The main difference between Grafana, Sentry, and CubeAPM is scope and simplicity. Grafana focuses on visualization and dashboarding, Sentry specializes in error and performance tracking, while CubeAPM delivers complete MELT observability, on-premise/self-host options, and predictable pricing—bringing unified visibility across infrastructure, applications, and users in one place.

As systems become more distributed, teams using Grafana or Sentry often face fragmented telemetry pipelines, short data-retention limits, and rising costs tied to per-user or per-host pricing. Maintaining multiple plug-ins and data stores for full visibility adds operational complexity and slows mean-time-to-resolution (MTTR).

CubeAPM solves these challenges with an OpenTelemetry-based, self-hostable observability stack that ensures end-to-end visibility, unlimited retention, and strict data localization compliance. It combines APM, logs, infra, RUM, and synthetic monitoring in one lightweight platform—helping teams cut observability spend by up to 80 % compared to Grafana or Sentry.

Grafana vs Sentry vs CubeAPM — Comparison Table

Grafana vs Sentry vs CubeAPM: Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Telemetry Support (OpenTelemetry)

CubeAPM:
CubeAPM provides native OpenTelemetry + Prometheus integration, supporting traces, logs, metrics, and events without any vendor-specific agents. It’s ideal for teams standardizing on open telemetry pipelines across Kubernetes and cloud workloads.

Grafana:
Grafana supports OpenTelemetry partially through plug-ins like Tempo for traces and Loki for logs. While flexible, it demands manual setup and backend tuning, making it more suited for DevOps teams managing self-hosted observability stacks.

Sentry:
Sentry integrates OpenTelemetry via its language SDKs, but it’s limited to application-level tracing and error tracking, not full infrastructure data. Best for developer teams needing simple APM instrumentation without deep infra correlation.

MELT Support (Metrics, Events, Logs, Traces)

CubeAPM:
CubeAPM delivers complete MELT coverage natively—metrics, logs, traces, and events unified in one backend. Based on our sales data, customers achieve up to 40 % faster MTTR through cross-correlated telemetry views. Perfect for full-stack observability and hybrid-cloud workloads.

Grafana:
Grafana supports MELT only when combined with Loki, Tempo, and Mimir, which increases management overhead. It works best for teams already invested in open-source observability components wanting to visualize all data in Grafana dashboards.

Sentry:
Sentry focuses primarily on errors, traces, and release health, offering only limited metric and log correlation. It’s better for frontend or backend app teams debugging performance and exceptions, not for full observability.

Deployment(Self-hosted/On-Prem)

CubeAPM runs self-hosted inside your VPC or on-prem, giving teams complete data control while being managed like SaaS — no Day-2 maintenance, scaling, or upgrade overhead. It delivers unlimited retention and predictable pricing, making it ideal for compliance-driven or data-sensitive industries.

Grafana offers both cloud and self-hosted LGTM (Loki, Grafana, Tempo, Mimir) setups. While self-hosting keeps telemetry local, it introduces significant operational overhead and limited enterprise support. The cloud version simplifies setup but transfers data custody to Grafana’s infrastructure.

Sentry is primarily a cloud-based SaaS platform optimized for quick setup. A self-hosted version exists but is resource-intensive and maintenance-heavy, making it less practical for large-scale or hybrid observability environments.

Pricing: Approximate Cost For Small, Medium & Large teams

Cost for Small Teams (~30):

• CubeAPM: $2,080
• Grafana: $3,870
• Sentry: $3,560

Cost for Mid-Sized Teams (~125):

• CubeAPM: $7,200,
• Grafana: $11,875
• Sentry: $12,100

Cost for Large Teams (~250):

• CubeAPM: $15,200
• Grafana: $26,750
• Sentry: $32,400

CubeAPM: Cost for Small, Medium, and Large Teams

Based on verified vendor pricing data, CubeAPM operates on a simple, all-inclusive model of $0.15 per GB of data ingested — with no extra costs for infrastructure, retention, or user licenses. Whether monitoring logs, metrics, or traces, CubeAPM’s unified pricing ensures predictability and transparency across all telemetry types. Here is a breakdown for large, medium, and small teams:

• Small teams (~ 30): $2,080
• Mid-sized teams (~ 125): $7,200
• Large teams (~250): $15,200

It’s ideal for startups, SaaS platforms, and large enterprises managing multi-terabyte ingestion each month. Teams typically see 60 %+ lower total cost of ownership compared to Grafana Cloud or Sentry.

Grafana Cloud: Cost for Small, Medium, and Large Teams

Grafana Modular pricing:

Pro: $19/month

Logs:$0.50/GB ingested

Traces: $0.50/GB ingested

Grafana’s modular model provides flexibility for teams running smaller workloads, but costs rise sharply once telemetry crosses a few terabytes per month due to separate log and trace charges. It’s most effective for organizations prioritizing visualization and alerting over full-stack observability.

Here is a breakdown of cost for small, medium and large teams:

• Small teams (~ 30): $3,870
• Mid-sized teams (~ 125): $11,875
• Large teams (~250): $26,750

Sentry: Cost for Small, Medium, and Large Teams

Sentry uses a tiered pricing

• Small teams (~ 30): $3,560
• Mid-sized teams (~ 125): $12,100
• Large teams (~250): $32,400

Sentry’s tiered structure is ideal for developer-centric teams monitoring application errors and release health, but its per-user and per-GB billing makes it expensive at scale compared to CubeAPM’s flat model. Here is a cost break-down for small, medium, and large teams:

Sampling Strategy

CubeAPM:
CubeAPM uses Smart Sampling (95 % compression + context-based retention), keeping critical latency/error traces while reducing volume by up to 70 %. Ideal for high-traffic systems or microservices with massive telemetry streams.

