Sentry vs New Relic: Which is better for your stack?
The choice between Sentry and New Relic often comes down to how much observability you need. Sentry is known for developer-friendly error tracking and actionable alerts, while New Relic delivers extensive application performance monitoring (APM), full-stack insights, and error/group triage features for larger teams. Their pricing models and integrations also differ, so picking the right tool depends on your stack’s depth and your budget controls.
Key takeaways
- Sentry excels at error and performance monitoring with developer-centric features and flexible event-based pricing.
- New Relic offers full-stack observability with APM, Errors Inbox for triage, and usage-based pricing based on data ingest.
- Both platforms provide integrations for popular workflows, but New Relic’s ecosystem is broader for enterprise environments.
- Sentry suits teams focused on error tracking and code quality, while New Relic fits those needing comprehensive observability and infrastructure analytics.
Quick summary table
| Feature | How Sentry handles it | How New Relic handles it | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Error tracking (Errors Inbox) | Error monitoring, grouping, and alerting; developer-centric | Errors Inbox for triage and group prioritization across stack | Both; New Relic for triage across teams, Sentry for code-facing errors |
| APM & Tracing | Performance monitoring, distributed tracing | APM with distributed tracing and infrastructure analytics | New Relic for full-stack, Sentry for app-level |
| Logs & Traces | Error and performance traces | Logs, traces, metrics collected platform-wide | New Relic |
| Full-stack observability | Focus on front/backend errors and performance | End-to-end (APM, infra, logs, errors, RUM) | New Relic |
| Alerting | Event-based notifications, threshold configuration | Alert policies, incident grouping, noise reduction | Depends: Sentry for errors, New Relic for entire stack |
| Integrations | Popular developer tools (Jira, Slack, GitHub, etc.) | Broad: cloud, chat, ITSM, devops, security tools | Depends on stack size and maturity |
| Pricing model | Event-based, tiered with budgets/overages | Usage-based (GB ingested, user types) | Sentry for predictability, New Relic for data consolidation |
What Sentry is
Sentry is a developer-focused platform for error tracking and performance monitoring. It captures errors, exceptions, and transaction traces, giving developers detailed context for troubleshooting code across front-end and back-end applications. Sentry is primarily cloud-hosted, but self-hosting is also possible. It’s widely adopted among engineering teams looking for tight error feedback loops and clear alerting. Sentry’s strength lies in actionable grouping, integrations with dev tools, and simple event-based pricing with quota controls (Sentry pricing/docs).
What New Relic is
New Relic is a comprehensive observability platform providing APM, infrastructure monitoring, logging, tracing, and integrated error management (Errors Inbox). It delivers a unified view across application, infrastructure, and digital experience monitoring. New Relic is offered as a cloud service and supports organizations ranging from startups to large enterprises, especially those seeking to consolidate observability and triage at scale. Its platform covers metrics, logs, traces, error tracking, and advanced alerting (New Relic Errors Inbox).
Feature-by-feature comparison
Error monitoring & crash reporting
Sentry specializes in detailed error tracking, automatic error grouping, source map integration, stack traces, and rich debugging data for developers. Errors can be prioritized, merged, and tracked over time. New Relic’s Errors Inbox enables centralized error triage across teams and services and helps organize issues by impact and cause. Both minimize noise, but New Relic is tailored for multi-team, stack-wide collaboration (New Relic Errors Inbox).
Performance/APM & tracing
Sentry offers performance monitoring with distributed tracing and transaction views best suited for understanding app-level performance and bottlenecks. New Relic’s APM covers application, infrastructure, and distributed systems, capturing metrics, traces, throughput, and advanced performance data across the full stack. For deep APM (end-to-end tracing, host monitoring), New Relic is stronger.
Noise reduction & alerting
Sentry groups similar errors to limit alert fatigue and offers customizable alert rules. New Relic’s Errors Inbox groups error events for prioritization, integrates with alert policies, and allows cross-team filtering. It’s well-suited for large organizations where multiple teams handle various components and want to suppress duplicate noise.
Session replay / RUM
Not publicly specified for Sentry or New Relic in the provided data. Both platforms focus on error and performance data, but full session replay/RUM features are not detailed here.
Pricing & data limits
Sentry uses event-based, tiered pricing and allows customers to set limits to avoid budget overages. Quotas and billing controls are documented (Sentry pricing/docs). New Relic pricing is usage-based, charging by data ingest measured in GB and by user type. It advertises a free allocation (e.g., 100 GB/month), with additional charges per GB beyond that (New Relic pricing). Always confirm latest rates and quotas on official pricing pages.
SDKs & integrations (languages, frameworks, ecosystem)
Sentry integrates with major programming languages and frameworks, including JavaScript, Python, Java, Node.js, and mobile platforms. It connects to workflow tools like Jira, Slack, and GitHub for rapid triage and code-centric notifications. New Relic supports a wide spectrum of environments—cloud, on-premises, containers—with integrations for cloud providers, devops/dev tools, ITSM, and security platforms. Both platforms connect to Slack and Jira for triage.
Setup, hosting & maintenance (self-hosted vs cloud, SSO, RBAC)
Sentry is primarily cloud-hosted, with a self-hosted option for enterprise users. New Relic is a cloud-native SaaS service. Not publicly specified is the full extent of available SSO and RBAC; both target enterprise administration and offer role-based controls, but specifics should be checked with each vendor for your needs.
Security & compliance (PII handling, SOC2, GDPR)
Security and compliance details (such as SOC2 or GDPR status) are not publicly specified in the provided evidence. Both solutions are aimed at professional and enterprise markets and generally advertise compliance with security standards, but you should request documentation directly if this is a critical requirement for your project.
When to choose Sentry vs when to choose New Relic
- Choose Sentry if: you primarily need developer-facing error tracking, code-level debugging, and want predictable event-based costs; your team values workflow integrations (Jira, GitHub, Slack) to fix bugs quickly.
- Choose New Relic if: you need comprehensive observability (APM, logs, traces), have multiple teams or stack layers to monitor, or want to centralize error triage and reduce noise organization-wide; you’re comfortable with usage-based pricing and consolidating data sources.
Migration notes & pitfalls
If switching between Sentry and New Relic, assess compatibility for error/event data, alerting, and integrations. Consider differences in data quotas and retention. Some customization (alerting rules, grouping logic) may not transfer directly. Review documentation and trial both tools before switching to avoid potential data loss or coverage gaps.
Conclusion
The Sentry vs New Relic decision boils down to your stack’s needs. Sentry is optimal for error-focused workflows and developer empowerment. New Relic serves best for teams needing deep analytics, APM, and integrated error triage across the entire stack. Most organizations should align their tool with the main goal—faster error recovery or holistic system performance. For more decision guides, see More SaaS comparisons. Learn about our approach at About SaaSvsSaaS.
FAQs
When is Sentry enough vs. adopting full‑stack New Relic?
Sentry is often enough for teams focused on rapid error resolution and release quality. If your organization requires deep infrastructure insights, end-to-end tracing, or wants a single observability platform, consider New Relic.
How do error grouping and alert fatigue compare?
Sentry uses automatic grouping to suppress duplicate alerts and reduce team noise. New Relic’s Errors Inbox goes further for large teams by unifying error triage and prioritizing issues across services, which can further reduce alert fatigue in complex environments.
Do both integrate with Slack/Jira for triage?
Yes, both Sentry and New Relic offer integrations with Slack and Jira to help development and operations teams manage and triage issues efficiently.