Sentry vs Plausible for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

Sentry Overview

Sentry is the industry standard for error tracking. When your app crashes in production, Sentry captures the full stack trace, browser details, user context, and a breadcrumb trail of events leading up to the error. You find out about bugs before users report them, and the error reports usually give you everything you need to fix the issue.

The free tier is generous for solo developers. 5,000 errors per month, basic performance monitoring, release tracking, and session replay. I've used Sentry on every production app I've shipped. The moment something breaks, I get a Slack notification with enough detail to start debugging immediately. No guessing, no "can you reproduce the steps?" back-and-forth with users.

Plausible Overview

Plausible is a lightweight, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics. It tells you how many people visit your site, where they come from, which pages they view, and what devices they use. All without cookies, all GDPR-compliant out of the box, and all in a dashboard that loads in under a second.

I switched to Plausible because Google Analytics felt like overkill for my projects. I don't need funnel analysis or custom event pipelines. I need to know if my blog post is getting traffic and where that traffic comes from. Plausible does exactly that with a single script tag. The dashboard is refreshingly simple. No 47-click journey to find your pageview count.

You can self-host it for free or pay $9/month for the cloud version. Either way, you're not feeding your users' data to an advertising company.

Key Differences

These tools solve completely different problems. Sentry tracks application errors. Your API throws a 500? Sentry tells you the exact line of code. Plausible tracks website traffic. Your blog post is getting 500 visits today? Plausible shows you where those visitors came from. There's almost zero overlap between what they do.

When they matter. Sentry matters when you're building an application with users who interact with features, submit forms, and trigger server-side logic. Plausible matters when you want to understand your audience and optimize your content or marketing. A SaaS app needs Sentry. A blog needs Plausible. Most projects need both.

Privacy stance. Plausible was built around privacy. No cookies, no personal data collection, no consent banners needed. Sentry collects error data which can include user information (IP addresses, emails if you tag them). Sentry is privacy-aware but it's fundamentally a debugging tool, not a privacy tool.

Pricing model. Sentry charges by error volume. Plausible charges by pageview volume. Both have reasonable entry points for solo developers. Sentry's free tier works for most small apps. Plausible starts at $9/month for 10k pageviews, or you can self-host for free if you have a server.

Setup effort. Plausible is a single script tag in your HTML. That's it. Sentry requires an SDK integration in your application code, which takes 5-10 minutes but involves more configuration. Both are easy, but Plausible is almost zero-effort.

When to Choose Sentry

• You're building an application (SaaS, web app, API) that needs error tracking
• You want to catch bugs before users report them
• Performance monitoring for slow pages and endpoints matters
• You need stack traces and debugging context for production issues
• Your project is code-heavy and errors directly impact user experience

When to Choose Plausible

• You need website analytics without Google Analytics' complexity or privacy issues
• You're running a blog, landing page, or content site and want traffic insights
• GDPR compliance matters and you don't want cookie consent banners
• You want a clean, simple dashboard instead of Google Analytics' overwhelming interface
• You're tracking marketing effectiveness and referral sources

The Verdict

You need both. Seriously. They do completely different things, and both are important for running a solo project.

Use Sentry to track errors in your application. Use Plausible to understand your traffic. There's no overlap and no reason to choose between them.

If budget is extremely tight, here's how I'd prioritize. If you have a production app with paying users, set up Sentry first. Catching errors that affect paying customers is more important than knowing your traffic numbers. If you're in the growth phase and need to understand where users are coming from, set up Plausible first.

But honestly, Sentry has a free tier and Plausible is $9/month (or free self-hosted). For most solo developers, running both is completely affordable. I use both on every project and wouldn't drop either one.