Dynatrace vs AppDynamics

by Gralio Mar 07, 2025

Dynatrace and AppDynamics are both robust application performance monitoring (APM) solutions catering to mid-sized businesses. Dynatrace emphasizes AI-driven insights and automation, while AppDynamics focuses on detailed code-level visibility and granular performance analysis. Dynatrace is a good choice for organizations prioritizing automated troubleshooting and optimization, while AppDynamics is better suited for those requiring deep code-level insights for performance bottlenecks.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 1717 reviews and 60 websites, saving 10 hours, 2 minutes of reading.

Dynatrace

Website LinkedIn Twitter

AppDynamics

Website LinkedIn Twitter

About

Dynatrace helps you understand how your software is running, like a health tracker for your apps and systems. It monitors everything - websites, networks, user experience - to pinpoint problems before they impact your business. With AI-powered analysis, Dynatrace simplifies complex data, giving you clear answers and helping you automate IT tasks.

AppDynamics, powered by Cisco, helps businesses understand how their technology impacts their operations. It offers real-time monitoring and analysis of software and cloud infrastructure, allowing teams to proactively manage performance and troubleshoot issues. This focus on business-driven insights helps prioritize improvements and ensures technology aligns with company goals. AppDynamics is a recognized leader in application performance management, particularly for large enterprises.

Summary

Main difference

Dynatrace stands out with its advanced AI-driven analysis and automation capabilities, simplifying complex troubleshooting and optimization. AppDynamics excels in providing deep code-level insights and granular performance monitoring, making it suitable for businesses requiring detailed transaction analysis.

Relative strengths of Dynatrace (compared to AppDynamics)

Superior AI-powered analytics and automation for proactive issue identification and remediation.
Simplified deployment and automated instrumentation with OneAgent.
Comprehensive full-stack monitoring, covering infrastructure, applications, and user experience.

Relative weaknesses of Dynatrace (compared to AppDynamics)

Less granular code-level diagnostics compared to AppDynamics.
Licensing costs can be complex and potentially higher depending on usage.
Log management capabilities are not as extensive as some competitors.

Who should use Dynatrace VS. AppDynamics

Dynatrace is an AI-powered platform ideal for IT professionals seeking a comprehensive view of application performance. Users praise its automated instrumentation, AI diagnostics (Davis), and end-to-end visibility. However, some find log format support and licensing costs challenging. Dynatrace offers real-time monitoring, automated remediation, and custom app creation capabilities.

AppDynamics, by Cisco, offers real-time monitoring and analysis of applications and cloud infrastructure. Users praise its detailed performance analysis and customizable dashboards but note the high cost and complex setup. AppDynamics is best for large enterprises needing robust performance management.

Ideal for IT professionals in organizations of all sizes needing deep application performance insights.
Strong fit for Software, IT & Telecommunications; suitable for Healthcare, Finance, E-commerce, Retail, Consumer Goods, Manufacturing, Education, Energy, Marketing, and Automotive.

Ideal for large enterprises, particularly in software development, e-commerce, or finance, needing robust application performance monitoring.
Strong fit for Software, IT & Telecommunications, suitable for Healthcare, Finance, E-commerce, Retail, and other industries.

Dynatrace and AppDynamics features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

AI-driven application performance and security optimization

Supported

Dynatrace uses AI to optimize application performance and automate remediation. Security optimization is less emphasized.

Partially supported

AppDynamics uses AI for application performance optimization, but AI-driven security optimization is less prominent.
Answer-driven automation

Supported

Dynatrace offers answer-driven automation through its AutomationEngine.

Not supported

AppDynamics offers automation through features like "Actions," but "answer-driven automation" is not explicitly supported.
Data-driven application builder

Supported

Dynatrace AppEngine allows creation of custom data-driven apps with low-code approach.

Not supported

AppDynamics focuses on monitoring and optimizing existing applications, not building new ones.
Real-time monitoring

Supported

Dynatrace provides real-time application and server performance monitoring, including RUM and anomaly detection.

Supported

AppDynamics supports real-time application and server performance monitoring.
Step-through debugging

Not supported

Dynatrace does not support debugging code execution line by line.

Not supported

AppDynamics does not support step-through debugging.
Breakpoint debugging

Not supported

Dynatrace offers code debugging and network monitoring but not network traffic breakpoint debugging.

Not supported

AppDynamics does not support breakpoint debugging for pausing network traffic.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

-1

Strongly negative sentiment

No data
Customer Service

+0.33

Rather positive sentiment

No data
Ease of Use

+0.6

Rather positive sentiment

+1

Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.8

Strongly positive sentiment

+1

Strongly positive sentiment
Ease of Implementation

-0.33

Rather negative sentiment

No data
Scalability

No data

No data

Dynatrace and AppDynamics Pricing

No data

User sentiment

Strongly negative

-1

We couldn't find a pricing page for Dynatrace.

No data

User sentiment

Strongly negative

-1

We couldn't find a pricing page for AppDynamics.

