The top 6 mobile app bug reporting tools of 2023

​​There are many great options available, many of which are free or low cost. While you could build this functionality in-house, it’s worth checking out what existing solutions there are and deciding based on your needs. Here are a few things to consider:

• Do you want mobile app bug reporting for beta testers or for users in production?
• What workflow will work best for your team?
• What features are most helpful to you and your team?
• Is it intuitive enough for non-technical users to submit bug reports?
• Does the tool provide detailed crash reporting, stack traces, or relevant diagnostics?

Check out this list of mobile app bug reporting solutions, and choose the one that works best for your needs.

Bugsnag’s mobile bug reporting feature is a tool that allows users to report bugs directly from within a mobile app.

Real-time error tracking. Bugsnag allows the ability to track errors in real-time for fastest response times and simple issue resolution process.

Detailed diagnostics. Bugsnag offers comprehensive reports that include stack traces, device information, and even user data.

At-a-glance analysis of stability. Bugsnag shows a stability score that measures the percentage of error-free user sessions. This is particularly useful to non-technical users to get a feel for the performance of the app.

No shake functionality. You can report bugs, but Bugsnag doesn’t give users the option to shake their phone to report an issue. This means the reporting process could be less intuitive to the user and take more time to complete.

Limited custom functionality. Bugsnag has limited options when it comes to customization of user flows and filtering. There is no detailed session timeline page or session replay to see details in a user timeline.

The free product is limited and price can add up. The free tier goes up quickly by charging by monthly events and seats for error monitoring and by spans for real user monitoring.

Bugsnag offers three different pricing plans — Lite, Standard, and Enterprise.The pricing is based on a combination of user and event count. Both the Lite and Standard tiers can be customized based upon the amount of seats you need at 5, 15, 30, and 50 seats.

Buglife is a bug reporting tool that has an emphasis on visual context. Every reported bug has an auto-captured screenshot of the phone at the moment the bug was reported. One of Buglife’s key features is the ability to annotate submitted media to streamline the issue resolution process.

Annotated media. Buglife collects screenshots and recordings of bugs and allows users to annotate this media for issue resolution.

Collection of logs and other environmental data. Buglife not only collects screenshots and video recordings of reported bugs, it also collects logs, events, and environment data including the device, connection, memory, and battery percentage.

Integrations. Buglife integrates with several different project management and communication tools.

Few pricing plans. There is no free plan. There are only two tiers of pricing and both are more expensive than many other tools available on the market.

Lacks key crash reporting features. Buglife has logs and environment data for each bug reported, but it lacks other key crash analytics used to solve a bug like network calls, connectivity changes, views, taps, etc.

There are two pricing tiers of Buglife — Premium for $458 a month and Enterprise (custom pricing).

Bugsee is another bug reporting tool that heavily emphasizes the visual aspect of their bug reporting. Bugsee collects the bug report itself, videos of user actions, network traffic, and console logs.

Easy to set up. Bugsee doesn’t require much to set up. It’s an easy integration that only requires the installation of a lightweight SDK.

High quality video recordings. Bugsee takes video recordings of the user in any live app. They boast a continuously recorded high resolution 10 frames-per-second video of the app usage.

Easy to use for technical and non-technical users. The interface of Bugsee is easy to use and understand for both technical and non-technical users.

Limited video recordings. Although one of Bugsee’s leading features is their video recordings, the video recordings are only 60 seconds max.

Limited data retention. Bugsee only retains three days of data at the Lite tier and one month of data at the Pro tier. If there are over 50 unique devices used then you need a custom pricing plan.

Bugsee has three pricing tiers — a Lite tier, a Pro tier at $99, and a Custom tier with custom pricing.

Gleap is another bug reporting tool with a heavy emphasis on its visual offering. What makes Gleap unique is that it also supports live chat with users so that their questions can be answered in real-time. It also has an AI bot, Kai, that can automatically answer support questions on behalf of your team.

Intuitive interface. Many users report that they like Gleap’s UI and have an easy time using the app to report bugs and communicate.

Live chat. Gleap is unique because it has a live chat feature. The feature is designed to allow a mobile team to answer the questions of testers in real-time.

Feature request board. Gleap is big on user feedback via its feature request board. This channel is for users to submit feature requests and upvote the ones they like most.

Limited event tracking. There is only a finite number of events you can track across all pricing plans.

Inefficient pricing options. Many find Gleap’s pricing plans to be inefficient. For example, the base plan only supports one team member.

A lack of technical detail. Unlike other tools in this round-up, Gleap doesn’t have a crash reporting feature, so you’ll need to rely on videos and screenshots to solve bugs using this tool and supplement with another tool for technical detail.

Gleap has three pricing tiers. The Hobby tier is $23 a month, the Team tier is $119 a month, and the Enterprise tier has custom pricing. 

They offer a startup discount (50% off the first year that you use Gleap) across all three tiers.

Instabug offers a mobile app bug reporting feature that allows testers and users to report bugs in both development and production.

Easy to use. Many enjoy using Instabug bug reporting because you can report a bug and send feedback by shaking your device. You can also attach screenshots, screen recordings, and even voice notes for any issue.

Logging and metadata. Instabug captures console logs and metadata for each bug submitted.

In-app chats. You can send updates to users that reported an issue via in-app chats. This can be useful for getting more information from users when needed or quickly communicating that bugs have been resolved.

Pricing constraints. Many of the pricing plans are expensive and edge out small teams because of this. Instabug also lacks an ongoing free tier.

Lack of granularity and depth. Many of the bug reports lack the granularity and depth that users are looking for and it makes it difficult to solve bugs efficiently. 

There are four tiers of Instabug. The Basic tier for $249 a month, a Pro tier at $499 a month, an Ultimate tier at $749 a month, and an Enterprise tier with custom pricing.

Shake is a bug and crash reporting tool for mobile apps. Shake aims to give teams the most information possible so that they won’t have to ask the user for supplemental information.

Easy integration. The Shake integration can be added to your app within a matter of minutes. It’s also lightweight and won’t negatively impact your users in-app experience.

Auto-captured data. Shake sends data metrics to each bug and crash reported including console logs, history of taps, requests, and notifications.

Screenshots and videos. Shake automatically adds a screenshot and video to each bug report and allows users to submit supplemental media if necessary. 

Limitations for teams. Shake’s Free tier limits you to three seats and the Premium tier limits you to 4. This means there are limited cost-effective options for teams with more than just a few people.

Limited activity history. If you’re bug reporting at the Free tier, then there is a limit of the activity history you can view for an app.

Shake offers three pricing tiers. The Free tier is targeted toward indie developers, but limits the team on seats, integrations, and apps in the dashboard. 

The Premium tier is $160 a month and limits the user to 4 seats and 4 apps in the dashboard. 

The Organization tier, for larger agencies and companies, is $340 a month.

There is a diverse landscape of bug reporting tools, but finding the best bug reporting tool is dependent on your individual mobile teams needs. Choosing the right tool makes your mobile team streamlined and efficient and your users delighted.

While one size doesn’t fit all in the world of mobile bug reporting, a few things remain true for all teams — you need a tool that’s easy to use, cost-efficient, and effective. Make sure you keep these tenets in mind and thoroughly assess team and project needs before choosing a tool.

To learn how Embrace can help you better identify, reproduce, and eliminate bugs in your mobile app, request a demo today.