A solo developer ships a Next.js app on Friday evening. By Monday, 47 users have hit a TypeError that crashes the checkout flow — but he has no idea because he doesn't have error tracking. No Sentry, no Bugsnag, nothing. He finds out when a customer tweets 'your checkout is broken.' Estimated lost revenue: $2,300 over the weekend.
Sentry is the obvious choice with 90K+ GitHub stars and widespread adoption. But Sentry's pricing page requires a calculator: you pay per 'event' with a base of 50K events/month at $26/mo, but production apps can generate millions of events from a single bug. Developers regularly report surprise $200+ bills. The dashboard, while powerful, looks like an airplane cockpit.
The opportunity is the 'Linear of error tracking' — clean, fast, opinionated. Flat pricing at $9-19/mo regardless of events. Smart deduplication that groups errors intelligently so you see 5 bugs, not 5,000 events. Source map support, Slack alerts, and a dashboard you can actually understand in 10 seconds.
💰 Revenue Blueprint
Three-tier value ladder to monetize from day one
1 project, 1K errors/day, 7-day retention, email alerts
3 projects, unlimited errors, 30-day retention, Slack + email alerts, source maps, smart grouping
10 projects, 90-day retention, team dashboard, release tracking, user context, API, webhooks
Why Now?
JavaScript ecosystem is more complex than ever (SSR, RSC, edge functions). More surfaces for bugs. Sentry keeps raising prices. Developer experience tools (Linear, Vercel) set new UX standards.
📊 Market Evidence
The Market Gap
Sentry is powerful but complex and expensive. Bugsnag ($47/mo min) is enterprise-focused. No clean, flat-rate error tracker at $9-19/mo for small teams.
Revenue Examples
Raised $200M+, dominant market position
Open-source, growing fast
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sentry | $26-80/mo | Market leader, 90K+ GitHub stars, event-based pricing |
| Bugsnag | $47-249/mo | Enterprise error monitoring |
| Highlight.io | $0-150/mo | Open-source session replay + errors |
Market leader, 90K+ GitHub stars, event-based pricing
Enterprise error monitoring
Open-source session replay + errors
Launch Strategy
1) Open-source the client SDK for trust. 2) Launch on HN: 'I built the error tracker I wished Sentry was.' 3) Target r/webdev, r/node, r/nextjs. 4) Free tier drives adoption. 5) Comparison content: 'Sentry vs us: when you don't need an enterprise tool.'
🛠️ Recommended Tech Stack
Suggested tools and technologies to build this idea
Why this stack: Go handles high-throughput error event ingestion. ClickHouse stores and queries large volumes of error data efficiently. Lightweight SDKs minimize client-side overhead.
Strengths
- ✓Every production app needs error tracking
- ✓Clear pricing advantage vs Sentry
- ✓Open-source SDK builds trust
- ✓Very sticky — switching error trackers is painful
Risks
- ⚠Sentry could simplify pricing
- ⚠Open-source alternatives (GlitchTip) are free
- ⚠Need to handle high event ingestion volumes
Score Breakdown
Good market signals with room for growth
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
Sentry raised $200M+ — massive market
Multiple tools at significant MRR
More complex frontends = more errors
Sentry dominant but overbuilt for small teams
Moderate — ingestion pipeline is the hard part
Strong willingness to pay for production monitoring
🚀 Start Building
Copy a prompt into your favorite AI coding tool and start building this idea right now.
Build a SaaS product called "Error Tracking for Small Teams". ## Product Overview Lightweight error monitoring and crash reporting without enterprise pricing. $9-19/mo. ## Problem Sentry is the gold standard for error tracking but their pricing is confusing (event-based), the dashboard is overwhelming, and you can easily hit surprise bills. Small teams need error monitoring but not Sentry's complexity. ## Solution Clean, fast error tracker with smart grouping, source map support, and Slack/email alerts. Flat, predictable pricing instead of per-event billing. Set up in 2 minutes with one NPM package. ## Target Audience Indie hackers, small dev teams, startup engineers who don't want enterprise tooling ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors Sentry, Bugsnag, Highlight.io ## Key Risks to Address Sentry could simplify pricing Open-source alternatives (GlitchTip) are free Need to handle high event ingestion volumes ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.