Overview
Better Stack started as an uptime and on-call tool and has grown into a full observability suite. Uptime monitors check HTTP, keywords, ports and Playwright browser scenarios from several regions and capture screenshots and traceroutes when something fails. Alerts go out by phone call, SMS, push, Slack or email, and branded status pages update from the same incidents.
On the telemetry side it stores logs, traces and metrics (queryable with SQL, PromQL or a drag-and-drop builder), collects traces with OpenTelemetry and eBPF, and runs error tracking that accepts the standard Sentry SDKs, plus session replay and web analytics.
The free tier is enough for a personal project: 10 monitors at 3-minute checks, one status page and small log and error allowances. Paid use has two parts: a Responder seat for each person on call, and data billed by volume or through prepaid bundles. Data stored in Europe is the cheapest option, which matters for teams with EU data requirements.
Pricing and plans
Free tier
10 monitors and heartbeats at 3-minute checks, 1 status page, Slack and email alerts, 100,000 exceptions, 5,000 replays, 3 GB logs and 3 GB traces kept 3 days, 30 GB metrics.
At the limit Not stated The vendor does not say what happens at the limit, or we have not found it yet.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10 monitors, 1 status page, 100k exceptions, 3 GB logs/traces for 3 days |
| Responder seat | $29/mo yearly, $34/mo monthly | Uptime and telemetry access, unlimited phone and SMS alerts, on-call |
| Telemetry Nano | $25/mo yearly (Europe) | 40 GB each of traces, logs and metrics, 30-day log retention; $38 in the US |
| Telemetry Micro | $100/mo yearly (Europe) | 160 GB each of traces, logs and metrics |
| Telemetry Mega | $210/mo yearly (Europe) | 340 GB each of traces, logs and metrics |
| Telemetry Tera | $420/mo yearly (Europe) | 700 GB each of traces, logs and metrics |
What it does
- Uptime monitoring
- HTTP, keyword, port, heartbeat and Playwright checks, from 3 minutes on free to 30 seconds on paid plans, with screenshots and traceroute on failure.
- On-call and alerting
- Scheduling, escalations and unlimited phone and SMS alerts included with each Responder seat.
- Status pages
- One branded status page included, with subscribers, custom domain and maintenance notices; extras are add-ons.
- Logs, traces and metrics
- OpenTelemetry and Prometheus ingestion, SQL and PromQL queries, optional storage in your own S3 bucket.
- Error tracking
- Accepts Sentry SDKs, 100,000 exceptions included with 90-day retention.
- Incident management
- Slack and Teams incident workflows, AI-written post-mortems and MTTA/MTTR reporting.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Uptime, status page, on-call and logs in one bill instead of three or four tools.
- Free tier with 10 monitors and a status page suits side projects.
- Unlimited phone and SMS alerts included per responder.
- Error tracking works with existing Sentry SDKs, so switching needs no code rewrite.
- Europe data region is the lowest-priced region.
Limitations
- Free monitors check every 3 minutes; 30-second checks need a paid plan.
- Free logs and traces are kept for only 3 days.
- Status page add-ons such as SSO, white-label and password protection cost $42 to $250 per page per month.
- Data prices are markedly higher in the US and Singapore regions than in Europe.
Who it suits
Good for
- Side projects that want free uptime checks and a status page
- Small teams replacing separate uptime, on-call and log tools
- EU-based teams that want data stored in Europe
Look elsewhere if
- Teams that need a self-hosted monitoring stack
- Large enterprises standardised on Datadog-style per-host APM
Alternatives to Better Stack
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| openstatus Status pages with uptime monitoring | $30/mo | Free tier | |
| Sentry Error tracking and application monitoring | $26/mo | Free tier | |
| Honeybadger Error tracking, logging, uptime and status pages | $26/mo | Free tier | |
| Axiom Log and event data platform | $25/mo | Free tier | |
| Checkly Synthetic and uptime monitoring as code | $24/mo | Free tier | |
| Hyperping Uptime monitoring, status pages and on-call | $24/mo | Free tier |
Questions
Is Better Stack free?
Yes, the free tier includes 10 monitors and heartbeats, one status page, 100,000 exceptions and small log and trace allowances kept for 3 days.
How often does Better Stack check my site?
Every 3 minutes on the free plan; paid plans go down to every 30 seconds.
Can Better Stack replace Sentry?
Its error tracking accepts Sentry SDKs, so you can point an existing Sentry integration at Better Stack; 100,000 exceptions a month are included.
How is Better Stack priced?
Per Responder seat ($29/mo on yearly billing) for on-call users, plus telemetry data by volume or in bundles starting at $25/mo in Europe.
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