Apica vs Cribl comparison

Apica and Cribl are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Apica is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.9, while Cribl is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.3. Apica holds a 0.3% mindshare in APM, compared to Cribl’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Apica users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Cribl users who would recommend it.

Apica

Read 10 Apica reviews

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400 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Cribl

Read 10 Cribl reviews

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322 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Apica

Cribl

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 24, 2024

Apica and Cribl both operate in the domain of IT monitoring and data management, offering distinct advantages tailored to different needs. Apica's strength lies in its flexible, comprehensive monitoring capabilities, particularly in synthetic monitoring. Cribl, on the other hand, leads in data processing and transformation efficiency within complex data environments.

Features: Apica provides extensive monitoring capabilities across multiple protocols, robust alerting and reporting, and flexible scripting options that mirror customer actions efficiently. Cribl excels in real-time data transformation, streamlining log collection and offering data routing and reduction features; its integration with various SIEMs enhances its utility in diverse data environments.

Room for Improvement: Apica needs advancements in alerting practices, interface speed, and browser agent versions, while simplifying API access. Cribl should enhance its logging capabilities, user interface flexibility, and historical data management, with better integration and documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Apica offers versatility in hybrid and cloud environments, with high praise for its responsive support team and customization assistance. Cribl is favored for secure, on-premises deployments, though some users report potential support delays, yet commend its adaptability in secure settings.

Pricing and ROI: Apica's pricing on checks is viewed as reasonable, offering cost-effectiveness and enhancing ROI through reduced operational costs and downtime. Cribl, while not the cheapest, provides scalable solutions offering value proportional to data volume, presenting a cost-effective alternative to pricier enterprise options.

To learn more, read our detailed Apica vs. Cribl Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Cribl

January 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Apica

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

18th

Ranking in Log Management

17th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Operations Analytics (6th)

Cribl

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

14th

Ranking in Log Management

11th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Integration (16th), Cloud Data Integration (12th), Data Preparation Tools (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Apica is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cribl is 0.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Noorul Mustafa Khan

Senior Associate Vice President at Wells Fargo

Validates content and perform login functionalities on front-end applications

First of all, it will depend on the type of application. If it's a web application, I would recommend implementing it in your lower environment first and checking for functionality. If you are satisfied, then push it to the higher environments. Apica has detected server-related issues and various web application-related issues promptly, alerting us in a timely manner. This allowed us to implement automation within our processes, ensuring comprehensive performance monitoring from failure detection to recovery. It was pretty easy to learn. I attended a couple of sessions with team members. They provided knowledge transfer, which took about a week. After that, I was able to onboard the company. However, for minor issues, I would still contact them. If you're a quick learner, it could take just a couple of weeks to get the hang of it. You can integrate Apica architect into your system because they provide APIs. With these APIs, you can utilize Apica where and when it's needed. For instance, you can create your own microservices to automate tasks or integrate it with tools like Postman. This flexibility allows you to embed Apica into various automation processes or any other functionalities you require. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

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Phanindra Ponnada

Splunk SME at Sbase Technologies India PVT Lmtd

Provides good documentation and worth the investment

As of now, there are some environments where some organizations are still on legacy infrastructure, so they are still in virtual environments and are using old versions of devices. Some companies bought Splunk, while others bought Cribl for a very low-priced license. There are some protocols to connect from Cribl to Splunk. I understand Cribl has come into the market very recently, but the tool might have had a picture in its mind where organizations might also have some legacy infrastructure. In the future, with our protocols or our level of architecture, Cribl should not come and say that it is not compatible with them. If Cribl is the reason because I have to change my environment, then I will have to end up investing more. There are some organizations where the end machines have forwarders that forward the data to Cribl, and from it, the data is forwarded to Splunk. This is how general architecture works. There are two methods of connection between Cribl and Splunk. One is the S2S protocol, which collects logs from Cribl or sends data between Cribl and Splunk. There is another method called HTTP Event Collector (HEC) and HTTPS protocol. With Cribl, connecting to Splunk mostly uses the S2S protocol. The tool supports all the latest devices and platform devices, like all the latest operating systems. There are some organizations where there is legacy infrastructure or if they are still on the old platforms. Companies using old platforms have to consider HTTP Event Collector (HEC), and then they have to change their infrastructure setup in order to fulfill that setup. In order to have Google and Splunk set up in my organization, if I have to change my existing infrastructure connectivity or setup, that might incur more cost or more investment for me to have Cribl and Splunk. Cribl should provide compatibility, or else the tool's developers should speak to the people of such organizations and understand the challenges. Cribl could have developed some version that can give backward compatibility.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It helps with releases because we monitor them in staging. We can tell if something is critically wrong before it gets into production, e.g., if it was load related or function related and also what was different in the dev stage. It then alerts us straightaway inside of our production monitors once it has been released. Therefore, it has improved how we run our systems since we monitor multiple environments."

