Software · head to head
Axiom vs Raygun
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Axiom no self-hosted or air-gapped deployment option for compliance-sensitive workloads; Raygun crash Reporting error data is retained for 180 days and Real User Monitoring sessions for only 60 days; longer retention is Enterprise only
- They diverge on capability: Axiom covers Serverless architecture, Raygun covers Crash reporting.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Axiom and Raygun actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Axiom
- Serverless architecture
- Log aggregation
- Real-time processing
- AplLog query language
- Cost-effective indexing
Only in Raygun
- Crash reporting
- Real user monitoring
- Performance tracking
- Source maps
Both cover
- API
- Webhooks
- REST
- Web support
- Api support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Axiom
- Log monitoringnot Raygun
- Application performancenot Raygun
- Security analyticsnot Raygun
- Troubleshootingnot Raygun
Raygun
- Crash and error reporting for web, mobile and backend applicationsnot Axiom
- Real user monitoring of front end page load and session performancenot Axiom
- Application performance monitoring with request level tracesnot Axiom
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Axiom
- No self-hosted or air-gapped deployment option for compliance-sensitive workloads
- Vendor lock-in due to APL (Axiom Processing Language) not transferring to other platforms
- Proprietary storage format limits data portability and external analytics access
- Complex pricing model with multiple cost dimensions (ingestion, compute, storage) makes budgeting difficult at scale
- Limited ecosystem integration; does not integrate deeply with existing observability stacks like Grafana for metrics and Jaeger for traces
Raygun
- Crash Reporting error data is retained for 180 days and Real User Monitoring sessions for only 60 days; longer retention is Enterprise only
- Crash Reporting, Real User Monitoring and APM are billed as three separate products, each metered on its own unit of errors, sessions or traces
- A Real User Monitoring session ends after 30 minutes of inactivity, so a single visit spanning breaks is billed as several sessions
- Usage beyond the plan allowance is billed on demand at $0.001 per error and $0.002 per session or trace
- Enterprise plan pricing is custom with no published rate
Pricing, plan by plan
Axiom
Free- PersonalFree
- 500GB/month data loading
- 10 GB-hours query compute
- 25GB storage
- Axiom Cloud$25/month
- 1TB/month data loading included
- 100 GB-hours compute included
- 100GB storage included
Raygun
Free- FreeFree
- Crash reporting
- Real user monitoring
- Performance tracking
Which should you pick?
Choose Axiom if
- You need serverless architecture.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API.
- You also want log aggregation.
Choose Raygun if
- You need crash reporting.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want real user monitoring.
Questions people ask
- Is Axiom or Raygun better?
- Neither clearly leads. Axiom starts at Free and Raygun at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Axiom or Raygun?
- Axiom starts at Free and Raygun at Free.
- Does Axiom or Raygun run on more platforms?
- Axiom runs on Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API. Raygun runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use Axiom for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Axiom best used for?
- Axiom is most often used for log monitoring, application performance, security analytics, troubleshooting. Of those, log monitoring and application performance are not what Raygun is typically brought in for.
- What can Axiom do that Raygun cannot?
- Axiom covers Serverless architecture, Log aggregation, Real-time processing, AplLog query language. Raygun covers Crash reporting, Real user monitoring, Performance tracking, Source maps. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Axiom: Does Axiom offer a free tier with no time limit?
Yes, Axiom's Personal plan is permanently free and includes 500GB of data ingest per month, 10 GB-hours of query compute, and 25GB storage with 30-day retention. No credit card is required.
SourceAxiom: Can I self-host Axiom or use my own cloud infrastructure?
No, Axiom is cloud-only. There is no self-hosted option, air-gapped deployment, or Bring Your Own Cloud available. The platform is a fully managed service.
SourceAxiom: What is Axiom's query language and does it work with SQL?
Axiom uses APL (Axiom Processing Language), based on Kusto Query Language. It is not standard SQL, and APL skills and queries do not transfer to other platforms, creating vendor lock-in.
SourceAxiom: What integrations does Axiom support for alerting?
Axiom supports pre-built integrations with Slack and PagerDuty, plus custom webhooks. Alerts can be configured via threshold-based, anomaly detection, or match-based monitors.
SourceAxiom: How does Axiom's pricing scale with data volume?
Axiom uses consumption-based pricing with automatic volume discounts. Costs depend on data loading volume, query compute usage (measured in GB-hours), and storage. The Team plan starts at $25/month with included allowances, then overage charges apply per unit with volume-based discounts.
SourceAxiom: What platforms can access Axiom's web interface?
Axiom's web app supports Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. Mobile access is supported on iOS and Android, but some features like moving dashboard elements are unavailable on mobile.
SourceRelated pages
Keep looking
Other head to heads
- Axiom vs Elastic Stack
- Axiom vs New Relic
- Axiom vs Datadog Logs
- Axiom vs Coralogix
- Axiom vs Grafana Loki
- Axiom vs CloudWatch
- Axiom vs Dynatrace
- Axiom vs InfluxDB
- Axiom vs Airbrake
- Axiom vs AppDynamics
- Axiom vs Azure Monitor
- Axiom vs Better Stack
- Axiom vs Bugsnag
- Axiom vs Dynatrace Logs
- Axiom vs Elastic
- Axiom vs Elastic APM
- Axiom vs Elasticsearch Service
- Axiom vs ELK Stack
- Raygun vs Elastic Stack
- Raygun vs New Relic
- Raygun vs Datadog Logs
- Raygun vs Coralogix
- Raygun vs Grafana Loki
- Raygun vs CloudWatch
- Raygun vs Dynatrace
- Raygun vs InfluxDB
- Raygun vs Airbrake
- Raygun vs AppDynamics
- Raygun vs Azure Monitor
- Raygun vs Better Stack
- Raygun vs Bugsnag
- Raygun vs Dynatrace Logs
- Raygun vs Elastic
- Raygun vs Elastic APM
- Raygun vs Elasticsearch Service
- Raygun vs ELK Stack

