Sentry vs Grafana for Error Tracking (2026)

Short answer: Sentry and Grafana answer different questions. Sentry is built around errors: it groups exceptions into issues with stack traces, breadcrumbs and release context. Grafana (Grafana Cloud or self-run) is built around telemetry: metrics, logs, traces and profiles that you query and chart, with dashboards and alerts on top. For "which exceptions are happening and who should fix them", start with an error tracker. For "how are my services behaving over time", use Grafana. Many teams run both. Prices and limits below were read from each vendor's own pages on 2026-10-30.

Last verified: 2026-10-30. Every number carries its source. We state nothing about a vendor feature we did not read on those pages.

Facts read from the vendors (2026-10-30)

Sources: Sentry, sentry.io/pricing, docs.sentry.io/pricing, develop.sentry.dev/self-hosted. Grafana, grafana.com/pricing. All read 2026-10-30.

An earlier version of this page quoted "Free tier (5K errors/mo)" for Sentry and "Pro at $29/mo" for Grafana. Neither matches the vendors' pricing pages as read today, so they were replaced with the values above.

What Sentry is for

Sentry's error monitoring page describes stack traces with local variables, breadcrumbs that track the events leading to an error, issue triaging with auto-assignment to the person who committed the code, alerts to Slack on a first occurrence, and release health showing crash-free sessions and version adoption (read 2026-10-30, sentry.io/product/error-monitoring). The unit of work is the issue: many occurrences of the same exception are grouped, and you triage the group.

Its pricing docs explain that volume is metered per data category and that plans include set volumes of errors, spans and other data, with extra volume bought through reserved volume or a pay-as-you-go budget (read 2026-10-30, docs.sentry.io/pricing). That means a sudden error flood can consume your included quota, so a rate limit or sampling plan is worth setting early.

What Grafana is for

Grafana's pricing page shows Grafana Cloud as separate services for metrics, logs, traces and profiles, plus Kubernetes Monitoring, Application Observability, Frontend Observability and more, with a free tier that includes access to all Grafana Cloud services within usage limits (read 2026-10-30, grafana.com/pricing). Its Application Observability docs describe an APM solution built on OpenTelemetry and the Prometheus data model (read 2026-10-30, Application Observability docs).

For browser errors specifically, Grafana's Frontend Observability docs say the Grafana Faro Web SDK captures real user performance metrics, errors, logs and client-side traces (read 2026-10-30, Frontend Observability docs). We did not find, on the pages read, a description of backend exception grouping with issue triage comparable to Sentry's. Treat that as "not confirmed", not as "absent": check Grafana's docs for your language.

Where they overlap, and where they do not

The usual shape for a small team: an error tracker catches exceptions and notifies the owner; Grafana (or another metrics backend) shows system health. Using Grafana alone for exception triage means building grouping and alert rules yourself from logs and traces.

Cost behavior

Sentry's meters are events (errors, spans, replays). A quiet app on the free Developer plan stays at $0; costs rise with error volume and span volume. Grafana's meters are data volume (GB of logs and traces, active series for metrics): a chatty logger or high-cardinality metric labels raise the bill regardless of whether anything is broken. Neither bill is "per user" in the way New Relic's is. Estimate your own monthly errors and GB before comparing.

Which to choose

• Choose Sentry (or another error tracker) when the pain is "we do not know about exceptions until users report them".
• Choose Grafana when the pain is "we cannot see how our systems behave over time".
• Use both when you have production services with real traffic; they do not replace each other.
• Consider Bugsly if you want Sentry-style error grouping on a managed service: it accepts the standard Sentry SDKs, groups errors into issues and offers AI explanations, and it has a free plan. It is our own product, it has no metrics dashboards like Grafana's, and it is not self-hostable. See the Sentry alternative page, pricing and open source error tracking options if self-hosting matters to you.

Try the error side for free

Paste a stack trace into the free Explain Error tool for a plain-language explanation; no account is needed for the tool. To group your own errors, create a Bugsly account and point the Sentry SDK at your DSN.

Frequently asked questions

Is Grafana an error tracking tool?

Not by itself. Grafana visualizes and stores metrics, logs, traces and profiles. Its Frontend Observability product captures browser errors through the Faro Web SDK, but grouping and triaging backend exceptions as issues is what dedicated error trackers like Sentry are built for.

Can Grafana replace Sentry?

For exception triage with grouping, assignment and release context, usually not without extra work. For metrics and dashboards, Sentry does not replace Grafana either.

Can I use Grafana and Sentry together?

Yes. They solve different problems, and many teams run both.

Does Sentry have a free plan?

Yes. As read on 2026-10-30, Sentry's Developer plan is free and limited to one user, with error monitoring and tracing. Paid plans start with Team at $26/mo billed annually.

Does Grafana Cloud have a free plan?

Yes. As read on 2026-10-30, the free tier needs no credit card and includes limits such as 10k active metric series, 50 GB of logs and 50 GB of traces per month, with 14-day retention.