Airbrake

Airbrake monitors application errors and performance, continuously watching an application stack and sending real-time alerts. Error groups, hotspots, breadcrumbs, backtraces, and aggregations give technical teams context for investigating issues. Deployment Tracking measures errors resolved or introduced with each deployment, while Apdex Scores help interpret user satisfaction. It supports more than 50 languages, frameworks, and libraries, with agentless and serverless notifiers. Its mobile notifier supports Android, iOS, Swift, and React Native, and listed integrations include GitHub, GitLab, Jira, Slack, and Zapier. The free plan has a 50,000-events-per-month quota. Paid plans start at $17/mo billed annually. A 30-day trial includes unlimited errors and performance monitoring events, with 30 days of data retention. Monthly quotas apply, and excess usage is charged at on-demand rates; accounts or projects can also have usage caps configured.

Airbrake brings error investigation, deployment tracking, and performance measures into one monitoring service. Review the monthly quotas and on-demand charges alongside the plan price before choosing a tier.

Airbrake suits developers and technical teams seeking error and performance monitoring with deployment context and real-time alerts. It also supports teams working with mobile apps and a range of listed integrations.

Overview

Airbrake combines application error monitoring with performance measures and deployment tracking. It is best suited to developer teams that want release context alongside error investigation; teams that only need a no-cost, tightly capped error monitor may find its paid tiers excessive.

Error groups, hotspots, breadcrumbs, backtraces, and aggregations provide ways to investigate and prioritize issues. Deployment Tracking shows whether each deployment resolved or introduced errors, while Apdex Scores add a user-satisfaction measure. Airbrake supports more than 50 languages, frameworks, and libraries, and its agentless, serverless notifiers are designed for near-zero application impact.

Key features

• Error investigation: Grouping and diagnostic context help developers work from an alert toward a likely cause, rather than treating each occurrence in isolation.
• Deployment and release context: Deployment Tracking compares errors resolved with errors introduced per deployment. Release tracking, frontend monitoring, and source-map support also help teams follow issues across releases.
• Performance signals: Apdex Scores provide a user-satisfaction measure, and the service monitors performance events. This makes Airbrake broader than an error-only tool, though the value depends on whether the team will use both signals.
• Integrations: Connections include Bitbucket, GitHub, GitLab, Jira, LogRocket, Okta, OneLogin, PivotalTracker, Slack, Trello, Webhooks, and Zapier, giving teams several paths to fit alerts and issue work into existing workflows.
• Security and compliance: Airbrake supports TLS 1.2 and 1.3 in transit and encrypts customer data at rest, including backups. It maintains GDPR compliance and offers an EU Data Protection Addendum. Two-factor authentication is available across current plans, with GitHub single sign-on also supported.

Pricing

Airbrake has a free developer tier and paid plans from $17 a month billed annually, plus a 30-day free trial. The trial includes unlimited errors, unlimited performance monitoring events, and 30 days of data retention, making it a useful way for teams to assess workload fit before committing.

• Free Developer: free. The free tier allows 50,000 events per month and 30 days of retention. It suits evaluation or modest usage, but teams should watch the event ceiling.
• Dev + errors: $17 a month billed annually. It includes 25,000 errors, 1 user, 1 team, unlimited projects, and unlimited integrations. This is the lowest paid entry point, but the single-user limit makes it a poor fit for shared investigation.
• Basic + errors: $34 a month billed annually. It includes unlimited users, 3 teams, and unlimited projects. Teams that need collaboration beyond one user gain room to work together, though the team cap remains.
• Pro + errors: $68 a month billed annually. It includes unlimited users, unlimited teams, unlimited projects, audit logs, and spike forgiveness. This is the clearest fit for larger or more governance-conscious teams, but costs twice the Basic plan.

Monthly error or event quotas apply, and excess usage incurs on-demand charges. Account and project usage caps can be configured to help control that exposure. Review expected volume and the annual billing term before choosing a tier.

Platforms

Airbrake is a cloud service with Android, iOS, API, and web support. Its mobile notifier supports Android, iOS, Swift, and React Native, making it relevant to teams shipping mobile apps as well as web services.

Who it's for

Airbrake suits developers and technical teams monitoring applications across deployments, especially when they want error investigation context, performance signals, and integrations in one service. The one-user Dev plan is restrictive for collaborative teams, while the higher tiers better accommodate multiple users and teams. Its quotas and overage charges make it less attractive to organizations that need predictable costs without monitoring usage closely.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Deployment Tracking distinguishes errors resolved from those introduced, giving teams a useful way to judge release impact.
• Pro: More than 50 supported languages, frameworks, and libraries, plus mobile notifier support for Android, iOS, Swift, and React Native, broaden its application fit.
• Pro: Two-factor authentication is available on all current plans, alongside encryption in transit and at rest.
• Con: The least expensive paid tier is limited to one user and one team, so a shared workflow requires stepping up to Basic.
• Con: Monthly quotas and on-demand excess charges can complicate budgeting when event volume is variable.

Alternatives

Consider Error Monitoring Software for a broader category comparison. Backtrace is another freemium option, with a free Developer plan for a single developer and up to 25,000 monthly errors, plus one-month retention. BugSnag may suit teams comparing broader platform coverage; its free plan lists one user, 7.5K events and 1M spans per month, and 50+ platforms. Embrace User Session Insights is worth considering when session-oriented mobile insights are the priority; its free plan allows up to 1 million sessions per year, five users, and three days of event retention.

Firebase Cloud Messaging is a no-cost option. Rollbar is another freemium alternative with a free plan and trial. Measure is a freemium option whose software is fully open source. Sentry Continuous Profiling is another freemium choice. elmah.io is a paid alternative with a $26 a month Small Business plan for three users and unlimited applications.

Verdict

Airbrake is a strong fit for developer teams that want error triage, deployment comparisons, and performance measures together, with broad language support and useful workflow integrations. Choose it when that combined view matters and the team can match its tier to user and event volume. Look elsewhere if a one-user paid tier is too limiting or quota-based overage charges make costs difficult to manage.