Better Stack vs Sentry: which monitoring tool for your Next.js or Supabase app?
Sentry is built around catching and debugging application errors. Better Stack is built around uptime, incident response, status pages and a broader telemetry stack (logs, metrics, traces), with error tracking that accepts Sentry SDK payloads. Prices below are from each product's public pricing page as of October 2026.
Quick pick
- Choose Better Stack if you care first about "is the site up?", cron heartbeats, phone/SMS on-call, a public status page, or one place for logs + incidents.
- Choose Sentry if you care first about stack traces, performance spans, session replay and deep app debugging inside the code you ship.
- Use both when budget allows: Better Stack for uptime/on-call, Sentry for error detail. Their free tiers can cover a small personal project.
Feature comparison
| Better Stack | Sentry | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Uptime, incidents, status pages, logs/metrics/traces, error tracking | Application error monitoring, tracing, replays, profiling |
| Uptime / cron | Full product (HTTP, heartbeats, SSL, keyword checks; Playwright transactions billed separately) | 1 uptime + 1 cron monitor included on paid plans; extra uptime ~$1/monitor |
| Error tracking | Yes; Sentry SDK-compatible; 100k exceptions included on free tier (per Better Stack pricing) | Core product; Team plan includes 50k errors/mo (annual default) |
| Session replay | Yes (5k included on free tier per Better Stack pricing) | Yes (50 included on Team) |
| On-call / phone SMS | Built-in for Responder seats | Alerts via email/integrations; not a full on-call product |
| Status pages | Built-in (1 included) | Not a first-class product |
| Logs / infra metrics | First-class (SQL-queryable logs, metrics bundles) | App-focused logs/metrics on paid plans |
Pricing (official pages, Oct 2026)
Better Stack
- Free: 10 monitors & heartbeats, 1 status page, Slack & email alerts, 100k exceptions/mo, 5k session replays, 3 GB logs/traces (3-day retention), 30 GB metrics — per betterstack.com/pricing.
- Responder: $34/mo or $29/mo yearly per responder (uptime + telemetry access with phone/SMS/push and on-call). Extra 50 monitors: $25/mo ($21/mo yearly).
- Telemetry data bundles (Nano and up) and error overages are billed by volume/region; see their pricing page for current rates.
Sentry
- Developer (free): one user, error monitoring and tracing, email alerts — per sentry.io/pricing. Confirm current free quotas on that page before you rely on a number.
- Team: $26/mo when billed annually with default prepaid data; unlimited users; includes 50k errors, 5 GB logs, 5M spans, 50 replays, 1 uptime monitor, 1 cron monitor (per Sentry pricing/docs).
- Business: $80/mo annually with advanced controls. Extra uptime monitors about $1 each (pay-as-you-go). Seer AI debugging is a separate subscription.
How this maps to FixStack errors
Better Stack uptime and heartbeats catch the failures users hit first: FUNCTION_INVOCATION_FAILED, FUNCTION_INVOCATION_TIMEOUT, Edge Function non-2xx, and silent cron failures. See our uptime setup guide.
Sentry is the better fit when the app is up but throwing: hydration mismatches, client exceptions, or API handlers that return 500 with a stack you need to read.
Try Better Stack
Start on Better Stack's free tier (affiliate link). We do not have a Sentry affiliate link; use sentry.io directly.
Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you sign up or buy through them, FixStack may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
FAQ
Is Better Stack a Sentry replacement?
Better Stack offers Sentry SDK-compatible error tracking plus uptime, logs, status pages and on-call. Sentry remains stronger for deep application debugging (spans, replays, profiling). Many teams use both.
Which has the better free tier for a solo builder?
Better Stack's free tier includes 10 monitors/heartbeats, a status page, Slack/email alerts, and limited free telemetry. Sentry's free Developer plan covers one user with error monitoring and tracing. Check each pricing page for current quotas.
Does FixStack earn a commission?
Yes on Better Stack signup links on this page. Sentry has no FixStack affiliate link. See the disclosure at the bottom.
Also see: Better Stack vs Checkly.