Crashlytics vs Sentry: What are the differences?

Crashlytics and Sentry are two popular error monitoring tools used for detecting and diagnosing software issues. Let's discuss the key differences between Crashlytics and Sentry:

1. Pricing Model: Crashlytics offers a tiered pricing model based on the number of active users, with a free tier available for small-scale projects. On the other hand, Sentry follows a usage-based pricing model, charging based on the number of events captured and stored. This difference in pricing models allows developers to choose the option that fits their project's requirements and budget.

2. Error Aggregation: Crashlytics aggregates similar errors by grouping them based on stack traces, making it easier to identify patterns and prioritize fixes. In contrast, Sentry focuses on capturing every event individually, providing more detailed information for each occurrence. This difference in error aggregation allows developers to have different perspectives on the same issue, either by seeing trends or diving into specific instances.

3. Platform Support: Crashlytics primarily supports mobile platforms like iOS and Android, providing crash reporting and analytics specifically for mobile applications. In contrast, Sentry offers broader platform support, including web, mobile, and server-side applications, making it suitable for a wider range of applications across different environments.

4. Alerting and Notifications: Crashlytics provides email alerts for critical crashes, allowing developers to be immediately notified of issues. In addition to email alerts, Sentry offers various notification channels, such as Slack and PagerDuty integrations, enabling developers to receive alerts through their preferred communication channels. This difference in alerting and notifications provides developers with flexible options to stay updated on critical issues.

5. Error Tracking: Crashlytics focuses on crash reporting, providing detailed information about crashes occurring in an application. In contrast, Sentry not only tracks crashes but also captures other types of errors, including exceptions, log messages, and performance issues. This difference in error tracking capabilities allows Sentry to capture a broader range of issues, providing comprehensive error monitoring for developers.

6. Integration Ecosystem: Crashlytics has seamless integration with the Firebase platform, allowing developers to benefit from additional features such as analytics, app distribution, and remote configuration. Sentry, on the other hand, offers a wide range of integrations with popular development tools and services, enabling developers to streamline their workflows and utilize existing tools within their ecosystem. This difference in integration ecosystems provides developers with different options to enhance their development process.

In summary, Crashlytics is a mobile app crash reporting tool developed by Google, offering detailed insights into application crashes and errors on both iOS and Android platforms. In contrast, Sentry is a cross-platform error tracking and monitoring tool that provides real-time visibility into software errors, enabling developers to identify, diagnose, and resolve issues across various programming languages and frameworks.