"The solution captures all our requests and responses."

"I like the transcript download feature. And with UI scripting, it's helpful that Apica handles a lot of the backend work automatically. I don't have to tag everything manually, though I can tag elements later if needed. It's really good at recording the steps."

"Our application SREs do script checks in such a way that closely mimic our customers' actions using the platform. Because there are so many different ways and options to be able to configure checks to closely mirror your applications' capabilities, it provides a lot of optionality for teams to create the right type of check that can notify when there are any issues. At the end of the day, we want our monitoring tools to be able to catch any outage before our customers do. This is where Apica Synthetic does a great job."

"There are several features that are really good. The first one is the flexibility and the advanced configuration that Apica offers when it comes to configuring synthetic checks. It provides the ability to customize how the check should be performed and it is very flexible in the number of synthetic locations that it can use. It allows us to run scripts from different locations all over the world, and they have a really good number of these locations."

"The GUI is powerful and doesn't require scripting or regular expressions. It has a vast finder for correlation, which is easier than other tools like JMeter and LoadRunner. It's also easy to integrate with other tools with a separate execution environment. The tool is also easy to use."

"You can tell from the operational space of people who are using and consuming this data that they are more integrated. It is not dependent on one team anymore. It saves a lot of time by capturing and pinpointing the exact problem that is happening quickly. We have moved from getting escalations manually to getting escalations synthetically."

"As always, within the IT industry, everybody's always looking to upgrade and update everything else like that. Apica has been one of those things but it's really hard to replace because it offers us the unique capability to see what the customer is seeing. A lot of other ones can do Selenium script and things like that, but there's a lot in Apica that we use right now. We utilize a lot of the scenario options in Apica right now, and there's a lot of other ones that do parts of it, but it doesn't do everything that Apica does."

More Apica pros

"Cribl offers easy plugin configurations and source collection settings, allowing us to collect logs from any source."

"The product's most valuable features include the internal management of events, coding perspective, data processing, and serialization."

"Features such as Cribl Stream, Cribl LogStream, and Cribl Edge have been the most beneficial. The Cribl LogStream, in particular, is valuable for routing data, creating firewalls on pipelines, and putting security measures in place to ensure data reaches its destination without issues."

"The capability to reduce logs in a user-friendly manner is a standout feature. Cribl allows us to view logs live as they are being processed, giving us quick feedback on the changes made."

"The support team was very helpful and managed to get everything production-ready."

"My favorite option in Cribl is the Stream product."

"Cribl offers other valuable features. For instance, you can replay data from an edge device, store your daily data in a stream, and replay specific event data into Splunk if a security incident occurs"

"I'd rate the solution ten out of ten."

More Cribl pros

Cons

"There are some components of the user interface that are not up to date. Just to give you an idea, today we have web applications that are called single-page applications that are much faster than the old style of web application. If we can move faster into the flow of the graphic user interface, and in a more effective way, it will save us a lot of time."

"Learning the tool has always been a little difficult from a scripting perspective because the framework is proprietary and unique. Once we became used to what it does and how to perform it, then it became easier for my team and me. I would like to see some of the testing steps be part of a more well-known language, like Java or Python. That would be a big improvement."

"We could use more detailed information in the request and response sections."

"I have noticed that the tool isn't widely recognized outside our organization. Also, there aren't any tutorials or dedicated resources for this tool, making it challenging for newcomers to learn. It would be beneficial if someone experienced with it could provide guidance."

"The accuracy of alerts can be improved a little bit. Right now, it's pretty good in terms of alerting pretty quickly about failures or changes in response times. However, what we have seen happen is the number of alerts that we are getting is very frequent, and we would like to tone down the number of alerts. That's the only trouble we have. Apica could tone down those settings because there is no option for us to tone it down to a level that would reduce the alerts to a minimum. As a platform, it does send us good alerts, but it could be improved a bit."

"Apica was a relatively new tool when I started using it. Although Apica had good documentation, it still felt less developed or advanced than a tool like LoadRunner."

"The having to install an application on your desktop to utilize something like ZebraTester is a little cumbersome. It would be nice to see that become a web-based application. Having the documentation a little more accessible, and easier to digest by people who are just learning how to use the framework, especially when it comes to more complex or more edge-based cases would be really helpful to have."

"If you are adding any input file, the tool fails to capture the path."

More Apica cons

"Cribl could have developed some version that can give backward compatibility."

"There is room for improvement in the documentation and knowledge base, particularly regarding configurations like sources where logs are being ingested"

"Cribl doesn't have as many packs available"

"There have been several administrative issues. Another point is that the browsing functions aren't very intuitive."

"Cribl should consider adding more features that are applicable to smaller firms, allowing broader access to their data migration through Cribl."

"Perhaps more flexibility in terms of metrics would be helpful."

