head to head · open source
Sentry vs dd-trace-java
Sentry has 44,806 GitHub stars, 4,857 forks, 2,265 open issues and last shipped today. dd-trace-java has 737 stars, 361 forks, 478 open issues and last shipped today. Sentry leads on adoption by 5,980% (44,806 vs 737 stars). Sentry is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; dd-trace-java is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Sentry has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, dd-trace-java 49%. dd-trace-java was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (apm), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Sentry | dd-trace-java | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 737 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 361 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Sentry if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dd-trace-java if
- You want the dd-trace-java feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and dd-trace-java fits your workflow better
About Sentry
Sentry is an open source debugging platform for detecting, tracing, and fixing software issues in real time. It lives in the developer infrastructure ecosystem and provides error tracking and performance monitoring across languages, frameworks, and runtime environments.
read the full Sentry overview →
About dd-trace-java
dd trace java is Datadog's open source APM client library for Java, and it is aimed at Java teams that need distributed tracing and continuous profiling from a single JVM agent rather than from hand written instrumentation in every service.
read the full dd-trace-java overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Sentry or dd-trace-java more popular?
Sentry has 44,806 GitHub stars and dd-trace-java has 737. Sentry has the larger community by that measure.
Are Sentry and dd-trace-java free?
Both are open source. Sentry has no licence declared in this registry, and dd-trace-java is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Sentry and dd-trace-java?
Sentry is written in Python and dd-trace-java in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Sentry or dd-trace-java?
Choose Sentry if you want the larger community (44,806 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose dd-trace-java if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.