Explore the top JavaScript debugging tools in 2025. Compare features and use cases to find the best solution for fixing errors and improving performance.
JavaScript powers most modern web and mobile applications, enabling interactive experiences and complex workflows. But debugging and monitoring JavaScript can be notoriously difficult—issues range from silent exceptions and performance bottlenecks to user interactions that are hard to reproduce.
Choosing the right JavaScript debugging tool is essential for improving reliability, optimizing performance, and ensuring seamless user journeys. The right solution should combine error detection, performance monitoring, and real user insights, giving development teams the context they need to fix issues quickly.
This guide explores the 10 best JavaScript debugging tools in 2025, breaking down their strengths, limitations, and best use cases—and why Embrace is a top choice for teams who want deep visibility into errors, sessions, and user flows.
Quick Comparison: Best JavaScript Debugging Tools
| Tool | Best For | Key Features |
| Embrace | Full user journey visibility and comprehensive monitoring | RUM, error tracking, session timelines, Core Web Vitals |
| Sentry | Detailed error tracking and rapid debugging | Error monitoring, session replay, performance tracing |
| BugSnag | Real-time error detection and customizable workflows | Error tracking, root cause analysis, performance metrics |
| New Relic | Full-stack observability | Browser RUM, error grouping, dashboards |
| Datadog | Unified analytics across frontend & backend | APM, RUM, session replay, dashboards |
| Dynatrace | AI-powered enterprise monitoring | DEM, AI-driven root cause analysis, tracing |
| Splunk Observability | Scalable error monitoring | DEM, error tracking, session replay |
| Firebase Performance | Real-time frontend monitoring | Network and render tracking, traces |
| Instabug | In-app debugging and feedback | Error tracking, session replay, user feedback |
| Grafana | Open-source visualization | RUM, error tracking, customizable dashboards |
- Embrace
Embrace provides user-focused observability for web and mobile applications, giving teams end-to-end visibility into JavaScript errors, sessions, and performance bottlenecks. It captures 100% of user sessions, surfaces Core Web Vitals, and connects frontend issues directly to real user journeys. Unlike traditional error trackers, Embrace ties debugging insights to actual user experiences.
Best for: Teams that need complete user journey visibility, Core Web Vitals tracking, and real user monitoring for JavaScript.
Key Features:
- Real User Monitoring (RUM) for web and mobile
- JavaScript error and exception tracking
- Session timelines and user journey analysis
- Core Web Vitals and custom metrics
- Network insights and troubleshooting
- OpenTelemetry integration for data flexibility
- Sentry
Sentry offers error tracking and performance monitoring for JavaScript, helping developers debug issues with detailed context. It includes session replay for visual debugging and integrates easily into developer workflows.
Best for: Teams that need error-focused monitoring and rapid debugging.
Key Features:
- Error monitoring and debugging for JavaScript
- Session replay for visual debugging
- Performance tracing for slow transactions
- Integrations with GitHub, Slack, Jira
- Custom alerts and automated triage
- BugSnag
BugSnag provides real-time error monitoring and performance metrics for JavaScript apps. It allows teams to detect, prioritize, and resolve issues efficiently with customizable workflows.
Best for: Agile teams wanting flexible error detection and prioritization.
Key Features:
- Real-time error monitoring for JavaScript
- Root cause analysis with breadcrumbs and metadata
- Customizable filters and notifications
- Performance monitoring for frontend metrics
- OpenTelemetry compatibility
- New Relic
New Relic delivers full-stack observability with browser monitoring for JavaScript. It helps teams track frontend performance, group errors, and correlate metrics across the stack.
Best for: Enterprises seeking comprehensive frontend + backend observability.
Key Features:
- Browser RUM for JavaScript
- Error tracking and grouping
- Custom dashboards and alerting
- OpenTelemetry integration
- Performance metrics and tracing
- Datadog
Datadog provides end-to-end observability, allowing teams to monitor JavaScript alongside backend systems. It combines RUM, error tracking, and session replay for a complete debugging workflow.
