TL;DR: Sentry fits teams that want a permanent $0 Developer plan plus published Team ($26/mo annual with default prepaid data) and Business ($80/mo) rows. Rollbar and Bugsnag also publish free entry plans with event-volume paid steps. Quote-style enterprise rows sit last. Order follows public $0 / published price first, quote-led last.
Error tracking software collects exceptions, groups them by root cause, and shows stack traces, releases, and affected users so engineering teams can fix production failures. In 2026 the category overlaps session replay, tracing, and AI debugging agents, but the buyer problem remains the same: see crashes before customers file tickets.
Every entry uses the same fields: published pricing, free plan or trial, core focus, and the main limitation. The order below is not a quality ranking. Public $0 / published price first, quote-led last.
Error tracking software compared at a glance
| Provider | Published pricing | Event model | Best for | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sentry | Developer $0 (1 user, 5k errors). Team $26/mo annual with default prepaid data. Business $80/mo annual. Enterprise custom. | Errors, spans, replays, logs with PAYG after included quota | Product teams that want a public free plan and a documented usage calculator | Visit β |
| Rollbar | Free: 5,000 occurrences and 1,000 replays/month. Essentials and Advanced scale by occurrence volume; Enterprise custom above high volume. | Occurrences + optional replays and credits | Teams that want overage controls (stop, on-demand, or budget cap) | Visit β |
| Bugsnag | Free $0 (1 user, 7.5k events and 1M spans/mo). Select and Preferred published as self-serve tiers; Enterprise contact. | Events + optional performance spans | Mobile and multi-platform teams focused on stability scores | Visit β |
| GlitchTip | Open-source self-host is free software; hosted plans are published separately on glitchtip.com when offered. | Sentry-compatible events | Teams that prefer a Sentry-compatible self-hosted stack | Visit β |
| Raygun | Published product-led Crash Reporting plans historically; confirm current list vs quote on the live pricing page. | Crash + Real User Monitoring SKUs | Teams combining crash reporting with RUM in one vendor | Visit β |
Sentry, Rollbar, and Bugsnag published plan cards were reviewed on 30 September 2026. Confirm current included error, span, and replay quotas and annual vs monthly toggles on the live vendor pages.
Free developer rows are real but tightly capped; production cost is almost always the paid event volume, not the base plan name.
How error tracking is bought in 2026
Most teams start on a free SDK install, then pay when volume or features (SSO, replay, AI fix agents) leave the free row. Compare included errors and overage policy first, then language coverage and release health. Session replay and tracing are often separate meters on the same bill.
The 5 providers in detail
1. Sentry
Best for: Engineering teams that want a documented $0 Developer plan and published Team / Business platform fees plus a public usage calculator.
| Published pricing | Developer $0. Team $26/mo when billed annually with default prepaid data. Business $80/mo annual. Enterprise custom. Extra errors, spans, replays, logs billed PAYG or reserved. |
| Free plan / trial | Permanent Developer plan (1 user, 5k errors, 5M spans, 50 replays). Paid trials available from the pricing page. |
| Core focus | Error monitoring, tracing, logs, session replay, Seer AI debugger (separate subscription) |
| Main limitation | Seer and high replay/span volume sit outside the base Team/Business row |
- Official pricing page lists Developer $0, Team $26/mo annual, Business $80/mo annual as of 30 September 2026.
- Docs publish per-error and per-span reserved vs PAYG rates so finance can model volume.
- One-user cap on Developer is the main reason growing teams leave the free row.
2. Rollbar
Best for: Teams that want a free 5k-occurrence start and explicit overage controls rather than surprise PAYG.
| Published pricing | Free: 5,000 occurrences and 1,000 replays per month, 30-day retention. Essentials and Advanced scale included occurrences (10kβ50M range on the public grid). Enterprise custom. |
| Free plan / trial | Permanent Free plan; paid plans on the public calculator |
| Core focus | Occurrence grouping, replays, deploy tracking, issue-tracker sync |
| Main limitation | Exact Essentials dollar amount depends on the occurrence slider; read the live calculator, not a screenshot |
- Official page documents stop-at-limit, on-demand, and overage-budget modes.
