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Error tracking shows captured application errors for investigation; uptime monitoring checks whether an endpoint responds; synthetic monitoring runs scheduled tests of selected functionality. They answer different questions, so a service can pass an uptime check while a login or checkout flow is broken.
What does error tracking detect?
Error tracking collects errors emitted by an instrumented application and groups or presents them so a team can investigate and triage them. Depending on the product and instrumentation, captured context may come from server, browser, mobile, or serverless applications.
It answers: What application errors were captured, and what should engineers investigate? It does not automatically verify that every page or workflow works. A successful page load also does not prove that no errors occurred elsewhere in the application.
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What does uptime monitoring detect?
Basic uptime monitoring sends scheduled requests to an endpoint and checks conditions such as its response status, response time, or expected content. It helps answer: Is the service or endpoint reachable and responding within the limits we set?
- A failed request can indicate an outage or an endpoint that is not responding as expected.
- A slow response can reveal performance degradation against the configured threshold.
- A content check can catch some responses that return successfully but do not contain the expected text.
A basic ping is a limited test, not proof that the application works. New Relic’s documentation says a ping detects outages, not broken functionality, and recommends treating it as an early signal rather than proof the app works. A server may return a healthy status even when JavaScript fails to load or a user cannot complete a transaction. New Relic’s synthetic monitoring use cases explain this distinction.
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What does synthetic monitoring detect?
Synthetic monitoring runs scheduled requests or scripted API and browser tests from selected locations. A check can be as simple as a ping, or it can assert API behavior, inspect rendered page elements, or follow a multi-step journey such as signing in or checking out.
It answers: Does this specific, configured behavior work when the test runs? Because checks are scheduled, they can run even when few or no real users are visiting a site. Public locations can check an external service; private locations can be used for internal applications. New Relic describes these options and examples in its synthetic monitoring introduction and use-case guide.
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A synthetic check only covers the path and assertions it is configured to exercise. It is test traffic, not a record of what actual users did. A passing checkout test does not establish that every user’s checkout succeeded; a failing test identifies a problem with the tested journey, but does not by itself explain the underlying cause.
How the three approaches differ
| Approach | What it observes | What it can reveal | Important limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Error tracking | Errors emitted by an instrumented application and captured by the service | Captured error occurrences and groups for investigation; additional context depends on product and instrumentation | It depends on instrumentation and captured errors; it does not verify every user journey. |
| Basic uptime monitoring | Scheduled endpoint requests checked against conditions such as status, response time, or content | Outages, slow responses, and some unexpected endpoint responses | An endpoint can respond while user-facing functionality is broken. |
| Synthetic monitoring | Scheduled requests or scripted API and browser journeys from selected locations | Endpoint health and selected content, API behavior, page rendering, or multi-step flows | It tests only the configured paths and assertions; it does not record actual user behavior. |
Why a service can be up while a workflow is broken
Imagine that a homepage returns a healthy status code, but its JavaScript bundle fails to load. A basic uptime check may pass because the endpoint responded. A browser synthetic test that expects a working page element could fail. If the application also emits an error that its instrumentation captures, error tracking may give engineers a separate signal to investigate.
These signals complement one another: the synthetic result says a configured path failed, while captured errors can help with investigation. A synthetic failure does not necessarily generate an error-tracking event, and an error event does not by itself prove that a particular user journey failed.
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Use endpoint checks for broad availability coverage
Basic checks are useful across many endpoints because they answer a narrow, repeatable question: did this endpoint respond according to its configured conditions? Set thresholds that reflect the service’s requirements, and avoid treating a successful ping as a full application test.
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Use scripted tests for important user paths
Choose API assertions or browser journeys when a status check cannot establish the behavior you care about—for example, whether sign-in succeeds or a checkout reaches its confirmation step. Browser scripts require more setup and are more resource-intensive than simple pings, so reserve them for flows whose failure matters enough to justify writing and maintaining the test. New Relic describes both simple pings and scripted checks in its synthetic monitoring use-case guide.
Use error tracking to investigate captured application failures
Instrument the application so errors can be captured and reviewed. Error tracking is most useful when a test or user-visible symptom needs technical investigation, but its usefulness depends on what the application emits and what the service records.
Account for coverage, upkeep, and alert noise
Monitoring choices involve more than test depth. Consider the locations available for public or private checks, the work required to instrument applications or maintain scripts, test credentials and accounts, run frequency, and how results are routed or confirmed before alerting. These operational details vary by product; do not assume a failure threshold or alert policy documented by one vendor applies to another.
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Synthetic monitoring runs test traffic on a schedule, against paths chosen in advance. Real-user monitoring observes how actual traffic behaves. Synthetic checks can expose a selected failure before real users arrive or in a low-traffic region; real-user data shows what happened across the users and sessions that were actually observed. Neither signal substitutes for the other.
Can you use all three together?
Yes. A practical combination is broad endpoint checks for reachability, a small number of scripted tests for business-critical journeys, and error tracking for captured application errors that need triage. The balance depends on which failures matter, the paths worth testing, and the effort required to keep instrumentation and scripts useful.
