GlitchTip vs HyperDX
Both are alternatives to Sentry. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as HyperDX vs GlitchTip — same comparison, one verdict.
GlitchTip and HyperDX are closely matched on ownership (93 vs 89) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
GlitchTip
TOP PICKA lightweight, fully open-source, Sentry-SDK-compatible error tracker.
GlitchTip is a from-scratch Django reimplementation of Sentry's original open-source codebase, built to stay simple and stay open. It accepts Sentry's own SDKs unmodified — you only change the DSN — and runs comfortably on a small VPS with Postgres (Valkey/Redis optional for extra performance). It covers error tracking, basic performance/uptime monitoring, and releases, without chasing Sentry's full APM feature set.
HyperDX
An OpenTelemetry-native observability app with error tracking, logs, traces, and session replay in one.
HyperDX (built on ClickHouse, now part of ClickStack) unifies error tracking with logs, distributed traces, metrics, and session replay in a single self-hostable app, aimed at teams who want Sentry-style error visibility plus broader observability without stitching together several tools. It's fully MIT-licensed and OpenTelemetry-native, so instrumentation isn't tied to a proprietary SDK.
Side by side
10 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| GlitchTip | HyperDX | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 93 | 89 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Pricing | Free to self-host; optional hosted plans from $0 (1K events/mo) to $250/mo (3M events/mo) | Free to self-host; hosted plan free up to 3GB/mo, then $20/mo for 50GB/mo plus $0.40/GB overage |
| RAM to run it wellThe figure that actually matters, not the vendor's minimum. | 2 GB | 8 GB. Four services share the box — ClickHouse, the HyperDX app, the OpenTelemetry collector and MongoDB — and ClickHouse's own sizing guide says total memory should not go below 8 GB. |
| Realistic running costWhat the box costs each month if you run it yourself. | $12–20/mo, against Sentry pricing that scales with event volume you do not control | $48/mo for an 8 GB, 4 vCPU VPS at DigitalOcean list price (read 2026-09-30), less on budget hosts; storage grows with retention |
| Setup timeHonest first-install estimate, not the marketing quickstart. | 1 hour | 10 minutes with the all-in-one image; a day to secure it, set retention and wire OpenTelemetry into your apps |
| Ongoing maintenanceThe part nobody budgets for. | Low. Watch the database size and enforce retention. | ClickHouse and MongoDB upgrades, TTL tuning as volume grows, and securing ingestion with the API key from Team Settings. HyperDX is now built by ClickHouse as part of ClickStack, so follow the ClickStack docs on clickhouse.com. |
GlitchTip is Macrostack's recommended Sentry alternative, so it's our pick here.
Weighing both against staying on Sentry? Is Sentry free? What it actually costs →
GlitchTip
Strengths
- +Fully MIT-licensed, no Fair Source or field-of-use restrictions
- +Drop-in for existing Sentry SDKs — swap the DSN, no code changes
- +Runs on as little as 512MB RAM; Postgres is the only hard dependency
- +Actively maintained with monthly releases as of mid-2026
Trade-offs
- −Deliberately thinner feature set than Sentry — no full distributed tracing/profiling suite
- −Smaller ecosystem and community than Sentry itself
- −Frontend and backend live in separate repos, adding a small setup step
HyperDX
Strengths
- +Fully MIT-licensed with no field-of-use restrictions
- +One app covers errors, logs, traces, and session replay via OpenTelemetry standards
- +Active project (multiple 2026 releases) with a real Discord community
- +Data portability: OpenTelemetry data isn't locked to HyperDX's format
Trade-offs
- −Heavier self-host footprint than a dedicated error tracker — ClickHouse plus supporting services
- −Not a drop-in DSN swap for existing Sentry SDK code; requires OpenTelemetry instrumentation
- −Broader scope means more surface area to operate than a single-purpose tool
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose GlitchTip
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and fully MIT-licensed, no Fair Source or field-of-use restrictions.
Choose HyperDX
if fully MIT-licensed with no field-of-use restrictions.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — deliberately thinner feature set than Sentry — no full distributed tracing/profiling suite, and heavier self-host footprint than a dedicated error tracker — ClickHouse plus supporting services. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
What it takes to run these yourself
Real requirements and honest running costs, not the vendor quickstart.
Self-hosting GlitchTip
2 GB RAM · 1 hour
$12–20/mo, against Sentry pricing that scales with event volume you do not control
Self-hosting HyperDX
8 GB. Four services share the box — ClickHouse, the HyperDX app, the OpenTelemetry collector and MongoDB — and ClickHouse's own sizing guide says total memory should not go below 8 GB. RAM · 10 minutes with the all-in-one image; a day to secure it, set retention and wire OpenTelemetry into your apps
$48/mo for an 8 GB, 4 vCPU VPS at DigitalOcean list price (read 2026-09-30), less on budget hosts; storage grows with retention
GlitchTip vs HyperDX — common questions
Is GlitchTip a better fit than HyperDX for error tracking & exception monitoring?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: GlitchTip scores 93 to HyperDX's 89 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. HyperDX earns its place on a different axis — fully MIT-licensed with no field-of-use restrictions. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
GlitchTip keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. HyperDX is still self-hostable, so the files stay on your server either way — but it is not local-first by design, so check what its export produces before you rely on it.
Can I self-host GlitchTip or HyperDX?
Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.
Are GlitchTip and HyperDX both alternatives to Sentry?
Yes — both appear in our Sentry comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Sentry and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
More Sentry head-to-heads
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-07-09. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.