Axiom vs GlitchTip
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Axiom and GlitchTip built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- 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.
3 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Axiom 0
GlitchTip 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Axiom | GlitchTip |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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 |
| Observability | ||
| 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.
- GlitchTip
- $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Axiom ↗
“Cloud For teams scaling from first deployment to hyperscale. $25 / month Platform fee + usage. No minimum commitment. → Always Free allowance (1 TB / 100 GB-hrs / 100 GB) included”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — GlitchTip ↗
“Up to 100k events/mo [...] $15 / month [...] Up to 500k events/mo [...] $50 / month [...] Up to 3 million events/mo [...] $250 / month”
Read 2026-09-06 · official 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.
- GlitchTip
- Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Axiom ↗
“Platform fee + usage. No minimum commitment. → Always Free allowance (1 TB / 100 GB-hrs / 100 GB) included → Automatic volume discounts on usage beyond the allowance → Configurable retention”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — GlitchTip ↗
“Self-hosted version Free [...] Up to 100k events/mo $15 / month [...] Up to 500k events/mo $50 / month [...] Up to 3 million events/mo $250 / month”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Retention window
- Axiom
- 30 days on the free Personal plan; configurable on Cloud rather than fixed.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Axiom ↗
“→ 25 GB storage → 30-day retention → Full APL access [...] → Configurable retention”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Installation — GlitchTip documentation ↗
“Data Retention [...] GlitchTip automatically cleans up old data based on configurable retention periods. [...] GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS 90 Master default for all retention periods [...] GLITCHTIP_EVENT_HOT_DAYS 30 Days to keep events in PostgreSQL before archival [...] GLITCHTIP_RELEASE_RETENTION_DAYS 365 Release retention”
Read 2026-09-06 · official docs
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
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.