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Software · head to head

Airbrake vs Honeybadger

Airbrake logo

Airbrake

Software

Error Tracking and Performance Monitoring

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Honeybadger logo

Honeybadger

Software

Error and Uptime Monitoring for Developers

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Airbrake data retention is 30 days on every plan, including the $799 a month Business tier; Honeybadger the free Developer plan is limited to one user, 5,000 errors per month, 50 MB per day of logging and one uptime monitor
  • They diverge on capability: Airbrake covers Performance monitoring, Honeybadger covers Uptime monitoring.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbrake and Honeybadger actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbrake and Honeybadger differ
AttributeAirbrakeHoneybadger
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Founded20082012

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Airbrake

  • Performance monitoring
  • Deploy tracking
  • Custom notifications

Only in Honeybadger

  • Uptime monitoring
  • Status pages
  • Incident management

Both cover

  • Error tracking
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support
  • Api support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Airbrake

  • Error and exception monitoring for web applicationsnot Honeybadger
  • Performance monitoring alongside error trackingnot Honeybadger
  • Alerting a team when a deploy introduces a spike in errorsnot Honeybadger
  • Tracking errors across multiple projects in one accountnot Honeybadger

Honeybadger

  • Exception and error tracking for Ruby, Elixir, PHP, Python and JavaScript applicationsnot Airbrake
  • Uptime and cron heartbeat monitoring alongside error datanot Airbrake
  • Publishing a public status page for a small SaaS productnot Airbrake

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Airbrake

  • Data retention is 30 days on every plan, including the $799 a month Business tier
  • The entry plan at $19 a month covers 25,000 errors and 7,500 events
  • Errors beyond the plan quota are billed on demand
  • Audit logs and spike forgiveness require the Pro tier
  • The lowest tier is limited to 1 user and 1 team

Honeybadger

  • The free Developer plan is limited to one user, 5,000 errors per month, 50 MB per day of logging and one uptime monitor
  • SSO, unlimited teams and priority support require the Business plan at $80 per month
  • Error data retention is 15 days on Developer, 90 days on Team and 180 days on Business
  • Log and event retention is 7 days on the free plan and up to 30 days on Team
  • Premium integrations including Jira, PagerDuty, SMS and webhooks are excluded from the free Developer plan
  • S3 archiving of Insights events is not available on the Developer plan
  • Uptime check frequency is capped at 5 minutes on Developer and 2 minutes on Team; 1 minute checks require Business

Pricing, plan by plan

Airbrake

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Error tracking
    • Performance monitoring
    • Deploy tracking

Honeybadger

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Error tracking
    • Uptime monitoring
    • Status pages

Which should you pick?

Choose Airbrake if

  • You need performance monitoring.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want deploy tracking.
Airbrake review

Choose Honeybadger if

  • You need uptime monitoring.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want status pages.
Honeybadger review

Questions people ask

Is Airbrake or Honeybadger better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbrake starts at Free and Honeybadger at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbrake or Honeybadger?
Airbrake starts at Free and Honeybadger at Free.
Does Airbrake or Honeybadger run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Airbrake for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Airbrake best used for?
Airbrake is most often used for error and exception monitoring for web applications, performance monitoring alongside error tracking, alerting a team when a deploy introduces a spike in errors, tracking errors across multiple projects in one account. Of those, error and exception monitoring for web applications and performance monitoring alongside error tracking are not what Honeybadger is typically brought in for.
What can Airbrake do that Honeybadger cannot?
Airbrake covers Performance monitoring, Deploy tracking, Custom notifications. Honeybadger covers Uptime monitoring, Status pages, Incident management. Both handle Error tracking, API, Webhooks, REST.
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