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Sentry vs Better Stack

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Sentry and Better Stack built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 25 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Sentry if…

Teams that want tracing, logs, replays and uptime in one place and will pay per meter for it. The tooling is the deepest in the category and the SDK coverage is the widest.

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…

  • Sentry: Five meters bill independently, so 50,000 errors is not 50,000 units of observability. A team watching cost needs to watch spans and logs too, not just the error count.
  • 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.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Sentry alternatives · Better Stack alternatives

11 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Sentry documentationVisit Better Stack documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionSentryBetter Stack
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerFree tierFree tier
What the free plan includes5,000 errors, 5 GB of logs, 5 million spans, 50 session replays and 1 uptime monitor a month.3 GB of logs a month retained 3 days, 100,000 exceptions, and uptime monitoring with on-call and status pages at $0 per member.
Entry paid plan
$26/month for Team, the cheapest paid plan
From $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page.
Pricing modelA plan fee plus five independent meters — errors, logs, application metrics, tracing spans and session replays — each with its own included amount and its own overage. Logs and metrics overflow at $0.50/GB; extra uptime alerts at $1.00 each.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 included50,000 errors a month on Team and Business; 5,000 on Free. Errors are one meter of several — logs, spans, replays and uptime monitors are counted and billed separately.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 window30-day lookback on Developer, the free plan. Up to 90 days on Team, and up to 90 days plus additional sampled retention on Business. Enterprise is custom. "Up to" is Sentry's own wording — the 90 days is a ceiling, not a guarantee.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.
Session replaySupportedSupported
Self-hostable
Limited
Not supported — SaaS only; same page lists Better Stack data ownership as "SaaS-hosted (optional S3 bucket)".
Compliance
SOC 2SOC 2 Type I and Type II certifications; report available via account or on request.SOC 2 Type 2 compliant; the report is shared under NDA on request.
ISO 27001
ISO 27001 certified; certificate available via account or on request.
Not claimed for Better Stack itself; data is stored in DIN ISO/IEC 27001-certified data centres.
HIPAA
HIPAA attestation obtained. — Listed as an attestation among compliance certifications, not as a BAA offer.
Not offered; the security page says Better Stack is currently not HIPAA compliant.
Encryption at restAll data encrypted at rest; keys managed via a redundant, globally distributed Key Management Service.AES-256 at rest and HTTPS/TLS in transit.
Role-based access controlRole-based access: Billing, Member, Admin, Manager, Organization Owner.Listed as an Enterprise feature alongside team-level isolation, SCIM and SSO enforcement.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

What the free plan includes

Sentry
5,000 errors, 5 GB of logs, 5 million spans, 50 session replays and 1 uptime monitor a month.
Better Stack
3 GB of logs a month retained 3 days, 100,000 exceptions, and uptime monitoring with on-call and status pages at $0 per member.
Sources (2) →

Entry paid plan

Sentry
$26/month for Team, the cheapest paid plan
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) →

Pricing model

Sentry
A plan fee plus five independent meters — errors, logs, application metrics, tracing spans and session replays — each with its own included amount and its own overage. Logs and metrics overflow at $0.50/GB; extra uptime alerts at $1.00 each.
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) →
  • Pricing — Sentry ↗

    “Error Monitoring 5k errors 50k errors [...] Logs 5GB 5GB +$0.50/GB additional [...] Application Metrics 5GB 5GB +$0.50/GB additional [...] Tracing 5M spans [...] Session Replay 50 replays [...] Uptime Monitoring 1 uptime monitor +$1.00/uptime alert additional”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • 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 · Report a correction

Events included

Sentry
50,000 errors a month on Team and Business; 5,000 on Free. Errors are one meter of several — logs, spans, replays and uptime monitors are counted and billed separately.
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.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Sentry ↗

    “Error Monitoring 5k errors 50k errors 50k errors Custom [...] Logs 5GB 5GB +$0.50/GB additional [...] Tracing 5M spans 5M spans 5M spans [...] Session Replay 50 replays 50 replays 50 replays”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • 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 · Report a correction

