Platform vs Triage Tool
Sentry vs Rollbar: Which One Should You Choose in 1970?
Rollbar does error grouping and deploy tracking well and starts cheaper. Sentry adds performance tracing, replay and a much larger integration ecosystem, which is why it overtakes Rollbar as teams grow.
Quick verdict
- Cheapest triage
- Rollbar$12/mo Starter, 25,000 events
- Observability breadth
- Sentrytracing, replay, profiling, hundreds of integrations
Sentry vs Rollbar: feature comparison
| Feature | SentryProprietarySelf-Hostable | RollbarProprietary |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | 5,000 errors/mo | 5,000 events/mo |
| Entry Price | $26/mo (Team, 50k errors) | $12/mo (Starter, 25k events) |
| Performance Tracing | Full | Limited |
| Session Replay | Included | No |
| Self-Hosted | Yes (heavy) | No |
Pricing takeaway
Rollbar is about half the price at the entry tier, but the gap closes once you add the tracing that Rollbar does not sell. At 1M events a month both sit in the hundreds of dollars.
- Sentry
- Per-event volume + seats. Starts at $26/mo (Team, 50,000 errors). Free Developer plan: 5,000 errors/mo, 1 user.Full Sentry pricing breakdown
- Rollbar
- Per-event volume + seats. Starts at $12/mo (Starter, 25,000 events). Free 5,000 events/mo.Full Rollbar pricing breakdown
Pros and cons
Sentry
Visit SentryPros
- Best-in-class stack traces with releases, source maps and breadcrumbs
- Performance tracing, session replay and profiling share one SDK
- Self-hosted option keeps error data inside your own infrastructure
Cons
- Event and seat pricing climbs quickly for teams and noisy apps
- Self-hosting is heavy: Kafka, ClickHouse, Snuba and workers to operate
- The self-hosted licence is source-available (FSL), not OSI open source
Rollbar
Visit RollbarPros
- Real-time error grouping with deploy tracking and auto-assignment
- Simple SDK setup and a fast triage interface
- Cheaper entry plan than Sentry for small teams
Cons
- Event-based pricing becomes expensive as traffic grows
- No self-hosting option
- Weaker performance-monitoring story than Sentry or Datadog
Sentry vs Rollbar: FAQ
Is Rollbar a good alternative to Sentry?
Rollbar does error grouping and deploy tracking well and starts cheaper. Sentry adds performance tracing, replay and a much larger integration ecosystem, which is why it overtakes Rollbar as teams grow.
Which is cheaper, Sentry or Rollbar?
Rollbar is about half the price at the entry tier, but the gap closes once you add the tracing that Rollbar does not sell. At 1M events a month both sit in the hundreds of dollars.
Is Sentry or Rollbar open source?
Sentry is proprietary. Rollbar is proprietary.
Can I self-host Sentry or Rollbar?
Sentry can be self-hosted. Difficulty: High (Docker Compose with Kafka, ClickHouse and Snuba). Rollbar cannot be self-hosted.
Do Sentry and Rollbar have a free tier?
Sentry: Free Developer plan: 5,000 errors/mo, 1 user. Rollbar: Free 5,000 events/mo.