Why I Built Rails Error Dashboard (And Why You Might Want to Self-Host Too)

I needed error tracking for my side project but wanted complete control over my data and monitoring stack. So I built Rails Error Dashboard — a self-hosted, open-source alternative to commercial services. It’s in beta (v0.1.20), production-ready with 850+ tests, and completely free. Try the live demo → The Real Problem: It’s Not About the Money Let me be honest upfront: Most error tracking services have generous free tiers. Sentry: Free up to 5,000 errors/month Rollbar: Free up to 5,000 events/month Bugsnag: Free tier available Honeybadger: Free for solo developers For a small side project, these free tiers work fine. I could have used any of them for $0. So why did I build my own? What Actually Bothered Me I run Audio Intelli — an AI platform that transforms audio into searchable intelligence — on a Raspberry Pi 5 for testing. My entire server costs $80 one-time. When I looked at error tracking options, the free tiers seemed great at first. But then I noticed: When I looked at error t