# You don’t need to pick one: how Sentry and OpenTelemetry work together

[Sentry](https://yomu.fyi/company/sentry) · Lazar Nikolov · May 27, 2026

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

Integrating Sentry into systems already instrumented with OpenTelemetry does not require replacing existing backend SDKs or rewriting service instrumentation. A hybrid architecture pairs the Sentry SDK on the frontend for browser tracing, Session Replay, and logs with existing OpenTelemetry configurations across backend services. Frontend requests propagate W3C traceparent headers to backend endpoints, which then export traces and logs over OTLP directly to Sentry endpoints or through an intermediate OpenTelemetry Collector. Ingested telemetry attaches backend spans and standard Python logs to the initial frontend user actions, establishing a unified distributed trace across the entire request path. Although Sentry's OTLP ingest currently supports logs and traces rather than metrics, dedicated backend Sentry SDKs remain an optional addition later for backend exception tracking and profiling.

## Context

Teams evaluating Sentry often face the dilemma of whether they must replace their existing backend OpenTelemetry instrumentation and collectors with Sentry SDKs to achieve end-to-end distributed tracing.

## Approach / What changed

Deploy the Sentry SDK on the frontend for browser-level context and error capture while retaining OpenTelemetry on the backend, connecting both via W3C traceparent header propagation and exporting backend OTLP traces and logs directly or through an OpenTelemetry Collector to Sentry.

## Takeaways

- Sentry's OTLP ingest endpoint supports logs and traces but does not currently support metrics.
- Direct OTLP export fits single-service setups with minimal moving parts, while OpenTelemetry Collector forwarding enables batching, sampling, and routing across multiple Sentry projects or vendors.
- OpenTelemetry does not capture backend exceptions for Sentry error monitoring on its own; capturing backend exceptions and linking them to traces requires the Sentry backend SDK.

**Tags:** [Architecture](https://yomu.fyi/topic/architecture), [Monitoring](https://yomu.fyi/topic/monitoring), [Observability](https://yomu.fyi/topic/observability), [Python](https://yomu.fyi/topic/python)

[Read original post](https://blog.sentry.io/sentry-opentelemetry-work-together)