Crashpad review
A self-hosted capture library for teams building their own crash-reporting pipeline.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Crashpad is an open-source client-side library from The Chromium Project for applications that need to capture and transmit crash reports. Developers embed it in an application; it is not a hosted crash analytics dashboard or a complete game crash-reporting service. Its fit is strongest for teams that want control over dump capture and storage in a self-hosted pipeline. It supports Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, making it relevant to applications targeting those platforms, subject to operating-system limitations on cross-bitted requests and dumps.
Crashpad separates crash handling from the client application: a handler process captures the client’s state after a crash and writes a postmortem dump to a local database. Applications can also request process-state dumps on demand for diagnostics. Reports can be transmitted to an upstream collection server when configured, and per-process key/value metadata can be attached; extensibility points let applications add their own metadata. This makes Crashpad a capture component rather than an end-to-end workflow: teams need to integrate it into their applications and provide or connect the collection destination. The library itself does not supply a built-in analysis workflow.
As open-source software deployed in a self-hosted setup, Crashpad is a fit for engineering teams prepared to own integration and the surrounding collection pipeline, rather than buyers seeking a turnkey service. Documentation and community are the listed support channels. Teams looking for a hosted dashboard or built-in crash analysis should choose a complete crash-reporting service instead. For a game team with an existing pipeline and a need to capture process state locally before optional transmission, Crashpad offers a focused building block; teams expecting a complete game-specific reporting product should look elsewhere.
Crashpad pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Captures postmortem and on-demand process-state dumps
- Stores dumps locally and can transmit them to a configured server
- Supports per-process metadata and a separate crash-handler process
- Where it doesn't
- Requires application integration rather than offering a ready-made service
- Does not include a built-in crash-analysis workflow
- Sending reports depends on configuring an upstream collection server
Crashpad fact sheet, pricing and score →
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