shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Blackfire.io?

Continuous PHP/Python performance profiling, monitoring, and observability tooling - blackfire.io

Depends. Buy if your PHP (or Python) stack has real production performance pain and a team that will act on profiling data. Skip if your site is simple, your stack is polyglot, or you want broad APM — Tideways or Datadog fit better.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~30 public sources; independent review volume is thin (4 G2 reviews), and pricing details are largely unpublished.

Ratings

  • Value for moneyPublic pricing not visible in reviewed sources
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support-quality evidence in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free subscriptions

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Production planNot publicly disclosed

Best for

  • PHP teams with production performance pain
  • Symfony/Magento e-commerce backends
  • CI performance regression testing
  • Python API services

Not for

  • Simple sites without performance problems
  • Polyglot stacks (Node, Go, Java)
  • Teams wanting one APM for infra and logs
  • Solo devs needing only a free profiler

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Pricing page leads with a 'Production plan'; serious-use costs aren't publicly disclosed.

low

Free subscriptions only for open-source maintainers and students, not general use.

low

Vendor revenue estimates conflict wildly ($330K vs $2M) — small either way.

low

Owned by since 2021; roadmap now tied to Upsun platform.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Purpose-built PHP profiler with intuitive call-graph visualizations
  • Continuous monitoring, alerts, and CI performance builds
  • Adds code quality and security checks, including CVE scanning
  • Proven at and trivago scale
  • HIPAA and PCI compliance options available

Cons

  • PHP-centric; Python support exists but other languages don't
  • Only 4 G2 reviews — thin independent validation
  • Very small vendor; revenue estimated $330K–$2M
  • Absorbed into standalone focus uncertain
  • Broader APMs like Datadog cover more languages and infrastructure

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/26/2026 - 14 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x8review x4news x2

Key stats

  • Ease of use: 4/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money. Public pricing not visible in reviewed sources
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Intuitive visualizations praised; abundant tutorials exist
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Profiling, monitoring, CI builds, security and quality checks
  • Support quality. No support-quality evidence in sources
  • Security posture: 4/5. HIPAA/PCI compliance pages, CVE checks offered
  • 4 G2 reviews Very small independent review base
  • $330K–$2M Estimated revenue Conflicting third-party estimates
  • 2021 Acquired By Platform.sh (now Upsun)
  • Yes Free tier Open-source maintainers and students only

Pricing

Free subscriptions

$0

  • Open-source maintainers
  • Students and teachers

Production plan

Not publicly disclosed

  • Full continuous profiling and monitoring
  • Alerts and build notifications
  • Enterprise production use

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Independent feedback is sparse: PHP developers praise its profiling usefulness on Reddit and TrustRadius, while G2 coverage is tiny.

“Blackfire.io is super helpful in allowi...”
TrustRadius review
“I run a number of production servers”
Reddit, r/PHP
“Great tutorial on using blackfire.io to improve your php ...”
Reddit, r/PHP

Companies that use it

  • ⁷
  • trivago⁸
  • WPML
  • creativestyle
  • Balance Internet
Full analysis

Based on ~30 public sources; independent review volume is thin (4 G2 reviews), and pricing details are largely unpublished.

Best-in-class PHP profiler for teams chasing real performance wins; overkill for simple sites and non-PHP stacks.

Methodology

Based on ~30 public sources; independent review volume is thin (4 G2 reviews), and pricing details are largely unpublished.

Sources

  1. Blackfire Profilerblackfire.io
    official
  2. Pricingblackfire.io
    official
  3. Featuresblackfire.io
    official
  4. Code Security Checksblackfire.io
    official
  5. Blackfire HIPAA and PCI complianceblackfire.io
    official
  6. Open Source - Free subscriptionsblackfire.io
    official
  7. GOG Adopting Blackfire.io - Case Studyblackfire.io
    official
  8. The tale of Blackfire at trivagoblackfire.io
    official
  9. Blackfire Reviews 2026 (G2)g2.com
    review
  10. Compare blackfire.io vs Datadog (TrustRadius)trustradius.com
    review
  11. What services have you used for profiling? (Reddit r/PHP)reddit.com
    review
  12. How does Blackfire and Tideways compare? (Reddit r/PHP)reddit.com
    review
  13. Platform.sh is acquiring Blackfire.iovator.tv
    news
  14. Blackfire.io Revenue 2025: $330K Est. ARR (Getlatka)getlatka.com
    news

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