"Cribl could improve by offering easier integrations with enterprise products, similar to what Splunk provides."

"The sys logging could be enhanced to make it easier to identify errors, especially when dealing with multiple functions."

More Cribl cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is less expensive compared to LoadRunner."

"The level of alerting accuracy has saved us time and money in operational costs. Overall, it has automated a lot of the manual efforts which have been more complex with some of our other scripting tools or monitors. So, it brings things together by doing things faster and saves us money."

"Another main difference between Apica and the other products was the cost. We really thought that the balance in Apica between the features and costs was the best among all the products on which we did a PoC."

"The pricing is fair. It is neither too cheap nor too expensive."

"I know Apica is an expensive solution, but it is worth the money for the service it provides."

"The solution's pricing is not cheap, but it is in the midrange."

"The pricing is very reasonable, but it is not cheap."

"Apica is pretty cost-effective if you buy both solutions together: Synthetic and LoadTest. If you are going for one solution, the cost is on par with any tool in the market."

More Apica pricing and cost advice

"I would not say it is a cheaply priced tool as it has been doing wonders in the market. The tool has been budget-friendly for organizations."

"The product pricing is reasonable compared to other solutions."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

36%

Insurance Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Media Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

11%

Healthcare Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apica Synthetic?

The GUI is powerful and doesn't require scripting or regular expressions. It has a vast finder for correlation, which is easier than other tools like JMeter and LoadRunner. It's also easy to integr...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apica Synthetic?

I know Apica is an expensive solution, but it is worth the money for the service it provides.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Apica Synthetic?

Apica is costly, and there's no way to test mobile applications through Apica. You can test mobile applications through other platforms. However, Apica is only for APIs and applications.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cribl?

I am not aware of the pricing details, however, I know they use a credit format for billing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cribl?

At the moment, I don't have specific feedback on what can be improved as I do not work with Cribl daily. Perhaps more flexibility in terms of metrics would be helpful.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cribl?

I am using Cribl to have everything centralized in one tool in terms of data collection. We were working with different Splunk customers, and Cribl helps collect data and then send it to an S3 buck...

See all answers

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Splunk Synthetic Monitoring vs Cribl

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Apica

January 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Cribl

January 2025

Download Cribl product report

Also Known As

Apica LoadTest, Apica Synthetic

No data available

Learn More

Apica

Cribl

Overview

Apica offers a unified platform to remove complexity and cost associated with data management. You collect, control, store, and observe your data and can quickly identify and resolve performance issues before they impact the end-user. Apica Ascent swiftly analyzes telemetry data in real-time, enabling prompt issue resolution, while automated root cause analysis, powered by machine learning, streamlines troubleshooting in complex distributed systems. The platform simplifies data collection by automating and managing agents through the platform’s Fleet product. Its Flow product simplifies and optimizes pipeline control with AI and ML to help you easily understand complex workflows. Its Store component allows you to never run out of storage space while you index and store machine data centrally on one platform and reduce costs, and remediate faster. Observe offers modern observability data management, helping you with MELT data, effortless dashboarding, and seamless integration of synthetic and real data.

Experience the Apica Ascent Platform

Cribl optimizes log collection, data processing, and migration to Splunk Cloud, ensuring efficient data ingestion and management for improved operational efficiency.

Cribl offers seamless log collection directly from cloud sources, allowing users to visually extract necessary data and replay specific events for in-depth analysis. It provides robust management of events, parsing, and enrichment of data, along with effective log size reduction. Cribl is particularly beneficial for migrating enterprise logs, optimizing usage, and reducing costs while streamlining the transition between different log management tools.

What are Cribl's most important features?

Real-Time Data Transformation: Enables immediate data processing for accurate insights.
Simplified Log Collection: Gathers data from diverse sources effortlessly.
Powerful Data Reduction: Reduces log size without losing critical information.
Inbuilt Packs: Ready-to-use functions simplify complex tasks.
Live Testing: Allows testing before production deployment for reliability.
Master Node Updates: Manages worker groups efficiently for consistent performance.
Advanced Data Processing: Offers robust data serialization and coding perspectives.
Easy Plugin Configurations: Facilitates direct integration with reduced setup time.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Optimized Usage: Ensures effective resource management and cost reduction.
Streamlined Migration: Simplifies the transition between log management tools.
Enhanced Data Management: Improves data quality and processing efficiency.
Reduced Time and Effort: Direct-to-production capabilities save operational time.

Cribl is widely implemented in industries requiring extensive data management, such as technology and finance. Users leverage Cribl to handle log collection, processing, and migration efficiently, ensuring smooth operation and effective data analysis. It aids in managing temporary data storage during downtimes and better handling historical data, preventing data loss and allowing extended periods for viewing statistics and monitoring trends.

Sample Customers

HBO, JPMC, Morgan Stanley, Xander, EA Sports, Volvo

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Cribl

January 2025

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