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Akamai Logo
1,057 views|850 comparisons
66% willing to recommend
Apica  Logo
904 views|550 comparisons
86% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Akamai mPulse and Apica based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability.
To learn more, read our detailed Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Report (Updated: April 2024).
769,236 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Enables dynamic injections from within the product which is great.""The most valuable feature is the solutions overall performance. It is very efficient and accurate for our usage."

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"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.""From our standpoint, there are a number of valuable features. The WebHooks are obviously really great. The alert framework is really good and then the reporting and visualizations that you get from the dashboards is good. Those three areas are primarily what my team's focused on in terms of usage from day to day.""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.""What I like the most is that Apica can simulate different browsers and different versions of desktop or mobile browsers.""We see the benefit almost every day. It allows us to be alerted whenever there is a store that is not responding properly around the world. We do have a network operation center (NOC) who receives these alerts, immediately checking if everything is okay.""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.""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.""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."

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Cons
"In the next release, I would like to see the possibility of sharing the metric from this solution with other solutions.""The end-to-end distributor tracing connectivity isn't there."

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"The reporting part that we use for our executives needs a bit more customization capabilities. Right now, you can use only the three main templates for reporting. We would like to be able to customize them.""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.""We could use more detailed information in the request and response sections.""When it comes to the way the internal agent is installed, because you can install an application on a server, I would love to see the application Docker-ized. If you could install internal agents using Docker or using containers, it would be easier for us to manage them and spin up internal agents.""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.""The customer service and support were a little slow to respond. The browser sometimes checks alerts on unknown issues like latency from Apica's side.""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.""Apica should add more features and integrations with different tools and certain ticketing systems, like ServiceNow."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
Information Not Available
  • "The pricing and licensing are very reasonable. At the end of the day, you are using their technology/software and getting X amount of checks for a very decent value. As for discounts, they try to meet your budgets as much as they can. For example, if you need 100 checks and you have X amount of budget for it, then they will try and get down to that price. Costing-wise, it is a reasonably cost product. They will always try and come down to your price if you need them to come down to it by knocking off certain areas."
  • "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."
  • "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."
  • "License management is another area that Apica could do better. We have already had these conversations with our account teams. This is something that they are looking at largely improving in upcoming releases. I believe that this is already on their roadmap."
  • "The pricing is very reasonable, but it is not cheap."
  • "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 solution's pricing is not cheap, but it is in the midrange."
  • "The pricing is fair. It is neither too cheap nor too expensive."
  • More Apica Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Enables dynamic injections from within the product which is great.
    Top Answer:The end-to-end distributor tracing needs some work because the connectivity from the user to the backend wasn't there. Akamai mPulse was not able to deliver on our requirements regarding observation… more »
    Top Answer:The primary use case of mPulse is for real-time user monitoring. Our use case was to observe the entire platform from the user all the way to the backend system and that's what it did. It's all in the… more »
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    Ranking
    Views
    1,057
    Comparisons
    850
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    457
    Rating
    5.0
    Views
    904
    Comparisons
    550
    Reviews
    4
    Average Words per Review
    523
    Rating
    7.8
    Comparisons
    New Relic logo
    Compared 26% of the time.
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    Datadog logo
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    AppDynamics logo
    Compared 10% of the time.
    Dynatrace logo
    Compared 25% of the time.
    Datadog logo
    Compared 25% of the time.
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    Compared 22% of the time.
    Apache JMeter logo
    Compared 15% of the time.
    OpenText LoadRunner Cloud logo
    Compared 14% of the time.
    Also Known As
    SOASTA mPulse
    Apica LoadTest, Apica Synthetic
    Learn More
    Overview

    Akamai mPulse is a real user monitoring (RUM) solution that gives performance engineers, administrators, and developers the ability to effortlessly visualize website functionality issues and identify ways to improve processes that conventional testing protocols do not find. mPulse gives users usable scenarios to better understand how processes such as user interactions, visual progress, and third-party resources may be disrupting the overall user experience and application delivery.

    mPulse enables users to take a deep dive into the specific performance issues and complete comprehensive error analyses, to thoroughly understand the effect on critical user interactions such as conversions, page views, and more.

    mPulse gathers and delivers data on an organization's website’s performance and metrics on user web browsing experiences. The mPulse feature “Boomerang” is a JavaScript Library that monitors the website page load time. Boomerang has a unique plugin architecture and works with all websites. The Boomerang feature is embedded on each page of an organization's website.

    mPulse works seamlessly with Akamai solution Ion, so the RUM data can be instantly gathered once the Luna Control Center has been activated. Ion instantly attaches Boomerang to the organization’s web properties; there is no need to change the website code.

