Sentry vs Rollbar
Two of the original real-time error trackers. Sentry went broad — tracing, replay, logs, AI. Rollbar stayed focused on catching, grouping and triaging errors. Which one fits depends on how much beyond errors you actually need.
The short version
Pick Rollbar if you want a lean, predictable error tracker with strong automated grouping and triage, and you don't need tracing or replay. Pick Sentry if you want error tracking plus performance monitoring, session replay and AI debugging in one platform — and can accept its multi-axis quota billing.
How they compare
| Sentry | Rollbar | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Errors + perf + replay + logs + AI | Errors, grouping & triage |
| Free tier | 5k errors/mo | 5k occurrences/mo |
| Paid from | ~$26/mo (Team, annual) | ~$9/mo |
| Error grouping | Strong | Strong, automation-first |
| Tracing / spans | Deep | Limited |
| Session replay | Yes | No |
| AI debugging | Seer ($40/contributor) | AI-assisted triage |
| Self-host | Yes (40+ containers) | No |
| Billing model | Multi-axis quotas | Simpler, occurrence-based |
When Rollbar wins
- You want error tracking and nothing else — no paying for tracing, replay or logs you won't use.
- Predictable, lower entry pricing matters more than breadth of features.
- Your workflow is triage-heavy and you value automated grouping and assignment.
When Sentry wins
- You want performance tracing and session replay alongside errors, in one tool.
- You value the widest SDK/framework coverage and a large ecosystem.
- You want the option to self-host and keep data in-house.
Migration effort
Moderate. Neither is SDK-compatible with the other, so you swap the SDK and re-create projects and alert rules. Historical events don't move — run both briefly and cut over. If a truly zero-code switch is your priority, look at GlitchTip instead, which accepts Sentry SDK events directly. Whatever you choose, tie releases to deploys automatically — e.g. via Buddy's Sentry action or your tracker's release API.