It's the too
- Strong CI/CD and issue tracker integrations
- Automations for regression alerts and triage
**Best for:** Teams deploying continuously who need visibility into which release introduced an error.
**Community**
Rollbar maintains several open SDK repositories across languages, including [rollbar.js](https://github.com/rollbar/rollbar.js), [rollbar-python](https://github.com/rollbar/pyrollbar), and [rollbar-java](https://github.com/rollbar/rollbar-java). Each has hundreds of stars and regular maintenance, though the core product itself is proprietary.
### 4. Bugsnag: Best for mobile stability and crash analytics
- Rollbar maintains several open SDK repositories across languages, including [rollbar.js](https://github.com/rollbar/rollbar.js), [rollbar-python](https://github.com/rollbar/pyrollbar), and [rollbar-java](https://github.com/rollbar/rollbar-java).
**TL;DR:** A leading tool for mobile and frontend error monitoring focused on app stability metrics.
- Each repo has hundreds of stars and regular maintenance, though the core product itself is proprietary.
Bugsnag was built around the insight that not every error is equal. It measures crash-free sessions, calculates stability scores, and surfaces the most impactful issues first so teams can prioritize issues that have the greatest impact on real-world experience. Its clean dashboards and SDK coverage across iOS, Unity, React Native, Android, and web make it a go-to for app developers.
<CalloutBox icon="IconStarFilled" title="Rollbar is best for" type="fyi">
Fast-moving engineering teams that ship code multiple times a day and need to pinpoint exactly which commit, branch, or release introduced a new exception.
</CalloutBox>
### 4. Bugsnag
Bugsnag is a leading tool for mobile and frontend error monitoring focused on app stability metrics.
It was built around the insight that not every error is made equal; it measures crash-free sessions, calculates stability scores, and surfaces the most impactful issues first so teams can prioritize issues that have the greatest impact on real-world experience.
Their clean dashboards and SDK coverage across iOS, Unity, React Native, Android, and web make it a go-to for app developers.
**Strengths**
@@ -137,16 +163,25 @@ Bugsnag was built around the insight that not every error is equal. It measures
- Stability and health metrics help prioritize fixes
- Integrates with common mobile CI/CD pipelines
**Best for:** Mobile and frontend teams focused on improving user stability and retention.
**Community**
Bugsnag's core platform is closed source, but it maintains open SDKs for most major platforms ([JavaScript](https://github.com/bugsnag/bugsnag-js), [Android](https://github.com/bugsnag/bugsnag-android), [Unity](https://github.com/bugsnag/bugsnag-unity), and others). Each repo has hundreds to a few thousand stars, and updates are frequent.
### 5. GlitchTip: Best lightweight open-source error tracker
- Bugsnag's core platform is closed source, but it maintains open SDKs for most major platforms ([JavaScript](https://github.com/bugsnag/bugsnag-js), [Android](https://github.com/bugsnag/bugsnag-android), [Unity](https://github.com/bugsnag/bugsnag-unity), and others).
**TL;DR:** GlitchTip is an open-source, privacy-friendly alternative to Sentry. It's the “just works” open-source tracker: lightweight, predictable, and yours to run however you want.
- Each repo has hundreds to a few thousand stars, and updates are frequent.
GlitchTip provides basic error tracking and self-hosting flexibility for small teams. Its Sentry API compatibility means you can often switch without changing SDKs. GlitchTip's simplicity is also its strength: no over-engineered dashboards, no surprise upgrades, no opaque billing – just a clean UI, grouped errors, and self-hosted reliability. It's a compelling choice for smaller engineering teams or privacy-sensitive organizations.
<CalloutBox icon="IconStarFilled" title="Bugsnag is best for" type="fyi">
Mobile and frontend teams focused on improving user stability and retention by combining error data with usage metrics.
</CalloutBox>
### 5. GlitchTip
GlitchTip is an open-source, privacy-friendly alternative to Sentry. It's a lightweight, predictable error tracker that's yours to run however you want.
Its Sentry API compatibility means you can often switch without changing SDKs. GlitchTip's simplicity is also its strength: no over-engineered dashboards, no surprise upgrades, no opaque billing – just a clean UI, grouped errors, and self-hosted reliability for small teams.
It's a compelling choice for smaller engineering teams or privacy-sensitive organizations.
**Strengths**
@@ -154,16 +189,23 @@ GlitchTip provides basic error tracking and self-hosting flexibility for small t
- Free and privacy-friendly
- Maintains Sentry protocol compatibility
**Best for:** Small teams or organizations that value control and simplicity over feature depth.
**Community**
[GlitchTip](https://mastodon.online/@glitchtip) is fully open source under the MIT license, with active contributions from the developer community. It's a lightweight alternative to Sentry with regular maintenance and transparent development.
