Bugsnag is $59/mo (Team). Seismograph is a self-hosted alternative at $0.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.
| Seismograph | Bugsnag | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted, your infra | Managed SaaS (cloud only) |
| Data location | Your server, your disk | Bugsnag's cloud |
| Free tier | 5,000 errors/mo | Paid only |
| Pro pricing | $0.99/mo | $59/mo (Team) |
| Dependencies | None (single binary + SQLite) | N/A (managed) |
| Setup time | ~30 seconds | Account signup |
| Dashboard | Built-in at /ui | Cloud dashboard |
| License | BSL 1.1 | Proprietary SaaS |
Seismograph is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.
curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/seismograph/install.sh | sh
Teams evaluating Bugsnag alongside Seismograph tend to split on two axes: feature depth and data residency. Bugsnag wins on feature depth — it is a mature product with integrations, mobile apps, and a dedicated support team. Seismograph wins on residency — your error tracker data lives on your server in a SQLite file you can inspect, back up, and migrate without asking anyone for permission.
Seismograph runs as a single static binary with an embedded SQLite database. There is no application server, no cache layer, no background worker. One process handles HTTP requests and reads from and writes to the database file directly. This simplicity is the entire point — fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break at 2 AM.
If you are currently using Bugsnag and considering Seismograph, start by running both in parallel. Install Seismograph on a test server, point your workflow at it for a week, and compare the experience. Seismograph's data directory is isolated — running a trial costs nothing beyond the compute. If Seismograph does not fit, delete the binary and the data directory. There is nothing else to clean up.
Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.