Grafana:
Grafana relies on basic probabilistic sampling, managed per-component (Tempo or Loki). This lacks contextual awareness but is sufficient for lightweight metrics or visualization-first deployments.

Sentry:
Sentry uses fixed or adaptive SDK sampling, suited for frontend or mobile traces but not correlated infra data. Designed for teams prioritizing quick exception visibility over granular trace control.

Data Retention

CubeAPM:
CubeAPM provides unlimited log retention with data stored in the customer’s own cloud—ensuring compliance and eliminating egress cost. Based on our research, long-term retention supports security audits and SLA analytics.

Grafana:
Grafana Cloud defaults to 15 days retention, extendable for a fee. It’s fine for short-term analytics or transient workloads, but long-term retention costs can escalate.

Sentry:
Sentry retains logs for 30–90 days, depending on plan tier. Works best for short development cycles or app release debugging, not historical compliance tracking.

Support Channel & TAT

CubeAPM:
CubeAPM provides Slack and WhatsApp access to core engineers with response times measured in minutes (based on support logs). Perfect for SRE teams managing mission-critical production workloads.

Grafana:
Grafana users rely on community forums or ticketed email support, often taking multiple days. It suits open-source enthusiasts or non-critical environments.

Sentry:
Sentry offers ticket and email-based support, with higher tiers getting faster responses. Adequate for developer teams resolving exceptions rather than live outages.

Known For

CubeAPM:
Known for OpenTelemetry-native full-stack observability, predictable $0.15 / GB pricing, unlimited retention, and BYOC/self-host flexibility. Best for compliance-focused enterprises and cost-conscious DevOps teams.

Grafana:
Known for powerful visual dashboards and wide community plugin support. Ideal for teams who already manage their own metrics and logs pipeline.

Sentry:
Known for error tracking and release performance insights across apps and mobile SDKs. Perfect for development teams needing visibility into application health and regressions.

Which Tool Is Best for You? Why Brands Choose CubeAPM

Benefits of Choosing CubeAPM

• Full Data Sovereignty: All telemetry stays within your cloud for complete compliance with, and regional data-residency laws.
• Unified MELT Visibility: One backend for Metrics, Events, Logs, and Traces, eliminating tool sprawl and context switching.
• Predictable Price: Flat ingestion pricing across all telemetry types—no per-user or per-feature licensing.
• Unlimited Retention: Keep historical logs and traces forever without paying per-GB storage premiums.
• Smart Sampling Efficiency: 95 % compression while retaining critical anomaly data—optimized performance with lower cost.
• Multi-agent compatibility: Natively compatible with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Datadog, and New Relic agents, which makes migration from existing tools to CubeAPM super easy.
• API access: Access all your data via APIs without any additional cost.
• Real-Time Support: Slack and WhatsApp access to core engineers with minute-level response times.
• Faster MTTR: Correlate metrics, traces, and logs in a single view to cut troubleshooting time by 40 %+.

CubeAPM is best for teams that need unified observability without hidden costs or vendor lock-in.
It delivers end-to-end MELT coverage — Metrics, Events, Logs, and Traces — with OpenTelemetry-native ingestion, unlimited retention, and BYOC/self-hosting for compliance. SRE and DevOps teams use it to monitor cloud, Kubernetes, and microservices workloads while reducing total observability spend by up to 80 %.

Grafana vs Sentry vs CubeAPM: Use Cases

Choose Grafana if

• You need real-time dashboards and visualization for Prometheus, InfluxDB, or Loki metrics. It’s ideal for DevOps teams already running self-managed telemetry pipelines and wanting a visualization layer.
• Based on our research, Grafana Cloud suits startups or small teams needing hosted dashboards, but scaling adds cost quickly since each component (Loki, Tempo, Mimir) has its own pricing tier.
• You prioritize open-source flexibility and can handle maintaining multiple observability back-ends for logs, traces, and metrics instead of a single platform.

Choose Sentry if

• You’re a development-heavy team focused on error tracking, exception monitoring, and release health. It’s great for frontend and mobile app performance debugging using lightweight SDKs.
• Based on their website, Sentry’s paid plans ($49 / month + usage-based tracing @ $0.30 / GB) are well-suited for early-stage startups that prioritize visibility into code-level issues over infrastructure observability.
• You want to reduce MTTR for application crashes and performance regressions without managing complex telemetry pipelines.

Choose CubeAPM if

• You want full-stack observability (MELT) across applications, infrastructure, and user experience in one OpenTelemetry-native platform. It’s perfect for SREs and platform teams running multi-service or Kubernetes environments.
• CubeAPM’s $0.15 / GB ingestion model delivers predictable pricing and up to 80 % lower TCO versus multi-tool stacks like Grafana + Sentry.
• You operate in regulated industries or data-sensitive regions that require strict data residency and compliance — CubeAPM’s self-host / BYOC deployment keeps all telemetry inside your own cloud.
• Ideal for mid-size to enterprise teams seeking end-to-end tracing across microservices, unlimited data retention, and real-time Slack/WhatsApp support to minimize downtime.

Conclusion

Grafana and Sentry each serve distinct roles in the observability stack — Grafana for visualization and dashboards, Sentry for error tracking and application performance. But both require multiple add-ons or tiers to achieve true end-to-end visibility.

CubeAPM, on the other hand, provides a complete MELT (Metrics, Events, Logs, Traces) observability platform built on OpenTelemetry with self-host or BYOC deployment, unlimited retention, and predictable $0.15/GB pricing. Teams migrating from Grafana Cloud and Sentry typically cut observability spend by 60–80 % while gaining faster MTTR, unified data correlation, and compliance-ready hosting.

If your goal is full-stack observability, compliance adherence, and transparent cost scaling, CubeAPM stands out as the most complete and future-proof choice for startups and enterprises alike.