head to head · open source
Sentry vs dd-trace-java
Sentry has 45,704 GitHub stars, 4,959 forks, 2,265 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dd-trace-java has 738 stars, 364 forks, 478 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Sentry leads on adoption by 6,093% (45,704 vs 738 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%. Sentry 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 | ★ 46K | ★ 738 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 364 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Sentry if
- You weight community size — 46K 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
Users and logs provide clues. Sentry provides answers. What's Sentry? Sentry is the debugging platform that helps every developer detect, trace, and fix issues. Code breaks, fix it faster. Official Sentry SDKs JavaScript Electron React Native Python Ruby PHP Laravel Go Rust Java/Kotlin Objective C/Swift C\ /F\ C/C++ Dart/Flutter Perl Clojure Elixir Unity Unreal Engine Godot Engine PowerShell Resources Documentation Discussions (Bugs, feature requests, general questions) Discord Contributing Bug Tracker Code Transifex (Translate Sentry\!)
read the full Sentry overview →
About dd-trace-java
Datadog Java APM This repository contains dd trace java , Datadog's APM client Java library. dd trace java contains APIs to automatically or manually trace and profile Java applications. These features power Distributed Tracing with Automatic Instrumentation, Continuous Profiling, Error Tracking, Continuous Integration Visibility, Deployment Tracking, Code Hotspots and more. Getting Started To use and configure, check out the [setup documentation][setup docs]. For advanced usage, check out the [configuration reference][configuration reference] and [custom instrumentation API][api docs]. Confused about the…
read the full dd-trace-java overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Sentry or dd-trace-java more popular?
Sentry has 45,704 GitHub stars and dd-trace-java has 738. 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 (45,704 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.