| Protocol | What it tracks | How data arrives |
|---|---|---|
| Events | User behavior — page views, signups, purchases, feature usage | SDKs (track, identify, group, revenue) |
| Logs | Application behavior — errors, warnings, system messages | SDKs (log, logError, logInfo, etc.) |
| Snapshots | External data — GitHub stars, Shopify orders, business metrics | Integrations (scheduled pulls) |
Events
Events are the product analytics protocol. Every event is tied to a user and a device. Events support identity resolution (identify), session tracking, super properties, and all the breakdowns and aggregations in Tell’s analytics.
Read more: Events & Properties | Users & Identity | Sessions
Logs
Logs are the structured logging protocol. Logs are tied to a service and a severity level, not a user. They share a session ID with events for correlation — you can see what your app was doing when a user hit a problem — but they don’t carry user identity or device context. Read more: LogsSnapshots
Snapshots pull data from external services on a schedule via integrations. No SDK needed — connect a service like GitHub or Shopify and Tell captures metrics over time automatically. Read more: IntegrationsSDKs
Events and logs are sent through the same SDK. Pick the one for your platform:JavaScript / TypeScript
Node.js, browsers, React, Next.js
Go
Backend services
Swift
iOS, macOS
Flutter
Cross-platform mobile
Rust
Rust services
C++
Native applications