head to head · open source
Sentry vs Logstash
Sentry has 44,792 GitHub stars, 4,854 forks, 2,265 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Logstash has 14,944 stars, 3,496 forks, 2,254 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Sentry leads on adoption by 200% (44,792 vs 14,944 stars). Sentry is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Logstash is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. Sentry has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Logstash 23%. Sentry was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Logstash | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 15K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| 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 Logstash if
- You want the Logstash feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Logstash 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 Logstash
Logstash is a server side data processing pipeline that transports and processes logs, events, or other data. It is part of the Elastic Stack with Beats, Elasticsearch, and Kibana, and it sits in the Infrastructure & Operations / Monitoring & Observability category. The project uses Java and JRuby, and its topics describe it as an ETL framework for logging, real time processing, and streaming.
read the full Logstash overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Sentry or Logstash more popular?
Sentry has 44,792 GitHub stars and Logstash has 14,944. Sentry has the larger community by that measure.
Are Sentry and Logstash free?
Neither Sentry nor Logstash declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Sentry and Logstash?
Sentry is written in Python and Logstash 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 Logstash?
Choose Sentry if you want the larger community (44,792 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Logstash if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.