    Akamai mPulse Benefits

    • Third-party monitoring: mPulse enables users to effortlessly monitor and visualize the effect that third-party vendors, resources, and scripts may have on the organization’s web properties.

    • Real-time intuitions: RUM data is continually being gathered, so users are able to instantly experience changes in user performance during every critical event. Users are able to respond immediately and make corrections or amendments as needed. Additionally, mPulse integrates effectively with other third-party notification solutions, such as Slack, PagerDuty, and webhook API support.

    • Framework integrations: mPulse integrates with many of today’s popular single-page application (SPA) frameworks, such as React.js, Backbone.js, Angular.js, Ember.js, and even some custom frameworks. mPulse has the ability to also be seamlessly integrated in Non-SPA websites.

    • Intuitive feedback: mPulse gathers data and creates workable solutions so users have a better understanding of how objects, images, or even entire pages are affecting user behavior. Users can gather numerous metrics (custom or advanced) to achieve a better, more complete understanding of ways to improve the user experience with the application or website.

    • Custom metrics and timers: With mPulse, users can effortlessly create custom timers to discover important performance sessions unique to the application. The mPulse dashboard allows users to set up trackers for numerous metrics, such as:

      • First image load time
      • Sidebar load time
      • Page load times
      • Third-party resource content load time

    • mPulse Beacon API: This valuable benefit allows users to send custom metrics from mobile and web applications to mPulse. This gives mPulse greater flexibility and usability to frameworks and platforms that can make HTTP calls. Representational State Transfer (REST) interface is included and is able to be used by any web application using any language running on the platform. There is also a Beacon API library for JavaScript. This option is available from the dashboard by creating a new application and an API key.

    Apica offers a unified perspective on the entire technology stack, encompassing logs, metrics, traces, and APIs. This operational data fabric facilitates quick identification and resolution of performance issues throughout an enterprise's infrastructure. The platform's user-friendly features, including a drag-and-drop interface for dashboards and seamless integrations with tools like Prometheus and Elasticsearch, enhance ease of use and management. Apica's active observability 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's advanced data management centralizes observability data, simplifying storage, search, and analysis, thereby unveiling valuable insights and patterns. Apica also ensures compliance and governance, providing audit trails to help enterprises meet regulatory requirements. Whether for enterprises of all sizes or those with intricate distributed systems, Apica emerges as a robust tool to elevate technology stack observability and performance.

    Sample Customers
    Nordstrom, Gatwick, DirecTV, MSN, SquareSpace, SAP, Lenovo, Hallmark, myspace, Intuit, Kentucky Derby, Toys "R" Us, Netflix, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Lowe's, Nike, REI, Apple, Sears, Verizon, Wendy's, Huawei
    HBO
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm24%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Retailer10%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm36%
    Hospitality Company18%
    Insurance Company18%
    Retailer9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm41%
    Insurance Company10%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Media Company5%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business14%
    Large Enterprise86%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise73%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise71%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business13%
    Midsize Enterprise5%
    Large Enterprise81%
    Buyer's Guide
    Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    April 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability. Updated: April 2024.
    769,236 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Akamai mPulse is ranked 53rd in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 6 reviews while Apica is ranked 45th in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 4 reviews. Akamai mPulse is rated 6.6, while Apica is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Akamai mPulse writes "Lacking in regard to observation of the entire platform but does dynamic injections from within". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Apica writes "Offers transcript download feature and easy to set up and configure tests but not very user friendly". Akamai mPulse is most compared with New Relic, Dynatrace, Grafana, Datadog and AppDynamics, whereas Apica is most compared with Dynatrace, Datadog, AppDynamics, Apache JMeter and OpenText LoadRunner Cloud.

    See our list of best Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability vendors.

    We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.