Softwr

Software · head to head

Rollbar vs Fluent Bit

Rollbar logo

Rollbar

Software

Real-Time Error Tracking and Debugging

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Fluent Bit logo

Fluent Bit

Software

Fast and Lightweight Log Processor

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Rollbar the free plan allows 5,000 occurrences a month with 30 day retention; Fluent Bit fluent Bit ships over 100 built in plugins against more than 1,000 external plugins available for Fluentd, so fewer integrations exist out of the box
  • They diverge on capability: Rollbar covers Error tracking, Fluent Bit covers Log collection.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Rollbar and Fluent Bit actually diverge.

Attributes where Rollbar and Fluent Bit differ
AttributeRollbarFluent Bit
Pricing modelusage-basedopen-source
Founded20122015

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 Rollbar

  • Error tracking
  • Real-time alerts
  • Error grouping
  • Source maps

Only in Fluent Bit

  • Log collection
  • Lightweight processing
  • Data parsing
  • Event filtering

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.

Rollbar

  • Tracking application errors and exceptions across deploymentsnot Fluent Bit
  • Grouping and alerting on production error occurrencesnot Fluent Bit

Fluent Bit

  • Lightweight log and metric forwarding from containers and edge devicesnot Rollbar
  • Kubernetes node level log collection with a small memory footprintnot Rollbar
  • Filtering and enriching telemetry before shipping it to a backendnot Rollbar

Where each one falls short

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

Rollbar

  • The free plan allows 5,000 occurrences a month with 30 day retention
  • Retention is a paid ladder rather than a setting, at up to 90 days on Essentials and up to 180 on Advanced
  • Advanced alerting, the RQL analytics query language and SCIM provisioning are excluded from the free plan
  • Enterprise requires a $4M annual plan minimum
  • No price is published for Essentials or Advanced, so only the free tier has a visible cost

Fluent Bit

  • Fluent Bit ships over 100 built in plugins against more than 1,000 external plugins available for Fluentd, so fewer integrations exist out of the box
  • It is written in C, so extending it beyond the built in plugins means writing C rather than Ruby
  • Dependencies are zero only until a plugin requires one

Pricing, plan by plan

Rollbar

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Error tracking
    • Real-time alerts
    • Error grouping

Fluent Bit

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log collection
    • Lightweight processing
    • Data parsing

Which should you pick?

Choose Rollbar if

  • You need error tracking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want real-time alerts.
Rollbar review

Choose Fluent Bit if

  • You need log collection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want lightweight processing.
Fluent Bit review

Questions people ask

Is Rollbar or Fluent Bit better?
Neither clearly leads. Rollbar starts at Free and Fluent Bit at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Rollbar or Fluent Bit?
Rollbar starts at Free and Fluent Bit at Free.
Does Rollbar or Fluent Bit run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Rollbar for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Rollbar best used for?
Rollbar is most often used for tracking application errors and exceptions across deployments, grouping and alerting on production error occurrences. Of those, tracking application errors and exceptions across deployments and grouping and alerting on production error occurrences are not what Fluent Bit is typically brought in for.
What can Rollbar do that Fluent Bit cannot?
Rollbar covers Error tracking, Real-time alerts, Error grouping, Source maps. Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Lightweight processing, Data parsing, Event filtering. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on Rollbar

More on Fluent Bit

Keep looking

Other head to heads