Focalboard
Sentry
| Feature | Focalboard | Sentry |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free only | Free / from $26/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | self-hosters, mattermost-users, small-teams, open-source-advocates | developers, frontend-teams, mobile-developers, startups |
| Founded | 2021 | 2012 |
| Kanban Boards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Table View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Filters | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hosting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Error Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Performance Monitoring | ✗ | ✓ |
| Session Replay | ✗ | ✓ |
| Source Maps | ✗ | ✓ |
| Release Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Alerting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Issue Triaging | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Focalboard Pros
- Completely free and open-source
- Self-hostable for data control
- Multiple view types (board, table, gallery)
- Integrates with Mattermost
✗ Focalboard Cons
- Limited to basic project tracking
- No built-in time tracking
- Smaller community than alternatives
✓ Sentry Pros
- Excellent error tracking with full stack traces
- Source map support for minified code
- Session replay shows exactly what users experienced
- Open-source self-hosted option available
- Supports 100+ platforms and frameworks
✗ Sentry Cons
- Event quotas can be exceeded during incidents
- Alert fatigue if not properly configured
- Performance monitoring less mature than Datadog
The Verdict
Focalboard is built for self hosters and mattermost users, with a focus on kanban-boards and table-view. Sentry targets developers and frontend teams and leads with error-tracking and performance-monitoring.
Focalboard uses custom enterprise pricing, while Sentry starts at $26/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Sentry edges out on user ratings (4.5 vs 4). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Feature-wise, Sentry offers broader built-in capabilities (8 features vs 6), while Focalboard takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Bottom line: Sentry has a slight overall edge — but if completely free and open-source matters most to you, Focalboard may still be the right call.