Splunk AppDynamics vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications comparison

Splunk and Broadcom are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Splunk is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while Broadcom is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.8. Splunk holds a 4.0% mindshare in APM, compared to Broadcom’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Splunk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Splunk AppDynamics

Read 252 Splunk AppDynamics reviews

12,248 Views
9,676 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Read 14 VMware Aria Operations for Applications reviews

2,704 Views
1,514 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Splunk AppDynamics

VMware Aria Operations for ...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 17, 2025

Splunk AppDynamics and VMware Aria Operations for Applications are contenders in the application performance management sector. Splunk AppDynamics has a slight advantage with its real-time transaction monitoring and user experience insights.

Features: Splunk AppDynamics provides detailed transaction visibility, code-level deep dives, and extensive application performance surveillance. It offers business transaction tracking, database monitoring, and user experience insights. VMware Aria Operations for Applications integrates strongly within VMware ecosystems, providing a holistic view of virtualized environments. It excels in advanced capacity planning and operational efficiency for VMware infrastructure users.

Room for Improvement: Users of Splunk AppDynamics point to complexities in features like async monitoring, improvements needed in licensing, and better cloud integration. VMware Aria Operations for Applications can enhance application-specific monitoring and third-party platform integration, as well as improve automation and intuitive dashboards for multi-cloud management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk AppDynamics offers diverse deployment options but can have a complicated setup. Its support is knowledgeable but sometimes slow. VMware Aria Operations for Applications integrates seamlessly with VMware setups, simplifying deployments. Its customer service is prompt and effective, with room for improvement in third-party integration support.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk AppDynamics is seen as expensive with complex licensing, though it offers high ROI through feature richness that reduces resolution times. VMware Aria Operations for Applications provides competitive pricing and good value through cost-management features, though costs can rise with additional licenses for advanced features and integrations.

To learn more, read our detailed Splunk AppDynamics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Splunk AppDynamics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

September 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

Splunk AppDynamics

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

3rd

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

5th

Ranking in Container Monitoring

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

252

Ranking in other categories

IT Operations Analytics (2nd), Mobile APM (1st)

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

18th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

17th

Ranking in Container Monitoring

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Splunk AppDynamics is 4.0%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Applications is 1.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk AppDynamics	4.0%
VMware Aria Operations for Applications	1.0%
Other	95.0%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Gyanesh Rahatekar

Back office at Reliance Industries Ltd

Application performance management and error resolution improved with data-driven insights

Dynatrace has multiple functions compared to Splunk AppDynamics, so Splunk AppDynamics should add those functions, which are not available as of now. Dynatrace has a universal agent that collects all information related to their CI, and if one CI has multiple languages, then there is no need to instrument multiple agents. However, Splunk AppDynamics requires multiple agents; if I have one server with multiple applications in different languages, then I need to instrument different agents for each application. Splunk AppDynamics should work with Dynatrace with one single universal agent that works with all application languages, eliminating the need for multiple implementations.

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ToniLindberg

senior consultant at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB

Troubleshooting capabilities have improved application monitoring and support engagement

I can see what happens end to end, which is pretty beneficial. The solution has troubleshooting capabilities, providing a direct connection to knowledge base articles from VMware Broadcom. When I encounter an error, I can search directly within the system to see what solutions have been employed by others. It has a familiar interface, which makes it easy to get started.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The event alerting feature or the trigger system is what I like most about AppDynamics Server Monitoring. Whenever an issue occurs, the tool automatically generates an even trigger that tells engineers in the company to take action, so it's an essential feature of AppDynamics Server Monitoring. Another valuable feature of the tool is end-to-end monitoring, which means if you need to debug, you can go transaction by transaction, where the issue lies, and how it's linked. For example, if it's a low-performance issue, you can look into it more through AppDynamics Server Monitoring in terms of which area takes too much time to execute. You can also see the SQL queries and the kind of query going on through the tool."

"AppDynamics' most valuable features are the response time of the business transaction modules, the ability to monitor multiple services, and testing and developing environments."

"The proactive monitoring from AppDynamics definitely helps."

"It helped to find quick solutions for specific business transactions."

"The most valuable feature is having our services being available and healthy."

"It is a stable solution."

