* {apm-overview-ref-v}/transaction-spans.html[*Spans*] contain information about a specific code path that has been executed.
They measure from the start to end of an activity,
and they can have a parent/child relationship with other spans.
* {apm-overview-ref-v}/transactions.html[*Transactions*] are a special kind of span that have extra metadata associated with them.
You can think of transactions as the highest level of work you’re measuring within a service.
As an example, a transaction could be a request to your server, a batch job, or a custom transaction type.
* {apm-overview-ref-v}/errors.html[*Errors*] contain information about the original exception that occurred or about a log created when the exception occurred.
Having access to application-level insights with just a few clicks can drastically decrease the time you spend debugging errors, slow response times, and crashes.