Bugsink vs GlitchTip

Bugsink and GlitchTip are the two small self-hosted error trackers people reach for when self-hosted Sentry's 16 GB floor is out of the question. Both accept events from the official Sentry SDKs, so switching between them is a DSN change. Both are Django apps that run on a small VPS. They differ in scope and license. Bugsink tracks errors and nothing else, from one container. GlitchTip adds performance, uptime, and log monitoring, and is MIT licensed.

Errors only vs. errors plus

Bugsink says it "intentionally focuses only on error events. It does not handle metrics, traces, or other event types." Its SDK recommendations note that traces aren't supported, so leave traces_sample_rate at its default of 0. What it does have is aimed at triage: issue grouping, releases, source maps, teams and permissions, rate limits and retention settings, an API, and alert integrations for Slack, Mattermost, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, and custom webhooks.

GlitchTip lists error tracking, performance monitoring, uptime monitoring, and logs. Its SDK docs support traces for performance data and application logs over OpenTelemetry. GlitchTip's docs say it does not support session tracking, and Bugsink handles only error events. GlitchTip's docs tell you to set auto_session_tracking to false.

If you only need exceptions, GlitchTip's extras don't matter much. If you want uptime checks and basic performance data in the same tool, Bugsink won't provide them.

Architecture and footprint

Bugsink's design goal is the fewest moving parts: "No message queue, no external services, and no hidden requirements. A single container is enough." It uses SQLite by default, with MySQL or PostgreSQL as options. The official quickstart is one docker run. Bugsink doesn't publish a minimum RAM figure. For scale, its own stress test reports 18 events per second (50 KB each), about 1.5 million events a day, on a single small VPS with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM.

GlitchTip needs PostgreSQL 14 or newer. Its official Compose file runs three services: PostgreSQL, Valkey, and one GlitchTip container with web and worker roles combined. Valkey is optional. Without it, PostgreSQL handles the task queue and cache. GlitchTip recommends 512 MB of RAM and lists 256 MB as the minimum for the all-in-one setup. You can split web and workers into separate services as traffic grows, and there is a Helm chart for Kubernetes.

Both fit on the smallest VPS tiers. The practical difference is that Bugsink with SQLite can run as one container, while GlitchTip always brings a PostgreSQL server. For Bugsink, keep the SQLite file on a mounted volume, or use an external database, so your data doesn't live only inside the container.

Licensing

This matters more here than in most comparisons. GlitchTip is MIT. Bugsink is under the PolyForm Shield License 1.0.0, a source-available license with a noncompete clause: you may not use it to provide a product that competes with Bugsink's own products. Running it to track your own applications' errors is the intended use. It is not an OSI open-source license, though. If you plan to offer error tracking to others, or your organization only allows OSI-approved licenses, choose GlitchTip.

Setup effort

We rate Bugsink 1 / 5 and GlitchTip 3 / 5. Bugsink is one container with a generated secret key and an initial superuser set through environment variables. GlitchTip's Compose file needs a secret key, your domain, and an email URL before real use, and brings up PostgreSQL next to the app. Both installs are verified on Ubuntu 26.04 (see each app's page). Both serve plain HTTP on port 8000, so put a reverse proxy in front for TLS.

Which to choose

Choose Bugsink if you want the least to run: error tracking only, one container, SQLite unless you choose otherwise. You accept a source-available license and no performance, uptime, or log features.

Choose GlitchTip if you want an MIT-licensed tracker, or if you want performance, uptime, and log monitoring next to your errors, and don't mind running PostgreSQL to get them.

Both apps take events from the same Sentry SDKs, so you can try one and switch to the other by changing a DSN. See the Bugsink and GlitchTip pages for installs. If you're deciding whether you need Sentry itself, read GlitchTip vs. Sentry.