"AppDynamics Database Monitoring's most valuable feature is the ability of the out-of-the-box to update the information, provide various metrics, and possibly include custom metrics."

"The flow map is very valuable to us. Before we installed APM, we had no idea how our application looked."

More Splunk AppDynamics pros

"No issues with stability."

"Tanzu itself, integrated with multiple solutions, bestows support and security upon a container platform, especially when it comes to managing open-source container platforms such as Kubernetes."

"I find VMware Aria Operations for Applications to be very stable, and I would rate it a ten out of ten."

"The solution is great for virtualization and preparing the infrastructure in Tanzu to test products. It's very fast and has good visibility."

"The features I find most valuable is the querying and alerting capabilities."

"This solution allows me to have true visibility for any metrics when it comes to my cloud, and private."

"It has a familiar interface, which makes it easy to get started."

"It significantly improves application performance management by offering recommendations for resource allocation to avoid wastage or overcommitment."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications pros

Cons

"The solution should add some monitoring similar to Oracle monitoring tools for databases. It has a lot of features to monitor SQL queries, and make some recommendation to resolve it. AppDynamics is just monitoring for delays and doesn't provide any recommendations for that. It's a deficiency."

"This solution is expensive."

"I would like to see a better way to automate actions based on the events generated by the tool."

"Its resiliency can be improved. We're told that the best we can do with an on-prem solution is to have a hot standby that requires a manual switchover. So, it is a do-it-yourself Ikea model of maintaining data consistency between two servers, without having low balance or failover considerations for an on-prem solution."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"AppDynamics's agent management could be improved."

"I install it frequently and sometimes when they fix something they break something else, so better QA is needed to ensure the quality of their fixes."

"There needs to be an option to capture all the sessions for all the users, not just samplings."

More Splunk AppDynamics cons

"The solution could be expensive, which might be a limiting factor."

"VMware technical support has declined since the Broadcom acquisition. Previously, they were more focused on issue resolution, but now they prioritize licensing verification before providing support."

"I find that there could be improvements in the support service response time, as the urgency varies unless specified as Priority 2 or 1 cases."

"The solution could be expensive, which might be a limiting factor."

"The implementation is a long process that should be improved."

"I would like to see integration with Kubernetes cluster and APIs so that you can manage the entire stack."

"The return on investment is best suited for organizations that do not have the resources for a dedicated VM environment team. However, the cost of the product doesn't show significant benefits."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product’s licencing policy is competitive. However, properly identify and size your needs to get the best rate."

"As a technical person, and as an application development team, they all understand that this is the right tool for us. But when it comes to budget and financial matters, it takes days and weeks to convince upper management to buy this tool. So they should do something more on licensing costs."

"There were no added costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"The cost is prohibitive."

"AppDynamics is priced on the higher side."

"AppDynamics is what I would consider an enterprise-level solution. This means that it's a solution that is intended for use by larger organizations, while small or medium-sized businesses may find it difficult to afford. The number of agents required will also impact the pricing, and smaller companies may only be able to afford a limited number of agents. Essentially, the cost of the solution is not within the reach of every organization, and only some may be able to afford it."

"AppDynamics Server Monitoring is a very expensive product, but if you negotiate well, you get value for money...My company used to make early payments toward the licensing costs of the solution, but now my company has opted for a different licensing model."

"There is a license for the solution and we paid approximately $2,000. There is also an additional cost above the standard license which cost us approximately $3,000."

More Splunk AppDynamics pricing and cost advice

"Different locations require different setups. In your terms, around 300 to around 400K USD."

"I would rate the pricing as three out of five."

"I don't have the details. In our case, there is a mixture in place. We have production usage, and we are also doing training for VMware. So, we also have a training instance. It is worth the money you would spend on it. That's because if you were to build all of this yourself by using some of the open source tools, then you would need a lot of time."

"The licensing costs are very high, particularly when you consider that we have to purchase a level 1 license for every integration, such as the load balancer, HAProxy, and the MSSP. And if you want to use vSAN, that's another license. Then, of course, Tanzu Observability has its own separate license."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	54
Midsize Enterprise	36
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

Any advice about APM solutions?

There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...