Retention window

Sentry
30-day lookback on Developer, the free plan. Up to 90 days on Team, and up to 90 days plus additional sampled retention on Business. Enterprise is custom. "Up to" is Sentry's own wording — the 90 days is a ceiling, not a guarantee.
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) →
  • Pricing — Sentry ↗

    “Data retention [...] 30-day lookback [...] Up to 90-day lookback [...] Up to 90-day lookback & additional sampled retention [...] Custom”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • 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 · Report a correction

Self-hostable

Sentry
Limited
Better Stack
Not supported — SaaS only; same page lists Better Stack data ownership as "SaaS-hosted (optional S3 bucket)".
Sources (2) →

SOC 2

Sentry
SOC 2 Type I and Type II certifications; report available via account or on request.
Better Stack
SOC 2 Type 2 compliant; the report is shared under NDA on request.
Sources (2) →

ISO 27001

Sentry
ISO 27001 certified; certificate available via account or on request.
Better Stack
Not claimed for Better Stack itself; data is stored in DIN ISO/IEC 27001-certified data centres.
Sources (2) →

HIPAA

Sentry
HIPAA attestation obtained. — Listed as an attestation among compliance certifications, not as a BAA offer.
Better Stack
Not offered; the security page says Better Stack is currently not HIPAA compliant.
Sources (2) →

Encryption at rest

Sentry
All data encrypted at rest; keys managed via a redundant, globally distributed Key Management Service.
Better Stack
AES-256 at rest and HTTPS/TLS in transit.
Sources (2) →

Role-based access control

Sentry
Role-based access: Billing, Member, Admin, Manager, Organization Owner.
Better Stack
Listed as an Enterprise feature alongside team-level isolation, SCIM and SSO enforcement.
Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

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 — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

When you exceed a capSentry: Billed, not throttled: each meter charges for additional usage beyond the included amount, at a published per-unit rate.
RegionsBetter Stack: EU by default; logs ingestion is priced per region for US, Germany and Singapore, and custom data locations are offered to enterprise accounts.
Ingest price per GBBetter Stack: $0.10 per GB for logs and traces in the Germany region ($0.15 US, $0.35 Singapore) beyond 3 GB/month included; retention billed separately at $0.05 per GB-month in Germany.
Query priceBetter Stack: Standard querying included; optional Query boost at $0.001 per GB scanned.
Audit logsSentry: In the audit log, all of the actions by user and event within the Sentry UI (e.g., member.invite, project.create) are listed chronologically by time and IP address so you’ll always have a view into your organization’s most recent history.
Support on entry paid planSentry: Four levels listed: community support via GitHub and Discord, email support, a dedicated technical account manager, and premium customer success. Enterprise is the tier the page names for the account manager and dedicated support.
GDPR / data residencyBetter Stack: GDPR compliant with a Data Processing Agreement; all data stored in EU regions by default.Sentry: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Sentry.
PCI DSSBetter Stack: Not certified itself: card data is never stored and payments run through Stripe, a PCI Service Provider Level 1.Sentry: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Sentry.
Customer-managed keysBetter Stack: Not offered. Better Stack's own comparison says it has no equivalent to Honeycomb's Secure Tenancy (customer-managed-key encryption).Sentry: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Sentry.
Private networking / VPCBetter Stack: Custom VPC deployment on Enterprise; logs ingestion over AWS Direct Connect at $0.04 per GB.Sentry: not stated on its own page when read on 2026-09-21 — corrections welcome · every such claim about Sentry.
Dedicated infrastructureBetter Stack: Custom cluster deployment offered on the enterprise tier for logs and traces.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Sentry or Better Stack?

Sentry: $26/month for Team, the cheapest paid plan

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 Sentry or Better Stack?

Pick Sentry if Teams that want tracing, logs, replays and uptime in one place and will pay per meter for it. The tooling is the deepest in the category and the SDK coverage is the widest.

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.

Provider pages

SentryError monitoring and tracing sold per event across errors, spans, logs and replays, with a self-hosted build offered without support guarantees.Better StackUptime monitoring, log management and error tracking on one plan, with exceptions and web events metered separately.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.