Best Error Tracking Software in 2026
Stop finding out about bugs from angry customer emails
By Toolradar Editorial Team · Updated
Sentry is the best overall choice for most teams—it's powerful, well-documented, and has excellent language support. Bugsnag is a solid alternative with a cleaner interface. Rollbar excels at intelligent grouping. Honeybadger is perfect for smaller teams wanting simplicity. Datadog Error Tracking is ideal if you're already in the Datadog ecosystem.
Error tracking tools tell you when your application is broken before your users do. The best ones go beyond 'something broke' to show you exactly where, why, and how often—with enough context to actually fix it.
The market has matured significantly. Modern error trackers understand your code, group related errors intelligently, and integrate with your development workflow. The question isn't whether you need one, but which one fits your stack and team.
What It Is
Error tracking software catches exceptions and errors in your application, aggregates them, provides context (stack traces, user actions, environment details), and alerts your team. It transforms 'something is wrong' into 'this specific error is happening to these users under these conditions.'
Good error trackers also help you prioritize: which errors affect the most users, which are new versus known, and which correlate with recent deploys. They integrate with issue trackers so bugs flow directly into your development workflow.
Why It Matters
You can't fix what you don't know about. Users rarely report errors—they just leave. Error tracking gives you visibility into every failure, including the ones users don't bother reporting.
Beyond visibility, error tracking provides accountability. When you can see that a deploy introduced 1,000 new errors, you can roll back quickly. When you can see that an error affects enterprise accounts specifically, you can prioritize appropriately.
Key Features to Look For
Readable stack traces that point to actual code, not minified bundles. Essential for debugging.
Intelligent aggregation of similar errors. Poor grouping means drowning in duplicates.
User actions, browser info, and events leading up to the error. Makes reproduction possible.
Correlate errors with deployments. See if a release introduced new errors or fixed old ones.
Create Jira/GitHub/Linear issues directly from errors. Reduces friction in the fix workflow.
Many tools now include APM. Convenient but evaluate if you need dedicated APM instead.
What to Consider
Evaluation Checklist
Pricing Overview
Side projects — Sentry free (5K errors), Bugsnag free (7,500 events), Rollbar free (5K events)
Growing apps — Sentry Team ($26), Honeybadger Team ($39), or Bugsnag Pro ($59)
Production apps with significant volume — Sentry Business ($80) or Honeybadger Business ($120)
Top Picks
Based on features, user feedback, and value for money.
Most teams — handles web, mobile, backend, and everything in between
Mobile-first teams or those wanting a cleaner, simpler experience than Sentry
Teams who want intelligent automation and strong workflow integrations
Small teams and agencies who want effective error tracking without event-counting anxiety
Mistakes to Avoid
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Ignoring event volume until the bill arrives — a single misconfigured error handler can generate 50K+ events in an hour. Set up volume alerts and rate limiting from day one
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Alerting on every single error — alert fatigue is the #1 killer of error tracking adoption. Alert on new errors and error rate spikes, not every occurrence of known issues
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Not automating source map uploads — add source map upload to your CI/CD pipeline immediately. Debugging
e.forEach is not a function at line 1, column 48293is pointless - ×
Treating all errors equally — a payment processing error affecting 100 users is critical; a CSS animation error in IE11 is noise. Use severity levels and user impact to prioritize
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No connection to your issue tracker — if errors don't automatically create or link to tickets, they accumulate in the error tool and never get fixed. Set up Jira/Linear/GitHub integration on day one
Expert Tips
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Add rich context to every error — attach user ID, subscription plan, feature flags, and request ID. This turns 'TypeError: undefined' into an actionable bug report with reproduction steps
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Set up release tracking from your first deploy — correlating errors with specific releases is invaluable. Most tools support this via a deploy hook or CLI command
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Create escalation rules — new error affecting >10 users in 5 minutes? Page the team. Known error ticking up slowly? Weekly digest. Match urgency to alert type
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Review error trends in weekly standups — show crash-free rate and new errors per release. A slowly growing error rate is easy to miss without regular review
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Mark known, intentionally-unfixed errors — every team has errors they've decided to accept. Document why and mute them so they don't pollute your error feed
Red Flags to Watch For
- !No automatic source map upload — if you must manually upload source maps for every deploy, it will break within a week and you'll debug minified code
- !Per-event pricing without volume alerts or caps — a single bug in a loop can generate 100K events in an hour, creating a surprise $500+ bill
- !No error grouping or only exact-match grouping — you'll see 10,000 'issues' that are actually 50 bugs. Without smart grouping, the tool is unusable
- !No breadcrumbs or user context — a stack trace alone is often not enough. You need the user's actions leading up to the error to reproduce it
The Bottom Line
Sentry (free, then $26-80/month) is the best choice for most teams — widest language coverage, free performance monitoring, and the largest community. Bugsnag (free, then $59+/month) is best for mobile-first teams. Rollbar ($16-32/month) offers the smartest grouping at the lowest price. Honeybadger (free, then $39-120/month) is ideal for small teams who want simplicity with unlimited users. Any modern error tracker beats finding out about bugs from customer emails.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between error tracking and APM?
Error tracking catches exceptions and errors. APM (Application Performance Monitoring) tracks performance: response times, database queries, external calls. Many tools now offer both, but they solve different problems.
How do I reduce noise without missing important errors?
Use intelligent grouping, set up alert rules based on frequency/impact, and regularly mark resolved errors. Most tools let you ignore patterns for known, intentional errors.
Self-hosted or cloud?
Cloud unless you have specific compliance requirements. Self-hosting Sentry is possible but requires significant ops investment. Most companies are better served by the managed offerings.
Related Guides
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