Apica vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) comparison

Apica and Google are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Apica is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.7, while Google is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.0. Apica holds a 0.3% mindshare in APM, compared to Google’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of Apica users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Google users who would recommend it.

Apica

Read 11 Apica reviews

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361 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Google Cloud's operations s...

Read 10 Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) reviews

2,407 Views
2,165 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Apica

Google Cloud's operations s...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

Apica and Google Cloud's operations suite compete in the cloud monitoring market. Google Cloud’s operations suite seems to have the upper hand due to its robust feature set, despite higher pricing.

Features: Apica offers comprehensive synthetic monitoring capabilities, performance testing, and cost-effectiveness. Google Cloud's operations suite provides extensive integration with other Google Cloud services, detailed application monitoring, and infrastructure monitoring catering to complex use cases.

Room for Improvement: Apica can improve intuitive user experience, analytics, and user interface design. Google Cloud's operations suite needs enhanced documentation, more accessible support options, and simplified configuration processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Apica is easier to deploy and offers efficient customer service, making integration and troubleshooting quick. Google Cloud's operations suite, while more complex to deploy, benefits from a robust support system within the Google ecosystem.

Pricing and ROI: Apica is competitively priced, offering great value and faster ROI for small to mid-sized enterprises. Google Cloud’s operations suite, though more expensive, justifies its cost with extensive capabilities and integration benefits, providing high user satisfaction for large-scale operations.

To learn more, read our detailed Apica vs. Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

April 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

16th

Ranking in Log Management

17th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Operations Analytics (5th), Observability Pipeline Software (2nd)

Google Cloud's operations s...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

25th

Ranking in Log Management

29th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (22nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 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 Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) is 1.2%, down from 1.6% 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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Anand_Patel

Senior Technical Architect at T-Systems International GmbH

Offers reliable Ops Agent and logging transport feature with easy third-party integrations

As part of our company, we implemented several changes in our log analytics pattern, including the storage and procurement process. Earlier, before implementing the solution, our company was able to procure only one year of data, but later, we came to the three-year mark. Around 15-20% reduction has been witnessed in the total analytic consumption of our company. The aforementioned result was possible because the solution allowed the creation of a dashboard where factors like storage costs, proportion of logs, and logs presence in a storage bucket or BigQuery can all be checked. Earlier all logs were stored in a raw storage, but currently our company is able to move logs in table bucket that contributes towards cost savings.

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

"Apica allows me to record APIs easily and enhances scripts through options like auto-correlation, enabling me to access dynamic fields."

"One of the biggest advantages of moving to Apica is the ability get to a hybrid model with the architecture in the cloud and our agents on-prem. We also have access to Apica's cloud agent across the globe. That has changed the way that we have our load testing setup at this point. Previously, it was always internal. Now, with this change in the way it is implemented for load testing, we can test anywhere across the globe and from the list of agents available within Apica's cloud. If I don't have an agent available in a second location, it just takes an email to their customer support, then it is spun up within 24 hours. That flexibility has changed the way that we perceive our load tests, not just in the US, but globally."

"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."

"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."

"APICa allows me to record APIs easily and enhances scripts through options like auto-correlation, enabling me to access dynamic fields."

"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."

"Anyone can understand the solution easily because it doesn't require a specific scripted language."

"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."

More Apica pros

"It's easy to use."

"Google's technical support is very good."

"Our company has a corporate account for Google Cloud and so our systems and clusters integrate really well."

"We find the solution to be stable."

"The most valuable feature is the multi-cloud integration, where there is support for both GCP and AWS."

"I like the monitoring feature."

"The cloud login enables us to get our logs from the different platforms that we currently use."

"The features that I have found most valuable are its graphs - if I need any statistics, in Kubernetes or Kong level or VPN level, I can quickly get the reports."

More Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) pros

Cons

"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."

"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 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 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."

"It is difficult to create a script using ZebraTester."

"Apica should add more features and integrations with different tools and certain ticketing systems, like ServiceNow."

"The tool does not provide automatic correlation features."

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

More Apica cons

"It is difficult to estimate in advance how much something is going to cost."

"While we are satisfied with the overall performance, in certain cases we must add additional metrics and additional tools like Grafana and Dynatrace."

"If I want to track any round-trip or breakdowns of my response times, I'm not able to get it. My request goes through various levels of the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and comes back to my client machine. Suppose that my request has taken 10 seconds overall, so if I want to break it down, to see where the delay is happening within my architecture, I am not able to find that out using Stackdriver."

"The product provides minimal metrics that are insufficient."

"The logging functionality could be better."

"This solution could be improved if it offered the ability to analyze charts, such as a solution like Kibana."

"It could be more stable."

"The process of logging analytics can be improved"

More Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"I am sure that Apica's price will be lower than LoadRunner."

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

"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 product is less expensive compared to LoadRunner."

"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."

"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."

More Apica pricing and cost advice

"We have a basic standard license without any additional costs."

"The cost of using Stackdriver depends on usage."

"The cost could be lower."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

34%

Computer Software Company

11%

Media Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

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 cannot perform endurance or scale-up tests independently. It requires other tools like ALM. When editing scripts, only one can be accessed at a time, risking changes affecting other folders. ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Stackdriver?

If the errors are caught early in the interface, it would be easier for users to manage. The process of logging analytics can be improved.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Google Stackdriver?

I use the solution for logging, defining alerts, and monitoring. Our company's Java and Python logging teams mainly use it.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Google Stackdriver?

The Ops Agent and logging transport feature of the solution have had a major impact on improving application performance. The solution also allows the transport of logs into log buckets, which is h...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs Apica

Compared 26% of the time

Cribl vs Apica

Compared 19% of the time

Datadog vs Apica

Compared 17% of the time

Grafana vs Apica

Compared 14% of the time

AlertSite vs Apica

Compared 13% of the time

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AWS X-Ray vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 31% of the time

Datadog vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 21% of the time

New Relic vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 6% of the time

Dynatrace vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 5% of the time

Prometheus Group vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 5% of the time

More Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Apica

May 2025

Download Apica product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

April 2025

Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) report

Download Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) product report

Also Known As

Apica LoadTest, Apica Synthetic

Google Stackdriver, Stackdriver Monitoring, Stackdriver Logging, Google Cloud Monitoring

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

Apica

Real-time log management and analysis

Cloud Logging is a fully managed service that performs at scale and can ingest application and platform log data, as well as custom log data from GKE environments, VMs, and other services inside and outside of Google Cloud. Get advanced performance, troubleshooting, security, and business insights with Log Analytics, integrating the power of BigQuery into Cloud Logging.

Built-in metrics observability at scale

Cloud Monitoring provides visibility into the performance, uptime, and overall health of cloud-powered applications. Collect metrics, events, and metadata from Google Cloud services, hosted uptime probes, application instrumentation, and a variety of common application components. Visualize this data on charts and dashboards and create alerts so you are notified when metrics are outside of expected ranges.

Stand-alone managed service for running and scaling Prometheus

Managed Service for Prometheus is a fully managed Prometheus-compatible monitoring solution, built on top of the same globally scalable data store as Cloud Monitoring. Keep your existing visualization, analysis, and alerting services, as this data can be queried with PromQL or Cloud Monitoring.

Monitor and improve your application's performance

Application Performance Management (APM) combines the monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities of Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring with Cloud Trace and Cloud Profiler to help you reduce latency and cost so you can run more efficient applications.

Google

Sample Customers

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

Uber, Batterii, Q42, Dovetail Games

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

April 2025

Free Report: Apica vs. Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Find out what your peers are saying about Apica vs. Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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