# Axiom vs GlitchTip

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/axiom-vs-glitchtip/

Every value below is read from Axiom's and GlitchTip's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Axiom | GlitchTip |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $25/month platform fee for Cloud, plus usage, with no minimum commitment. The plan carries an always-free allowance of 1 TB loaded, 100 GB-hours of query compute and 100 GB stored. | $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million |
| Pricing model | A platform fee plus three separate meters — data loaded, query compute in GB-hours, and stored GB — each with an always-free allowance included on every plan and automatic volume discounts above it. | Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all |
| Retention window | 30 days on the free Personal plan; configurable on Cloud rather than fixed. | 90 days by default when self-hosted, set by GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS and configurable per data type — events, transactions, logs, uptime checks and files all inherit it, releases keep 365 days. Events move from Postgres to cold storage after 30 days but stay queryable. GlitchTip publishes no retention figure for its hosted plans. |

## Where they differ

### Entry paid plan

- Axiom: $25/month platform fee for Cloud, plus usage, with no minimum commitment. The plan carries an always-free allowance of 1 TB loaded, 100 GB-hours of query compute and 100 GB stored. ([source](https://axiom.co/pricing))
- GlitchTip: $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million ([source](https://glitchtip.com/pricing))

### Pricing model

- Axiom: A platform fee plus three separate meters — data loaded, query compute in GB-hours, and stored GB — each with an always-free allowance included on every plan and automatic volume discounts above it. ([source](https://axiom.co/pricing))
- GlitchTip: Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all ([source](https://glitchtip.com/pricing))

### Retention window

- Axiom: 30 days on the free Personal plan; configurable on Cloud rather than fixed. ([source](https://axiom.co/pricing))
- GlitchTip: 90 days by default when self-hosted, set by GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS and configurable per data type — events, transactions, logs, uptime checks and files all inherit it, releases keep 365 days. Events move from Postgres to cold storage after 30 days but stay queryable. GlitchTip publishes no retention figure for its hosted plans. ([source](https://glitchtip.com/documentation/install))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Axiom if Small projects that want a real telemetry platform for nothing — 500 GB a month loaded with 30-day retention, permanently, is the most generous free allowance in this category.

Pick GlitchTip if Anyone who wants Sentry-shaped error tracking without Sentry's bill — the SDKs are compatible, so switching is a DSN change, and self-hosting is free and genuinely supported.

Consider something else: Axiom — Query compute is billed as its own meter in GB-hours, so an expensive dashboard costs money even when ingest is inside the allowance.

Consider something else: GlitchTip — It tracks errors and nothing else. No tracing, no replays, no uptime monitoring, so a team wanting one pane of glass will be assembling it from parts.

## Documented by only one

- When you exceed a cap: Axiom: Billed, then paused per meter. Charges accrue past the Always Free allowance until they reach the spending limit you set, at which point Axiom stops the actions that cost money — and it stops them meter by meter: exhausting query compute halts queries and the monitors that depend on them while ingestion keeps running on an unspent data-loading allowance. Axiom says plainly that this can interrupt service.
- Regions: Axiom: Two, both on AWS: US East 1 and EU Central 1. Axiom calls them edge deployments — you pick one per organisation and event data is stored at rest there, while the console stays at app.axiom.co. Datasets in one organisation can sit in different deployments. New ones are added on request rather than published as a roadmap.
- Events included: GlitchTip: 100,000 events a month on the cheapest paid plan; 1,000 on the free hosted plan. One meter, not several — GlitchTip counts events and nothing else.
- Self-hostable: GlitchTip: Supported

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Axiom or GlitchTip?**

Axiom: $25/month platform fee for Cloud, plus usage, with no minimum commitment. The plan carries an always-free allowance of 1 TB loaded, 100 GB-hours of query compute and 100 GB stored.
GlitchTip: $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million

**Should I choose Axiom or GlitchTip?**

Pick Axiom if Small projects that want a real telemetry platform for nothing — 500 GB a month loaded with 30-day retention, permanently, is the most generous free allowance in this category.
Pick GlitchTip if Anyone who wants Sentry-shaped error tracking without Sentry's bill — the SDKs are compatible, so switching is a DSN change, and self-hosting is free and genuinely supported.