- Retention steps from 30 days (Free) to 90 / 180 days on paid rows.
- Enterprise is reserved for very high event volume and custom security controls.
3. Bugsnag
Best for: Mobile and multi-platform product teams that care about stability scores and release health alongside crash grouping.
| Published pricing | Free $0/month: 1 user, 7.5k events and 1M spans, 7-day retention. Select and Preferred are self-serve paid tiers (dollar amounts render in the interactive selector). Enterprise is contact-us. |
| Free plan / trial | Permanent Free plan; paid trials from the pricing page |
| Core focus | Crash reporting, stability center, performance spans, breadcrumbs |
| Main limitation | Static HTML does not always print Select/Preferred list prices; confirm the live toggle |
- SmartBear-owned Bugsnag publishes a true $0 row with event and span caps.
- Stability Center and SAML appear on higher published tiers, not on Free.
- On-premises is an Enterprise path, not a self-serve SKU.
4. GlitchTip
Best for: Teams that want a Sentry-compatible self-hosted error tracker without a vendor event meter.
| Published pricing | Self-host software is free/open source. Hosted GlitchTip, when used, is a separate published or quoted service β confirm glitchtip.com. |
| Free plan / trial | Self-host is $0 license; you pay infrastructure |
| Core focus | Sentry-compatible error events, self-host control |
| Main limitation | You operate upgrades, storage, and uptime yourself |
- Useful when data residency or event-bill avoidance is the constraint.
- SDK compatibility is the adoption argument versus rewriting instrumentation.
- Hosted convenience still needs a current price check; do not assume Sentry list rates.
5. Raygun
Best for: Teams that want crash reporting packaged with real-user monitoring rather than a pure error inbox.
| Published pricing | Product-led Crash Reporting and RUM plans are listed on raygun.com/pricing; confirm current self-serve vs quote rows the same day you buy. |
| Free plan / trial | Trial-oriented; confirm whether a permanent free row still exists |
| Core focus | Crash Reporting plus Real User Monitoring |
| Main limitation | Two product meters can stack; model crash + RUM together |
- Positioned as application intelligence, not only an exception inbox.
- Fits stacks that already think in Apdex / RUM rather than only stack traces.
- Enterprise security and volume still move to sales-assisted packaging.
Kurums Match: which error tracker fits?
Solo or early product, need $0 β Sentry Developer, Rollbar Free, or Bugsnag Free.
Growing SaaS that will pay for volume β Sentry Team/Business or Rollbar Essentials with a modeled occurrence cap.
Mobile stability as a KPI β Bugsnag-style stability center.
Self-host / data control β GlitchTip or Sentry self-hosted options, with ops cost in the model.
Buying tip: Price the 95th-percentile error month, not the quiet week. Ask whether replay, traces, and AI fix agents are included or separate meters, and what happens when you burst past quota (drop events vs PAYG vs hard stop).
How this comparison was put together
We used official product and pricing pages on 30 September 2026. Order prioritizes permanent $0 plans and published list rows before contact-sales enterprise SKUs. No quality ranking badges are applied.
FAQ
Is Sentry still free in 2026?
Yes. The Developer plan is $0 for one user with a published error and span quota. Team starts at $26/mo annual with default prepaid data on sentry.io/pricing as of 30 September 2026.
Do error trackers replace observability platforms?
No. They overlap on traces and logs, but APM/metrics platforms and error inboxes solve different workflows. Many teams run both.
What drives cost after the free plan?
Event volume (errors, occurrences), session replay, tracing spans, retention, and optional AI agents β not seat count on Sentry Team/Business.
Related: Best Observability Software 2026 Β· Best Session Replay Software 2026 Β· Best Uptime Monitoring Software 2026
Last updated: 30 September 2026. Packaging changes; always verify with the vendor before purchase.
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