The best error tracking tools for developers, compared
Contents
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.
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.
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
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:
What's the best error tracking tool for developers?
1. PostHog
PostHog is an all-in-one developer platform that goes beyond error tracking and stack traces by combining error tracking, session replay, analytics, and feature flags into one platform.
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.
PostHog also supports autocapture of unhandled exceptions, filter by error type, and set event-based alerts that trigger when specific issues occur, and offers built in 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, LLM analytics and more
Community:
PostHog is fully open source under the MIT license and actively maintained at 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.
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 inside one platform as well.
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 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
- Wide SDK coverage and proven reliability
- Performance tracing to identify slow transactions
- Self-host option available
- Mature ecosystem and integrations
Community
Sentry is licensed under the Business Source License (BSL), meaning the core is source-available with usage limits.
It's one of the most-starred monitoring tools, with ~42k stars and 800+ contributors on GitHub.
The team is highly active with weekly releases and there's a large selection of community supported SDKs as well.
Established teams running large-scale web or mobile applications needing reliability and deep insight, or game developers working with the Unreal and Unity engines.
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
- Release tracking and rollback detection
- Strong CI/CD and issue tracker integrations
- Automations for regression alerts and triage
Community
Rollbar maintains several open SDK repositories across languages, including rollbar.js, rollbar-python, and rollbar-java.
Each repo has hundreds of stars and regular maintenance, though the core product itself is proprietary.
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.
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
- Excellent mobile SDKs and coverage
- Stability and health metrics help prioritize fixes
- Integrates with common mobile CI/CD pipelines
Community
Bugsnag's core platform is closed source, but it maintains open SDKs for most major platforms (JavaScript, Android, Unity, and others).
Each repo has hundreds to a few thousand stars, and updates are frequent.
Mobile and frontend teams focused on improving user stability and retention by combining error data with usage metrics.
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
- Easy deployment with Docker
- Free and privacy-friendly
- Maintains Sentry protocol compatibility
Community
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.
Small teams or organizations that value control and simplicity over feature depth.
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
- Unified tracing, metrics, and error monitoring
- OpenTelemetry-native and vendor-neutral
- No licensing lock-in
Community
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.
Backend or infrastructure teams who prefer open frameworks and self-hosted observability.
Which error tracking tool should you choose?
- Want an all-in-one platform that connects errors to user sessions, analytics, feature flags, experiments, and more? Go with PostHog.
- 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
What's the best error tracking tool for developers?
If you want full context, including stack traces, user sessions, and console logs, PostHog is the best choice. It combines error tracking, session replay, analytics, and feature flags in one platform. For large-scale reliability and performance monitoring, Sentry is another strong option.
What's the difference between PostHog and Sentry?
Sentry focuses primarily on deep error monitoring and performance tracing. PostHog provides a broader context by combining error tracking with product analytics, session replays, feature flags, and more.
Are there open-source error tracking tools?
Yes. PostHog, Sentry, and GlitchTip all offer open-source editions. These options are ideal for teams who want full data ownership and flexibility in how they run their error tracking systems.
Which error tracking tool integrates best with CI/CD workflows?
Rollbar integrates deeply with CI/CD pipelines and tools like GitHub, GitLab, Slack, and Jira. It automatically ties new errors to specific releases, helping teams detect regressions right after deployment.
Which error tracking tool is best for mobile apps?
Bugsnag is built for mobile error tracking and app stability. It supports iOS, Android, and other major mobile SDKs and provides useful metrics like crash-free sessions and stability scores to help teams prioritize fixes.
Which is the cheapest error tracking tool?
PostHog offers transparent, usage-based pricing with generous free tiers across all products. Most small teams can use PostHog entirely for free, and its billing caps prevent surprise overages. Open-source tools like GlitchTip are also cost-effective for teams comfortable managing their own hosting.
What are the best Datadog alternatives for error tracking?
If your focus is on application-level errors and user experience rather than infrastructure monitoring, PostHog and Sentry are the best Datadog alternatives. For teams who prefer open-source observability platforms, SigNoz is an excellent choice built on OpenTelemetry.
How is PostHog different from other error tracking tools?
PostHog is more than an error tracker – it gives developers full context by combining all the tools needed to build a successful product in one platform.
- All-in-one toolkit: Product analytics, web analytics, session replay, feature flags, experiments, surveys, LLM analytics, and error tracking
- Developer-first: Transparent APIs, SQL query builder, open source, and a public roadmap
- Transparent pricing: Generous free tiers and usage-based billing
- Trusted by teams: Used by Supabase, Lovable, ElevenLabs, ResearchGate, and more