Updated 30 March 2026

Sentry Free Plan (Developer)

5,000 events per month. 1 user. 30-day data retention. All core error tracking features: stack traces, breadcrumbs, release tracking, and SDK support for every major language and framework. Here is exactly what you get, whether it is enough for your project, and how to maximize the free quota.

What You Get (Free)

  • 5,000 events per month (errors + transactions)
  • 1 user with full dashboard access
  • 30-day data retention
  • Error tracking with stack traces
  • Breadcrumbs (user action trail before error)
  • Release tracking (link errors to deploys)
  • All SDK support (JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Go, etc.)
  • Source map upload for minified code
  • Basic alerting (email notifications)
  • GitHub/GitLab integration

What You Do Not Get

  • More than 1 user (team members cannot access dashboard)
  • More than 5,000 events/month (events dropped after limit)
  • 90-day data retention (only 30 days on free)
  • Crash-free session monitoring
  • Performance monitoring (available but shares quota)
  • Session replay (Business plan only)
  • Advanced data scrubbing (Business plan only)
  • Custom dashboards
  • SSO/SAML authentication
  • Advanced alerting rules

Is 5,000 Events Per Month Enough?

App TypeTypical DAUEst. Monthly Errors5K Enough?
Personal blog / portfolio10-10010-50Yes, easily
Side project SaaS100-50050-500Yes, with room
Early startup (pre-launch)100-1K100-2KProbably yes
Growing startup1K-5K500-10KBorderline
Production SaaS app5K-50K2K-50K+No, need Team ($26/mo)
Mobile app (iOS/Android)10K+5K-100K+No, need Team or Business

Maximizing Your Free 5K Quota

Disable performance monitoring

Transaction events share the 5K quota with error events. On the free plan, disable performance monitoring entirely (set tracesSampleRate to 0 in your SDK config). Use the full 5K quota for error tracking, which is more valuable for debugging.

Use inbound data filters aggressively

In Sentry's project settings, enable inbound data filters to drop known irrelevant errors. Filter out browser extension errors (they pollute web app error tracking), localhost and development environment errors, known bot/crawler user agents, and legacy browser errors you cannot fix.

Configure beforeSend to drop noise

In your SDK configuration, add a beforeSend callback that filters out low-value errors client-side before they are sent to Sentry. Drop network errors from third-party scripts, CSP violation reports, and errors from specific user agents (bots, old browsers).

Set up a daily rate limit

Sentry allows rate limiting per DSN key. Set a daily limit of ~170 events/day (5,000 / 30 days) to ensure your quota lasts the full month. Without a rate limit, a single bad deploy can consume your entire monthly quota in hours, leaving you blind for the rest of the month.

Fix high-frequency errors immediately

When you see an error generating 50+ events per day, fix it immediately. On the free plan, every event counts. A single recurring error consuming 50 events/day wastes 1,500 events/month, which is 30% of your quota. Sentry's issue grouping shows which errors produce the most events.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 5,000 events per month enough?
For a personal project or early-stage startup with under 1,000 DAU and good error handling, 5,000 events per month is usually enough. A well-coded app with 500 DAU might generate 50 to 200 error events per month. However, a single bug affecting a popular code path can generate hundreds of events in hours. For any production app with real users growing beyond 1,000 DAU, you will likely outgrow 5K events within a few months.
Can I use the free plan for a team project?
Technically, only 1 user can access the Sentry dashboard on the Developer plan. However, the SDK works in any project regardless of the plan. Your entire team can deploy code with Sentry's SDK, and errors will be captured. Only 1 person can view the dashboard to triage and manage issues. For a team of 2 or more developers who need to independently investigate errors, the Team plan ($26/month) is necessary.
What happens when I hit the 5,000 event limit?
When you reach your 5,000 event limit for the month, Sentry stops accepting new events until the next billing cycle. You do not get charged for overages on the free plan. Any errors that occur after the limit is reached are silently dropped. This means you could miss critical errors during the remainder of the month. Set up rate limiting and inbound filters to make your 5K quota last the full month.
Does the free plan include performance monitoring?
The Developer plan includes basic performance monitoring, but the 5,000 event quota is shared between error events and transaction events. If you enable performance monitoring at even a 10% sample rate on an app with 1,000 DAU, transaction events will consume most of your quota. For the free plan, it is usually better to disable performance monitoring and use the full quota for error tracking.
Can I upgrade to Team and then downgrade back to Developer?
Yes. You can switch between plans at any time. Upgrading to Team ($26/month) gives you 50K events and unlimited users immediately. If you downgrade back to Developer, the change takes effect at the next billing cycle. Your historical data is retained (within the retention period), but you lose access to team features and the event limit drops back to 5K.
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