Datadog
Observability platform for metrics, logs, and traces
highlight.io
Open-source fullstack monitoring with session replay and error tracking
Modern monitoring platform combining session replay, error tracking, logging, and traces in one cohesive solution. Built for developers who need deep visibility into frontend and backend issues.
Overview
Modern Monitoring for Modern Development
highlight.io is a fullstack monitoring platform designed to replace outdated, fragmented observability tools. It unifies session replay, error monitoring, logging, and distributed tracing into a single cohesive experience, giving developers complete visibility from user interactions to backend operations.
Comprehensive Observability
The platform captures high-fidelity DOM-based session replays powered by rrweb, showing every user interaction, network request, and console log. Error monitoring features customizable grouping and alerting rules, while embedded session replay provides context for every error. Server-side logging and tracing capabilities offer powerful search across properties, with automatic correlation to frontend sessions and errors.
Flexible Deployment
highlight.io offers three deployment options: a hosted cloud service (free to start), a hobby self-hosted instance via Docker for smaller workloads (<10k sessions, <50k errors monthly), and enterprise self-hosted deployments for production-scale needs. Installation requires just a few lines of code across supported SDKs, making integration straightforward regardless of your stack.
Highlights
High-fidelity DOM-based session replay with network requests and console logs
Unified error monitoring with customizable grouping and embedded session context
Fullstack observability linking frontend sessions to backend logs and traces
Flexible deployment: hosted cloud, hobby Docker setup, or enterprise self-hosted
Pros
- Cohesive platform eliminates tool fragmentation across frontend and backend monitoring
- Session replay provides rich context for debugging errors and user issues
- Self-hosting option available with Docker for data sovereignty and cost control
- Automatic correlation between sessions, errors, logs, and traces simplifies root cause analysis
Considerations
- Hobby self-hosted deployment limited to 10k sessions and 50k errors monthly
- Relatively newer platform compared to established monitoring vendors
- Requires at least 8GB RAM and 4 CPUs for self-hosted hobby instance
- Feature maturity may vary across different SDK implementations
Managed products teams compare with
When teams consider highlight.io, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.
Fit guide
Great for
- Teams needing unified visibility across frontend user sessions and backend services
- Developers debugging complex issues requiring context from user interactions to server logs
- Organizations wanting self-hosted monitoring with modern session replay capabilities
- Startups seeking comprehensive monitoring without vendor lock-in or fragmented tooling
Not ideal when
- High-volume production workloads exceeding hobby tier limits without enterprise deployment
- Teams requiring only basic error tracking without session replay overhead
- Organizations with strict requirements for battle-tested, decade-old monitoring platforms
- Projects needing monitoring for languages or frameworks without SDK support yet
How teams use it
Debugging User-Reported Bugs
Replay exact user sessions showing interactions, network calls, and console logs leading to errors, eliminating guesswork in reproduction.
Correlating Frontend Errors to Backend Issues
Trace errors from browser sessions through backend logs and traces to identify root causes across the entire stack in one platform.
Self-Hosted Monitoring for Compliance
Deploy monitoring infrastructure on-premises or in private cloud to maintain data sovereignty while gaining modern observability features.
Proactive Performance Monitoring
Set custom alert thresholds on logs and traces, then investigate alerts with embedded session replay and error context for rapid resolution.
Tech snapshot
TypeScript71%
Go16%
JavaScript8%
Python1%
Java1%
CSS1%
Frequently asked questions
What deployment options does highlight.io support?
Three options: hosted cloud (free tier available), hobby self-hosted via Docker for <10k sessions and <50k errors monthly, and enterprise self-hosted for production-scale deployments with support.
What are the minimum requirements for self-hosting?
The hobby Docker deployment requires at least 8GB RAM, 4 CPUs, and 64GB disk space. Enterprise deployments have different requirements based on scale.
How does session replay work?
highlight.io uses rrweb to capture DOM-based high-fidelity replays of user sessions, including interactions, network requests, console logs, and errors without video recording.
Can I correlate frontend sessions with backend logs?
Yes, highlight.io automatically links sessions, errors, logs, and traces, allowing you to see backend activity associated with any frontend session or error.
What SDKs are available?
highlight.io supports a growing list of SDKs for frontend and backend languages. Check the sdk directory in the repository or the getting started guide in the documentation for current SDK availability.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 9,088
- Watchers
- 9,088
- Forks
- 472
Repo age5 years old
Last commit2 weeks ago
Self-hostingSupported
Primary languageTypeScript
Last synced 3 hours ago