Over 1,600 organizations, including Adobe, Cisco, Netflix, and more, use Airbrake for its error monitoring and application performance monitoring (APM) insights. Does this mean that Airbrake is the correct error and performance monitoring tool for you? Not necessarily, which is why we have come up with a list of the top Airbrake alternatives for developers and project managers of software development teams.
Our round-up of APM tools includes:
- Backlog
- Bugzilla
- Jira
- ClickUp
- Asana
- nTask
Why Choose An Airbrake Alternative?
Based in the cloud, Airbrake is a highly-rated tool for error and application performance monitoring. Many developers call it user-friendly and flexible since Airbrake supports 50-plus programming languages, frameworks, and libraries.
Thanks to its real-time error alerts, programmers can immediately see when something is wrong before users spot the problem. Even better, Airbrake tells developers the exact line of code where the problem exists so they can fix it fast. Is Airbrake all about spotting errors? No, as it also offers performance monitoring among various metrics such as user satisfaction, response times, error rates, request rates, and more. With that vital information, developers can see if their code provides the desired user experience and adjust accordingly.
Airbrake excels with its error and performance monitoring, plus it is highly configurable, flexible, and can be extended through tons of third-party integrations. Why choose an Airbrake alternative, then? Because, like any tool, Airbrake has its drawbacks, which include:
- Lack of support for lesser-known frameworks
- Non-technical users may find the dashboard challenging
- Error reporting could use more detailed information
Some project managers and programmers feel that Airbrake is challenging to set up with lesser-known frameworks and that its dashboard may overwhelm non-technical users. Others feel that Airbrake needs to include more details with its error reporting, plus offer even more integrations. And in terms of price, some developers complain that the software is too pricey and needs more pricing options for those on limited budgets.
You can learn more about Airbrake’s features, benefits, weaknesses, and pricing in our Airbrake APM Tool Review.
Alternatives To Airbrake
Now that you see some reasons why developers, stakeholders, and development team project managers may look beyond Airbrake for their error and application performance monitoring needs, here is a list of the top Airbrake alternatives that may be a better fit for your team.
Backlog
Backlog is a popular tool for tracking bugs, just like Airbrake. But as a bonus, development teams can use it to collaborate and manage projects.
While pricey, Backlog can help developers kill several birds with one stone. Backlog has the following features:
- User-friendly interface
- Task management
- Kanban boards
- Gantt charts
It can help project managers manage projects and boost productivity with its user-friendly interface, tasks and subtasks, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, collaborative features (feedback, comments, wikis, file sharing), and third-party integrations. And Backlog can also help developers with bug and issue tracking. Highlights of those capabilities include the ability to set up automatic issue creation through email, notifications as updates arise, issue templates that help teams know what details to document for each bug, custom fields, and versions and milestones to track each release and update. Beyond that, Backlog also offers built-in code management that should attract developers too.
You can learn more in our Backlog Project Management Review.
Bugzilla
Bugzilla is open-source software created by Mozilla to track its own bugs. Now, developers like you can use the software to do the same. In addition to bug tracking, Bugzilla offers the following features:
- Advanced bug searching
- Duplicate bug detection
- Approval request system
- Time tracking
- Built-in patch viewer
While Bugzilla’s no-cost nature is a plus, its features make it a viable Airbrake alternative.
It offers email notifications, advanced bug search, bug lists in various formats beyond just HTML, scheduled reports via email, chats, duplicate bug detection, and a request system for getting manager sign-offs or specific information, code review, and so forth.
Other highlights of Bugzilla’s bug tracking capabilities include time tracking to help developers estimate how long it will take to fix an issue, private comments and attachments, a patch viewer, custom fields and workflows, and a “watch” feature that lets you watch other developers’ bugs while they are away.
Jira
Although Jira is popular as a project management tool, many developers use the software for its bug and issue-tracking capabilities, which is why it makes our list of Airbrake alternatives. Among Jira’s many features for software developers are:
- Project management features
- Built-in collaboration tools
- Issue and bug management
- Advanced reporting
- Backlog monitoring
Jira helps developers quickly spot, assign, and prioritize issues while giving them the power to track each part of the software development cycle. Once you spot a bug with Jira, you can create an issue and add all the specifics, such as severity level, descriptions, screenshots, etc.