Dynatrace and AppDynamics review insights

1715 reviews analysed from and

Users love

Automated instrumentation and the AI powered diagnostics
Davis AI
OneAgent
End to end infra visibility

Real-time monitoring and performance analysis capabilities.
Detailed transaction snapshots and drill-down features.
Customizable dashboards and reporting.
Wide range of integrations and platform support.
Proactive alerting and health rule configuration.

Users dislike

Limited log format support
Difficult to estimate DDU and DEM licensing cost
Very few AWS service default dashboard (RDS, DocumentDB etc)
Kubernetes implementation has been buggy for a long time

High licensing costs are a recurring concern.
Manual agent upgrades are inconvenient.
Limited log management capabilities, especially for containers.
Scalability issues for large user bases, particularly with EUM.
Complex setup and configuration can be time-consuming.

Dynatrace and AppDynamics Ratings

G2

4.5/5

(1256)
Capterra

4.5/5

(52)
TrustPilot

3.8/5

(2)
Glassdoor

4.1/5

(1459)

G2

4.3/5

(374)
Capterra

4.6/5

(33)

Company health

Employee growth

12% increase in the last year

4% decrease in the last year

Web traffic

1% decrease in the last quarter

10% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

December 2022 - $22M

No data

How does Dynatrace's AI-driven analysis compare to AppDynamics' manual agent upgrades?

Dynatrace leverages AI-driven analysis to automate tasks like anomaly detection and performance optimization, while AppDynamics users cite manual agent upgrades as a drawback. This suggests Dynatrace offers a more automated and potentially less hands-on approach to application performance management compared to AppDynamics.

Which product better supports detailed code-level monitoring for complex applications?

AppDynamics better supports detailed code-level monitoring for complex applications. While Dynatrace offers robust, AI-powered performance monitoring, AppDynamics explicitly highlights its code-level monitoring capabilities, allowing for deeper analysis of performance bottlenecks and issues within the application's codebase.

What are the advantages of Dynatrace?

Dynatrace leverages AI-powered analysis for automated problem detection and remediation, simplifying complex data and offering proactive insights. Its AutomationEngine facilitates answer-driven automation, while the AppEngine allows for the creation of custom data-driven applications with a low-code approach. Users also appreciate Dynatrace's automated instrumentation and broad infrastructure visibility.

What are the disadvantages of Dynatrace?

Dynatrace users have reported limited log format support, difficulty estimating licensing costs for DDU (Digital Delivery Units) and DEM (Digital Experience Monitoring), a lack of default dashboards for several AWS services (like RDS and DocumentDB), and persistent bugs in the Kubernetes implementation.

Alternatives to Dynatrace and AppDynamics

Aurea Monitor

Aurea Monitor is a real-time IT monitoring tool that helps businesses keep their systems running smoothly. It automatically identifies potential issues, analyzes their root causes, and provides the information you need to fix them quickly. This focus on proactive monitoring helps minimize system downtime and ensures a better experience for your customers. Aurea Monitor is a good fit for mid-sized companies and integrates with various systems.

Datadog

Datadog is a cloud-based software platform that gives you a complete view of your company's technology systems, from websites and apps to servers and databases. It helps you monitor performance, analyze data, and improve security, all in one place. Datadog is designed for companies of all sizes and is used by various teams, including IT, development, and security. It helps businesses ensure their technology runs smoothly, efficiently, and securely.

ME Applications Manager - 250 Monitors (No Add-ons)

ME Applications Manager - 250 Monitors (No Add-ons) is a software designed to help you keep an eye on your business applications and servers. It lets you track the performance and availability of up to 250 of these components, without the need for extra features. This makes it suitable for mid-sized companies that need a direct solution for monitoring their IT infrastructure. The software aims to provide a clear picture of your IT operations, helping you ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently.

Sumo Logic

Sumo Logic is a cloud-based software that helps you understand what's happening in your company's IT systems. It collects and analyzes data from your apps, servers, and security tools to give you a clear picture of performance and potential problems. This helps you find and fix IT issues faster, strengthen your security against cyber threats, and ensure your technology runs smoothly. Sumo Logic is designed for modern, cloud-focused companies who need a scalable solution to manage their growing IT complexity.

Zabbix

Zabbix is a software tool that helps you keep an eye on your company's computers, servers, and other IT equipment. It's like a central dashboard showing you if everything is working correctly. Zabbix can alert you if something goes wrong or if performance drops, helping prevent problems and downtime. It's used by companies of all sizes and is known for being scalable, meaning it can grow with your business. Zabbix offers both cloud-based and on-premise solutions, giving you flexibility in how you manage your IT infrastructure monitoring.

ManageEngine OpManager Plus

ManageEngine OpManager Plus is an IT infrastructure monitoring tool for the cloud and physical networks. It provides a central platform to monitor servers, applications, and network devices like routers. OpManager Plus offers performance monitoring, troubleshooting features, and customizable dashboards and reports to provide a clear picture of your IT infrastructure's health and performance. Its broad feature set makes it suitable for organizations of all sizes that need a comprehensive IT monitoring solution.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

How are we doing?

Is this information helpful to you? Is there anything we are missing?

Did this help you select your product?

Other issues? Vote & Let us know