See all answers

APM tools for a Managed Service Provider - Dynatrace vs. AppDynamics vs. Aternity vs. Ruxit

Hi Avi! It's great to see your thorough approach to selecting an APM package for your MSP company. Considering your focus on SMBs and enterprises in Israel, Dynatrace seems like a solid choice with...

See all answers

What do you like most about AppDynamics?

The solution saves time and cost.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

The solution includes cost drivers that can be configured according to your environment. You can input server-wise, CPU-wise, storage, and memory costs per hour or day. Once cost drivers are provid...

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

The new version 8.18 has brought significant improvements. The main purpose of using this tool is having a single console to manage all entities. The cloud integration capabilities, including priva...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

I have been involved in several projects where I had to implement automation and monitoring alerting. I performed automation using VMware Aria Operations for Applications. There is an automation ta...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 8% of the time

New Relic vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 8% of the time

Grafana vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 4% of the time

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Grafana vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Compared 11% of the time

Dynatrace vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Compared 9% of the time

Zabbix vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Compared 8% of the time

Datadog vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Compared 5% of the time

Prometheus Group vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Splunk AppDynamics

August 2025

Download Splunk AppDynamics product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Applications

August 2025

VMware Aria Operations for Applications report

Download VMware Aria Operations for Applications product report

Also Known As

No data available

Tanzu Observability, Wavefront, Wavefront by VMware, VMware Tanzu Observability

Overview

Splunk AppDynamics enhances application performance monitoring with advanced diagnostics and real-time insights, offering seamless end-to-end transaction tracking and infrastructure visibility.

AppDynamics provides critical tools for businesses to analyze application behavior and performance. Through innovative features like transaction snapshot analysis and adaptable dashboards, users can quickly identify and address issues, ensuring high levels of system uptime and efficiency. It is designed to support complex environments including Kubernetes and AWS, enhancing user experience by detecting performance issues early. Despite needing improvements in network monitoring and integration, it remains a robust option for tracking application health.

What are the key features of AppDynamics?

Real-time Performance Monitoring: Offers immediate insights into application behavior.
Business Transaction Tracking: Tracks transactions from start to finish for bottleneck identification.
JVM Memory Monitoring: Provides detailed JVM metrics and memory use information.
Deep-dive Diagnostics: Enables in-depth analysis of code and stack traces.
Adaptable Dashboards: Customizable views for better data interpretation.

How does AppDynamics benefit users?

Improved Incident Resolution: Faster problem detection and solution implementation.
Enhanced Application Performance: Real-time monitoring optimizes system operations.
Comprehensive Visibility: Provides a full view of application infrastructure.
Informed Decision Making: Detailed analytics guide performance improvements.
Customer Satisfaction: Enhances user experience through faster issue resolutions.

In industries like financial services and e-commerce, AppDynamics facilitates performance tracking across distributed systems, optimizing infrastructure to meet consumer demands. It excels in environments needing precise transaction monitoring and is pivotal in delivering high value and satisfaction.

Splunk

VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront is a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing the performance and availability of applications and infrastructure in real-time.

With its comprehensive monitoring capabilities, visualizing and analyzing data becomes effortless. The real-time alerting system ensures timely issue resolution, while scalability and a user-friendly interface provide a seamless experience for smooth operations.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Cisco, Sony, Nasdaq, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Edmunds.com, Puma, Fox News, DirecTV, Pizza Hut, T-Systems, Cornell University, OpenTable, BITMARCK, Green Mountain Power, Care.com, Overstock, Paddy Power, eHarmony, Kraft, The Motley Fool, The Container Store, and more See more customers

1. Atlassian 2. Cisco 3. Databricks 4. DigitalOcean 5. Equinix 6. Fidelity Investments 7. Google 8. Hewlett Packard Enterprise 9. Honeywell 10. IBM 11. Intel 12. JetBlue Airways 13. LinkedIn 14. Lyft 15. Mastercard 16. Microsoft 17. MongoDB 18. Netflix 19. Nvidia 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Pinterest 23. Qualcomm 24. Red Hat 25. Salesforce 26. SAP 27. Spotify 28. Square 29. TMobile 30. Twitter 31. Uber 32. VMware

Buyer's Guide

Splunk AppDynamics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

September 2025

Free Report: Splunk AppDynamics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

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