GlitchTip vs Better Stack
A comparison of GlitchTip and Better Stack built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- 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.
- Pick Better Stack if
- Teams who would otherwise buy uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking separately, and would rather have one bill and one dashboard.
4 sourced criteria separate them:
- Entry paid plan
- GlitchTip: $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million
- Better Stack: From $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page.
- Pricing model
- GlitchTip: Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all
- Better Stack: One plan covering uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking together, with exceptions counted per month and web events metered by volume and retention rather than by count.
- 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.
- Better Stack: 100,000 exceptions and 5,000 session replays a month on the free personal plan, plus 30 GB metrics and 3 GB each of logs, traces and web events. Six meters, priced separately: exceptions at $0.000050 each, replays at $0.00150, metrics at $0.50 per GB per month.
- Retention window
- 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.
- Better Stack: 90 days for errors and session replays. Logs, traces and web events are retained 3 days on the free personal plan, where retention is what the 3 GB allowance buys rather than a fixed window.
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.
GlitchTip 0
Better Stack 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | GlitchTip | Better Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million | From $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page. |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all | One plan covering uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking together, with exceptions counted per month and web events metered by volume and retention rather than by count. |
| Observability | ||
| Events included | 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. | 100,000 exceptions and 5,000 session replays a month on the free personal plan, plus 30 GB metrics and 3 GB each of logs, traces and web events. Six meters, priced separately: exceptions at $0.000050 each, replays at $0.00150, metrics at $0.50 per GB per month. |
| Retention window | 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. | 90 days for errors and session replays. Logs, traces and web events are retained 3 days on the free personal plan, where retention is what the 3 GB allowance buys rather than a fixed window. |
Where they differ.
Entry paid plan
- GlitchTip
- $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million
- Better Stack
- From $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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 — Better Stack ↗
“Starts at just $34 [...] Starts at just $29”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Pricing model
- GlitchTip
- Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all
- Better Stack
- One plan covering uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking together, with exceptions counted per month and web events metered by volume and retention rather than by count.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- Pricing — Better Stack ↗
“Web events [...] Free for personal projects $0 per month [...] 100,000 exceptions per month [...] 3 GB web events retained for 3 days [...] Free access to Telemetry.”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Events included
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.
100,000 exceptions and 5,000 session replays a month on the free personal plan, plus 30 GB metrics and 3 GB each of logs, traces and web events. Six meters, priced separately: exceptions at $0.000050 each, replays at $0.00150, metrics at $0.50 per GB per month.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — GlitchTip ↗
“Up to 1,000 events/mo [...] Up to 100k events/mo [...] $15 / month”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Better Stack ↗
“Free for personal projects $0 per month [...] 100,000 exceptions per month 5,000 session replays 3 GB logs retained for 3 days 3 GB traces retained for 3 days 30 GB metrics 3 GB web events retained for 3 days [...] Additional exceptions $0.000050 per exception [...] Additional session replays $0.00150 per session replay”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Retention window
- 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.
- Better Stack
- 90 days for errors and session replays. Logs, traces and web events are retained 3 days on the free personal plan, where retention is what the 3 GB allowance buys rather than a fixed window.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- Pricing — Better Stack ↗
“Error tracking [...] Retention 90 days [...] Session replay [...] Retention 90 days [...] Free for personal projects [...] 3 GB logs retained for 3 days 3 GB traces retained for 3 days [...] 3 GB web events retained for 3 days”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Which should you choose?
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
Choose Better Stack if…
Teams who would otherwise buy uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking separately, and would rather have one bill and one dashboard.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- Better Stack: Web event retention is 3 days on the free plan, which is short enough to miss a Monday-morning investigation of a Friday-night incident.
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: GlitchTip or Better Stack?
GlitchTip: $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million
Better Stack: From $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page.
Should I choose GlitchTip or Better Stack?
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.
Pick Better Stack if Teams who would otherwise buy uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking separately, and would rather have one bill and one dashboard.