Sentry vs BetterStack for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

Sentry Overview

Sentry is the standard for application error tracking. When your code throws an exception in production, Sentry captures the full stack trace, browser context, user information, and breadcrumbs showing what happened before the error. You get notified instantly, and the error report gives you everything you need to reproduce and fix the issue.

I've used Sentry on every production project for years. The moment I deploy, I know Sentry is watching. When a user hits a bug, I often see the Sentry alert before they even report it. The grouping is smart (duplicate errors get collapsed into issues), the source map support works well for frontend apps, and the performance monitoring shows you slow transactions and database queries.

The free tier gives you 5,000 errors per month, which is generous for a solo developer. You also get basic performance monitoring, release tracking, and session replay to watch how users interact with your app before an error occurs. For debugging production issues, nothing else comes close.

BetterStack Overview

BetterStack (formerly Better Uptime + Logtail) combines uptime monitoring, log management, and incident handling in one platform. It answers a different question than Sentry: instead of "what errors are happening in my code?", BetterStack answers "is my site up, and what's happening in my infrastructure?"

The uptime monitoring checks your site from global locations and alerts you via Slack, email, SMS, or phone call when something goes down. The status pages are beautiful. If you've seen those sleek "All Systems Operational" pages from companies you admire, there's a good chance they're using BetterStack.

The log management (Logtail) gives you structured logging with search, filtering, and dashboards. Ship your application logs to BetterStack and query them without SSHing into your server. For a solo developer managing their own infrastructure, this saves real time when something goes wrong at 2 AM.

Key Differences

These tools solve different problems. Sentry tracks application errors. Your React component crashes? Sentry tells you exactly which line, which browser, which user. BetterStack monitors infrastructure. Your server goes down? BetterStack calls your phone. Your response times spike? BetterStack flags it. They're complementary, not competitive.

Error debugging depth. Sentry gives you stack traces, breadcrumbs, session replays, and performance traces. BetterStack gives you uptime checks and structured logs. If you need to debug why a specific API call fails for a specific user, Sentry is built for that. BetterStack tells you the endpoint is slow but not necessarily why.

Status pages. BetterStack includes gorgeous, customizable status pages for free. Sentry doesn't offer status pages. If your users need a place to check whether your service is up, BetterStack provides that out of the box.

Log management. BetterStack's Logtail aggregates and searches your application and server logs centrally. Sentry captures error events but doesn't replace log management. For searching through application logs (not just errors), BetterStack is more useful.

Alerting channels. Both support Slack and email. BetterStack also offers SMS and phone call alerts for downtime, which matters for critical services. Sentry's alerting is more focused on error thresholds and issue assignments.

Pricing overlap. Both have free tiers that work for solo developers. You could realistically use both for free. Sentry's free tier gives 5,000 errors/month. BetterStack's free tier includes uptime monitoring for multiple sites.

When to Choose Sentry

• You need detailed error tracking with stack traces and user context
• You want session replay to see what users did before an error
• Performance monitoring for slow pages and queries matters to you
• You're debugging code-level issues, not infrastructure problems
• You want release tracking to see if new deploys introduce regressions

When to Choose BetterStack

• You need uptime monitoring with SMS/phone alerts when your site goes down
• You want a public status page for your users
• You need centralized log management without managing an ELK stack
• You're managing your own infrastructure and need visibility into server health
• You want incident management with on-call schedules

The Verdict

Here's the truth: you probably need both, and both have free tiers that work for solo developers. They solve genuinely different problems.

If I had to pick one, I'd pick Sentry. Application errors impact your users directly, and Sentry's error tracking is so detailed that it often tells you the exact line of code to fix. A user reports a bug, you search their email in Sentry, and you see the full stack trace. That workflow alone is worth it.

But add BetterStack's free uptime monitoring on top. It takes five minutes to set up, and knowing your site is down before your users tell you is invaluable. The status page is a nice professional touch too.

My setup: Sentry for error tracking and performance monitoring. BetterStack for uptime monitoring and a status page. Both on free tiers. Total cost: $0/month. Total peace of mind: substantial.