Sentry began when an anonymous user in the #django-users IRC channel asked how to record errors to a dashboard; Cramer answered with example code and turned it into a repository, django-db-log, in early 2008.

“An anonymous user asked a simple question: how would you record errors to a dashboard?”

The pool of early cloud-service users came from the open-source Sentry/django-db-log community that had already formed over the preceding five years of the project being self-hosted for free, not from any acquisition campaign.

“Sentry existed for about five years before we launched the cloud service.”

Cramer recalls launching the paid-only cloud service within a few weeks of starting development on it, entry-priced at $7/month, drawing on the existing open-source user base rather than a distinct acquisition push. He is explicit that his memory of the exact timing is imprecise.

“I recall launching Sentry's cloud service, a paid-only offering, to customers within a few weeks of starting development on it.”