elmah.io vs. Stackify Retrace

Welcome to elmah.io

You probably ended up on this page while searching for differences between elmah.io and Stackify Retrace. Or maybe you are in the process of finding the best error monitoring solution for your websites and services. Retrace is BMC's application performance management and error tracking product, while elmah.io focuses solely on being the deepest possible integration into the .NET and JavaScript ecosystem for error logging and uptime monitoring.

A quick disclaimer before we start digging into the details. We have all seen these types of pages which exist only to highlight all of the downsides of alternative products. While we would like you to pick elmah.io for your error monitoring needs, we don't want users signing up with the wrong expectations. These pages are our attempt to paint an honest picture of both elmah.io's upsides and downsides compared to Retrace. With that out of the way, let's get started!

Stackify Retrace is reaching end of life

BMC has announced that Retrace reaches end of life on March 31, 2027. The product is now in maintenance mode — no new features are being added, and after the EOL date the platform will no longer be accessible. If you're currently on Retrace, now is a good time to start planning where your error logging goes next.

Feature	elmah.io	Retrace
Error Logging
New error detection
Clientside error logging
Deployment tracking
Uptime monitoring
Heartbeats
MCP Server
Anomaly Detection (ML)
Performance Monitoring
Cloud-hosted
Self-hosted
Price/mo (annual billing)	$17 - $269	Not published

Retrace's pricing page no longer lists plans or prices — it redirects straight to BMC's end-of-life notice.

FAQ

Is Stackify Retrace shutting down?

Yes. BMC, the company behind Retrace, has announced end of life for March 31, 2027. Until then, Retrace is in maintenance mode (critical fixes and security updates only, no new features), and after that date the platform won't be accessible at all. BMC is directing existing customers toward BMC Helix AIOps instead.

Why isn't elmah.io free?

We offer a free trial, so you can sign up and try out elmah.io without ever needing to input a credit card. We believe that software should be something you pay for. elmah.io is a bootstrapped company, meaning the funding we get is when people sign up and pay for elmah.io. This gives us the best control over the direction we want to go, without investors to constantly keep happy by increasing prices.

Does elmah.io support other languages than .NET and JavaScript?

We have decided to become the best error logging and uptime monitoring service for Microsoft .NET developers. This means that we focus on Microsoft's stack only. By focusing on .NET on the server and JavaScript on the client only, we can keep our focus on making the deepest integration into this ecosystem out there, with native integrations for all major .NET web and logging frameworks. In other words, if you need to monitor a backend in a language other than .NET, elmah.io is not the best choice for you.

What if I need both error logging and performance monitoring?

Unlike Retrace, elmah.io doesn't offer application performance monitoring (APM) or code-level profiling. This may change at some point, but for now, we have focused our time on error logging, uptime monitoring, deployment tracking, and heartbeats monitoring. We believe in picking the best tool for the job. elmah.io works together with all major APM tools out there, making it possible to use elmah.io's powerful platform for error monitoring and something else for APM.

Can I move from Stackify Retrace to elmah.io?

Yes. elmah.io has native integrations for all major .NET web and logging frameworks (ASP.NET Core, log4net, NLog, Serilog, and more), so switching from Retrace's .NET client is usually a matter of swapping a few lines of configuration. With Retrace's end of life coming up in 2027, reach out to our support if you'd like help planning the migration sooner rather than later.

Is elmah.io open source?

Yes and no. The persistence part and the elmah.io website are not open source. We open sourced a couple of the components we have written in order to make elmah.io work, as well as our NuGet packages for logging errors to elmah.io.

A lot of the internals of elmah.io are based on open source and we love making contributions to other projects.

Here's what our customers say

Don't just take our word for it. Here's what some of our users have to say about elmah.io:

"elmah.io's visuals and robust metrics give us invaluable insight into the general health of our systems"

Armando Monzon

Director of Software Development at ONEIL

"The ease of use is nuts. In under 10 minutes, I switched my logging from file to elmah.io. This is going to be a game-changer."

Mitchel Sellers

Microsoft MVP

"elmah.io has enabled quicker and more accurate fixes and ultimately better customer service."

Paul Johnson

Managing Director at Insurance Data Solutions

"If you would take elmah.io away from our business now, it would be like chopping off an arm. Great product guys!"

Matt Ross

CEO at Tronik

Get started with elmah.io

elmah.io is the easy error logging and uptime monitoring service for .NET. Take back control of your errors with support for all .NET web and logging frameworks.

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