### 6. SigNoz: Best open-source APM and error tracking combination
- [GlitchTip](https://mastodon.online/@glitchtip) is fully opensource under the MIT license, with active contributions from the developer community.
**TL;DR:** SigNoz is an open-source observability platform built on OpenTelemetry.
- It's a lightweight alternative to Sentry with regular maintenance and transparent development.
SigNoz collects metrics, traces, and errors into one open-source platform designed to replace proprietary APM tools like Datadog or New Relic. It's self-hostable, cost-effective, and ideal for teams standardizing on open telemetry stacks.
<CalloutBox icon="IconStarFilled" title="GlitchTip is best for" type="fyi">
Small teams or organizations that value control and simplicity over feature depth.
</CalloutBox>
### 6. SigNoz
SigNoz is an open-source observability platform built on OpenTelemetry.
It collects metrics, traces, and errors into one open-source platform designed to replace proprietary APM tools like Datadog or New Relic. It's self-hostable, cost-effective, and ideal for teams standardizing on open telemetry stacks.
**Strengths**
@@ -171,30 +213,26 @@ SigNoz collects metrics, traces, and errors into one open-source platform design
- OpenTelemetry-native and vendor-neutral
- No licensing lock-in
**Best for:** Backend or infrastructure teams who prefer open frameworks and self-hosted observability.
**Community**
[SigNoz](https://github.com/SigNoz/signoz) is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with 24k+ stars and a rapidly growing contributor base. It's one of the most active OpenTelemetry-native observability projects and ships frequent updates.
## How PostHog is different
- [SigNoz](https://github.com/SigNoz/signoz) is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with 24k+ stars and a rapidly growing contributor base.
Two words: context and consolidation. Where other tools isolate data, PostHog combines everything developers need:
- It's one of the most active OpenTelemetry-native observability projects and ships frequent updates.
* Want an all-in-one platform that connects errors to user sessions, analytics, feature flags, experiments, and more? Go with **[PostHog](/error-tracking)**.
* Need deep stack traces, transaction tracing, and mature triage workflows? **Sentry** is the proven choice.
* Shipping constantly and need instant visibility into which release broke what? Choose **Rollbar**.
* Focused on mobile or frontend stability metrics like crash-free sessions? **Bugsnag** is a good fit.
* Want a simple, self-hosted option compatible with Sentry clients? Try **GlitchTip**.
* Prefer an open-source observability stack built on OpenTelemetry? **SigNoz** is probably the answer.
## FAQ
@@ -247,6 +285,17 @@ If your focus is on application-level errors and user experience rather than inf
</details>
{' '}
<details>
<summary>How is PostHog different from other error tracking tools?</summary>
<ArrayCTA />
PostHog is more than an error tracker – it gives developers full context by combining [all the tools needed to build a successful product](/products) in one platform.
@@ -159,4 +159,8 @@ Its hosted version has a free tier, which offers 10k events per month with 30 da
#### What makes Lunary special?
Lunary is purpose built for LLM chatbots like knowledge bases and support tools. This shows in their focus on features like PII masking, access management, human reviewing, and multi-modal support.
Lunary is purpose built for LLM chatbots like knowledge bases and support tools. This shows in their focus on features like PII masking, access management, human reviewing, and multi-modal support.
## Related reading
If you’re also instrumenting the rest of your app (not just the LLM parts), we have a separate roundup of the [best error tracking tools](/blog/best-error-tracking-tools). It compares the more traditional app monitoring tools — useful if you want LLM traces and regular exception monitoring to live side by side.
@@ -486,3 +486,8 @@ We're biased, obviously, but we think PostHog is the perfect Sentry replacement
- You want to try before you buy. We're self-serve with a [generous free tier](/pricing).
Check out [error tracking install guide](/docs/error-tracking/installation) and [read our docs](/docs) to learn more.
## Related reading
If you're still mapping out your monitoring stack, we also have a broader roundup of the [best error tracking tools](/blog/best-error-tracking-tools) available today. That one looks beyond Sentry to compare tools with capabilities such as session replay, product analytics, and full observability.
@@ -260,3 +260,7 @@ You can get started with PostHog in less than 90 seconds using our [AI install w
### Can I use PostHog with a CDP?
Yes. You can use PostHog with Segment, Rudderstack, and more. See our docs on using [PostHog with a CDP](/docs/advanced/cdp) for more.
### What are other error monitoring tool alternatives?
If you want a broader look at what's out there, take a look at our full roundup of the [best error tracking tools](/blog/best-error-tracking-tools) available today. It compares different developer platforms side by side — from simple alerting tools to full observability suites — to help you find the right fit for your stack.
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