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Dynatrace vs Grafana comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

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

Dynatrace
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
344
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (4th), Mobile APM (1st), Container Monitoring (1st), AIOps (2nd)
Grafana
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Dynatrace is 12.4%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Grafana is 7.2%, up from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

Manish Ved - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution has a useful AI engine, but the reports could be a bit better
We are typically about a version or two behind. We are on the managed solution. Our model of deployment is on-premises. I would say there are a couple of thousand users of this solution in our company. We are also planning on increasing the usage as our apps migrate to the cloud. I would advise other people looking into solutions, to do their homework beforehand and not assume that by deploying all the tools everything will automatically work, so there's still a lot of configuration involved. I would rate this solution as a whole an eight, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.
Vikash-Agarwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Displays data visually from multiple sources while integrating seamlessly with existing systems
Grafana provides a user-friendly interface for viewing infrastructure metrics through dashboards. It integrates with Prometheus to pull data and offers a straightforward setup process. Users can monitor metrics with greater ease, and the tool aids in quickly identifying issues by providing a visual representation of data. Grafana's integration capability is straightforward, which facilitates building dashboards as needed.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For me, the most valuable feature of this solution is that deep dive that we get out of the AppMon product with the PurePath technology, and the way that the PurePath stack works."
"It identifies problem areas and performance issues."
"One of the key things with Dynatrace is that they are very open to influence on product development side. So, we've influenced them fairly heavily on development and capabilities for Citrix and DC RUM. They've given us integration and support components around some odd technologies that we've got, and they have always been very open and accommodating to going after and developing capabilities around the stuff that we are looking for."
"Whether it is the server, database, network, or application, Dynatrace provides a consistent unambiguous view of performance."
"I think with Dynatrace, it has helped to bring value to the business because now we can speak using the same language."
"The PurePaths are valuable because that's where somebody who is a non-developer can figure out where the problem is and send appropriate PurePaths, clean charts, or even the link to the developer. The developer can then look at it and figure out exactly where the problem is, this is the piece of code that took the longest time, and then resolve it."
"The User experience monitor is a real added value."
"Scalability is great. My biggest concern when we first put it in was the resources that it would take up, network traffic that it might create. But it seems perfectly scalable to any environment. Even on some of our heaviest use servers, it doesn't seem to affect anything."
"The most valuable aspect is customization. There are many customizations possible, so I like that."
"The solution can scale well."
"Grafana provides a user-friendly interface for viewing infrastructure metrics through dashboards."
"Provides good dashboard visualization."
"It is a stable, reliable product."
"Grafana is able to connect with multiple data sources, unlike Elasticsearch."
"Grafana is stable and has great engineers."
"Collaboration: Shares data and dashboards across teams."
 

Cons

"Beginner video tutorials would really help."
"Scalability has improved quite a bit from the beginning."
"We have had to resolve a lot of things and had a lot of issues with the tool.​"
"In the next release, I would like to see some new reports and more tiles on the Dashboard."
"I would like to see the Business Transactions made easier, so you can distinguish users and companies (this can get very hairy for a large multi-tenant application)."
"In the next release, I'd like to see more portables included regarding the screens."
"I think they're working on even more integration from external third party input, but that is ongoing. So the faster it's there the better. Clock monitoring is one of these areas where improvements can be made."
"It needs improvement with proprietary protocols for the DC RUM part."
"The interface is not well-liked by my customers."
"The solution must provide tutorials and guides."
"The solution should include online support."
"Multiple dashboards combined into one dashboard has slowed things down for us."
"The interface is not well-liked by my customers. Grafana cannot be easily embedded into certain applications and offers limited customization options for graphs."
"Grafana could consider building its own metrics system to eliminate the reliance on other tools like Prometheus, providing a one-stop solution."
"It would be helpful if they simplified the data source."
"The service dashboard is very hard and needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a three-year contract. We have 30 licenses for the full stack and 3 licenses for the DEM unit."
"Its license is a bit expensive. We renew it yearly."
"The product is pricey, but it is feature-rich, which is why we probably haven't looked away from it."
"We found an issue within the first week of ownership that has been costing us more than the entire license cost."
"Setup cost is very low considering that it is an almost totally, automatic process."
"Pricing is still too expensive."
"If there are no corporate requirements to run Dynatrace Managed (operating it yourself), I would definitely go for the size option. For small and medium-sized companies, the size option is probably the cheapest one. You don't need to look into operating it. You don't need to run hardware. It is pay as you go."
"The price of the solution is expensive."
"I give the price an eight out of ten."
"​Grafana is free and open source.​"
"I am using an open-source version"
"My company uses the open-source version of Grafana, so it's free."
"We are using the open-source license."
"It's free of cost; it operates as an open-source tool."
"The solution is expensive."
"Since Grafana is an open-source solution, it is free of cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
35%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Any advice about APM solutions?
The key is to have a holistic view over the complete infrastructure, the ones you have listed are great for APM if you need to monitor applications end to end. I have tested them all and have not f...
What cloud monitoring software did you choose and why?
While the environment does matter in the selection of an APM tool, I prefer to use Dynatrace to manage the entire stack. Both production and Dev/Test. I find it to be quite superior to anything els...
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...
What do you like most about Grafana?
The product's initial setup phase was very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Grafana?
I used the open-source version for my learning, which was free. In an enterprise setting, pricing is reasonable, as many customers use it.
What needs improvement with Grafana?
Grafana could consider building its own metrics system to eliminate the reliance on other tools like Prometheus, providing a one-stop solution.
 

Comparisons

 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Audi, Best Buy, LinkedIn, CISCO, Intuit, KRONOS, Scottrade, Wells Fargo, ULTA Beauty, Lenovo, Swarovsk, Nike, Whirlpool, American Express
Microsoft, Adobe, Optum, Sky, Nvidia, Roblox, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, Informatica, Maersk, Daimler Truck, SNCF, Atlassian, DHL, SAP, JPMorgan Chase, Cisco, Citi and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about Dynatrace vs. Grafana and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.