Captured bugs can then be assigned to appropriate team members and prioritized based on importance and available resources. Prioritizing bugs could not be easier, either, as all you need to do is drag and drop them into the to-do column or backlog.
Jira’s notification system is particularly helpful for bug tracking. While some bug-tracking software uses @mentions to keep everyone in the loop, Jira uses more precise and configurable notifications that can alert specific team members as soon as a status changes. And, to ensure bugs get handled without wasting time, developers can also configure Jira to ensure that any new issues get routed to the proper personnel as soon as they appear.
Other reasons to choose Jira as a bug-tracking alternative to Airbrake include seamless automation via easy-to-use templates, customized workflows for resolving issues, and integrations with popular third-party dev tools.
Check out our Jira Project Management Software Review for more information.
ClickUp
ClickUp is project management software that also offers bug-tracking capabilities. Its integration with GitHub helps software development teams view all of their GitHub activity linked to a task. Once items are added, they will receive notifications. On the flip side, developers can also change GitHub task status directly through ClickUp to avoid context switching. In addition to GitHub integration, ClickUp offers these features:
- Collaboration built-in
- Assign bugs to individual programmers
- Performance tracking dashboards
- Task dependencies
- Ability to accept community bug submissions
Another reason ClickUp works well as an Airbrake alternative for bug tracking is its collaborative features. With the tool, developers can get a hold of project managers, customer support, stakeholders, design teams, etc., quickly to discuss bugs without having to resort to several third-party apps (email, for example) that may not elicit a timely response.
ClickUp makes it simple to assign bugs to individual or multiple developers, or even an entire team. And it also has performance and tracking dashboards to monitor progress, pinpoint potential bottlenecks, manage resources, and ensure optimal productivity. Add in automation, task dependencies, and the Form view feature that serves as a help desk solution by letting developers accept bug submissions from users, and it is easy to see why many use ClickUp as an alternative to Airbrake.
Read our ClickUp Project Management Tool Review for more information.
Asana
Asana may have made a name for itself as a project management tool, but like other Airbrake alternatives on this list, it also works wonders for bug tracking. It has some of the following features for programmers:
- Bug-tracking templates
- Custom fields for issue tracking
- Prioritization for issues and bugs
- Recurring tasks
With Asana, developers can enjoy a bug-tracking template, plus create bug-tracking forms. It has custom fields that also help with issue tracking and spotting trends, and gives you the power to prioritize bugs so essential problems get taken care of first.
Other reasons to choose Asana as an Airbrake alternative include a board view ideal for Agile development teams, the ability to merge bug-tracking tasks and create recurring tasks to save time, and email integration to seamlessly convert reported bugs into actionable tasks.
We discuss Asana in greater detail in our Asana Project Management Review.
nTask
nTask is top-rated project management software that offers end-to-end issue tracking. With nTask, developers can say goodbye to old-fashioned spreadsheets, emails, and chats to track bugs and manage issues, and use several productivity-boosting features meant for that specific task instead. In fact, nTask claims that by switching to their software, developers can fix bugs four times faster. In addition, nTask has the following features:
- Customizable Kanban boards
- Risk management and mitigation tools
- Link issues to tasks and projects
- Plenty of third-party integrations
How can nTask boost bug tracking and fixing efficiency? With such features as customizable Kanban boards, Gantt charts, schedule management and risk mitigation tools, custom fields, issue types, priority selection, linking issues to tasks or projects, collaboration (shared updates, chat, reply later, file management), time tracking, and integrations with over 1,000 third-party apps.
Learn more in our nTask Developer Tool Review.
Other Bug Tracking and Application Performance Monitoring Software
Looking for additional bug tracking tools and application performance monitoring software or platforms? Check out our guide to the Best Bug Tracking Software for more options.