Best for: Teams wanting to correlate JavaScript performance with backend data.
Key Features:
- Browser RUM for JavaScript
- Error and exception tracking
- Session replay and product analytics
- Custom dashboards and alerts
- OpenTelemetry support
- Dynatrace
Dynatrace uses AI-driven analytics to monitor JavaScript performance at scale. Its strength is proactive issue detection with real user and synthetic monitoring.
Best for: Enterprises with complex, cloud-native JavaScript applications.
Key Features:
- Real user and synthetic monitoring
- JavaScript error and performance tracking
- AI-driven root cause analysis
- Session replay and user visualization
- Cloud-native integrations
- Splunk Observability Cloud
Splunk offers digital experience monitoring for JavaScript apps, with scalable error tracking and session insights. It excels at connecting frontend health to business metrics.
Best for: Teams that need scalable monitoring across large user bases.
Key Features:
- Digital experience monitoring (DEM)
- JavaScript error and exception tracking
- Session replay and user journey analysis
- Integration with AppDynamics and OpenTelemetry
- Custom dashboards and alerts
- Firebase Performance Monitoring
Firebase provides lightweight monitoring for JavaScript apps with real-time insights. It’s designed for fast setup and tracking network requests and rendering performance.
Best for: Teams wanting simple, real-time debugging with minimal setup.
Key Features:
- Real-time network request tracking
- Screen rendering and load times
- Custom performance traces
- Dashboards by device, country, or version
- Automated monitoring of HTTP/S requests
- Instabug
Instabug combines debugging, performance monitoring, and user feedback collection for web and mobile apps. It supports JavaScript error tracking with session replay and feedback tools.
Best for: Teams that want debugging plus in-app user insights.
Key Features:
- JavaScript error and crash reporting
- Session replay for debugging context
- Performance monitoring and analytics
- User feedback and surveys
- Release management and integrations
- Grafana
Grafana offers open-source visualization and observability for JavaScript performance. It allows teams to create custom dashboards and integrate with telemetry tools like OpenTelemetry and Prometheus.
Best for: Teams seeking flexible, open-source monitoring.
Key Features:
- Frontend observability with RUM
- Error tracking for JavaScript apps
- Custom dashboards and alerts
- Prometheus & OpenTelemetry support
- Incident response and SLO management
Features to Look for in JavaScript Debugging Tools
When choosing a debugging solution for JavaScript, it’s important to look beyond basic error logs. The best tools combine error detection with performance monitoring and user context to streamline debugging.
Key features include:
- Real User Monitoring (RUM): See how JavaScript performs for real users across devices and geographies.
- Session Timelines & Replay: Recreate the exact sequence leading to an error or performance issue.
- Error Grouping & Prioritization: Automatically group recurring issues to cut down noise.
- Performance Metrics: Track load times, Core Web Vitals, and slow network requests.
- AI or Contextual Analysis: Tools like Embrace and Dynatrace help teams move from detection to prevention.
- OpenTelemetry Support: Ensure flexibility and data ownership for long-term observability.
These features give teams not just error visibility, but actionable insights to improve app stability and user experience.
Conclusion
The right debugging tool depends on your stack, scale, and workflows. Lightweight options like Firebase Performance Monitoring are great for quick setups, while enterprise platforms like New Relic, Datadog, Dynatrace, and Splunk deliver end-to-end observability. Sentry and BugSnag provide error-focused debugging for agile teams, and Grafana supports open-source flexibility. Instabug adds user feedback into the debugging loop for product-driven teams.
Ultimately, the best tools share common capabilities: real user monitoring, error grouping, session replay, and performance metrics. These enable teams to see how users truly experience their JavaScript applications and resolve issues before they scale.
If your team wants more than stack traces—and instead needs full visibility into JavaScript performance, errors, and user journeys—Embrace is the clear choice. By unifying web and mobile observability, it empowers engineering teams to move from reactive debugging to proactive performance management.