diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/index.client.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/index.client.ts
index b5993fb734ab..a7bfca1f2660 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/src/index.client.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/index.client.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { addIntegration, UserIntegrations } from './utils/userIntegrations';
 
 export * from '@sentry/react';
 export { nextRouterInstrumentation } from './performance/client';
+export { captureUnderscoreErrorException } from './utils/_error';
 
 export { Integrations };
 
diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/index.server.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/index.server.ts
index e2a77553c53d..76094b8deb0b 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/src/index.server.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/index.server.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import { NextjsOptions } from './utils/nextjsOptions';
 import { addIntegration } from './utils/userIntegrations';
 
 export * from '@sentry/node';
+export { captureUnderscoreErrorException } from './utils/_error';
 
 // Here we want to make sure to only include what doesn't have browser specifics
 // because or SSR of next.js we can only use this.
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ export function init(options: NextjsOptions): void {
     return event.type === 'transaction' && event.transaction === '/404' ? null : event;
   };
 
-  filterTransactions.id = 'NextServer404Filter';
+  filterTransactions.id = 'NextServer404TransactionFilter';
 
   configureScope(scope => {
     scope.setTag('runtime', 'node');
diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/utils/_error.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/utils/_error.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8e47e8fec8ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/utils/_error.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import { captureException, withScope } from '@sentry/core';
+import { getCurrentHub } from '@sentry/hub';
+import { addExceptionMechanism, addRequestDataToEvent, objectify } from '@sentry/utils';
+import { NextPageContext } from 'next';
+
+type ContextOrProps = {
+  [key: string]: unknown;
+  req?: NextPageContext['req'];
+  res?: NextPageContext['res'];
+  err?: NextPageContext['err'] | string;
+  statusCode?: number;
+};
+
+/** Platform-agnostic version of `flush` */
+function flush(timeout?: number): PromiseLike<boolean> {
+  const client = getCurrentHub().getClient();
+  return client ? client.flush(timeout) : Promise.resolve(false);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Capture the exception passed by nextjs to the `_error` page, adding context data as appropriate.
+ *
+ * @param contextOrProps The data passed to either `getInitialProps` or `render` by nextjs
+ */
+export async function captureUnderscoreErrorException(contextOrProps: ContextOrProps): Promise<void> {
+  const { req, res, err } = contextOrProps;
+
+  // 404s (and other 400-y friends) can trigger `_error`, but we don't want to send them to Sentry
+  const statusCode = (res && res.statusCode) || contextOrProps.statusCode;
+  if (statusCode && statusCode < 500) {
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  }
+
+  // Nextjs only passes the pathname in the context data given to `getInitialProps`, not the main render function, but
+  // unlike `req` and `res`, for which that also applies, it passes it on both server and client.
+  //
+  // TODO: This check is only necessary because of the workaround for https://github.com/vercel/next.js/issues/8592
+  // explained below. Once that's fixed, we'll have to keep the `inGetInitialProps` check, because lots of people will
+  // still call this function in their custom error component's `render` function, but we can get rid of the check for
+  // `err` and just always bail if we're not in `getInitialProps`.
+  const inGetInitialProps = contextOrProps.pathname !== undefined;
+  if (!inGetInitialProps && !err) {
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  }
+
+  withScope(scope => {
+    scope.addEventProcessor(event => {
+      addExceptionMechanism(event, {
+        type: 'instrument',
+        handled: true,
+        data: {
+          // TODO: Get rid of second half of ternary once https://github.com/vercel/next.js/issues/8592 is fixed.
+          function: inGetInitialProps ? '_error.getInitialProps' : '_error.customErrorComponent',
+        },
+      });
+      return event;
+    });
+
+    if (req) {
+      scope.addEventProcessor(event => addRequestDataToEvent(event, req));
+    }
+
+    // If third-party libraries (or users themselves) throw something falsy, we want to capture it as a message (which
+    // is what passing a string to `captureException` will wind up doing)
+    const finalError = err || `_error.js called with falsy error (${err})`;
+
+    // In case we have a primitive, wrap it in the equivalent wrapper class (string -> String, etc.) so that we can
+    // store a seen flag on it. (Because of https://github.com/vercel/next.js/issues/8592, it can happen that the custom
+    // error component's `getInitialProps` won't have run, so we have people call this function in their error
+    // component's main render function in addition to in its `getInitialProps`, just in case. By forcing it to be an
+    // object, we can flag it as seen, so that if we hit this a second time, we can no-op.)
+    captureException(objectify(finalError));
+  });
+
+  // In case this is being run as part of a serverless function (as is the case with the server half of nextjs apps
+  // deployed to vercel), make sure the error gets sent to Sentry before the lambda exits.
+  await flush(2000);
+}