Apica vs Honeycomb.io comparison

Apica and Honeycomb.io are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Apica is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.7, while Honeycomb.io is ranked #24 with an average rating of 9.0. Apica holds a 0.3% mindshare in APM, compared to Honeycomb.io’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of Apica users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Honeycomb.io users who would recommend it.

Apica

Read 11 Apica reviews

666 Views
257 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Honeycomb.io

Read 2 Honeycomb.io reviews

2,519 Views
1,874 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Apica

Honeycomb.io

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Apica and Honeycomb.io compete in the monitoring and observability field. Honeycomb.io seems to have the upper hand in complex data environments due to its feature-rich capabilities, despite a higher price point.

Features: Apica offers synthetic monitoring, ensuring comprehensive application performance insights while being cost-effective and offering responsive support. Honeycomb.io provides event-driven architecture and deep tracing capabilities, coupled with analytics that enhance productivity in complex data environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Apica provides straightforward deployment and responsive support services. Honeycomb.io has a more intricate setup due to its powerful analytics but offers robust customer service that facilitates this transition.

Pricing and ROI: Apica is generally cost-effective, delivering solid ROI through efficient utilities. Honeycomb.io has a higher setup cost but yields significant returns via advanced features that improve insights in diverse tech ecosystems.

To learn more, read our detailed Apica vs. Honeycomb.io Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Honeycomb.io

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 857,585 peers since 2012

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

17th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Log Management (17th), IT Operations Analytics (5th), Observability Pipeline Software (2nd)

Honeycomb.io

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

24th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Code Assistants (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 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 Honeycomb.io is 1.6%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Punith H K

Senior Systems Engineer at Infosys

Enables users to create scripts easily and provides excellent real-time monitoring features

It is easy to create scripts. We don't have to write any script. Ready-made options are available. We can select, drag, and drop the options, and the script is ready. The solution’s real-time monitoring features have had a huge impact on our service delivery. If we have an application and the script for it, we keep monitoring it. When the script goes red, it indicates that something is not working. So, we check and analyze the applications. We keep track of applications and monitor whether they are live or not. The tool is also useful for monitoring cloud services.

Read full review

Diego Gomes De Lima

Senior Software Engineer at SumUp

Easy to use and the dashboard is very intuitive

We faced some OpenTelemetry metrics lost between the communication from the service and the Honeycomb.io. I can't say if this is a Honeycomb.io issue or if there are some limitations in OpenTelemetry. Alerts are very helpful in Honeycomb.io, but we don't usually merge because we can compare queries with queries for making alerts. We can make alerts based on static numbers, which may block us from building alerts that could be generic enough or could be serviced.

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 solution captures all our requests and responses."

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

"What I like the most is that Apica can simulate different browsers and different versions of desktop or mobile browsers."

"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."

"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."

"The solution’s real-time monitoring features have had a huge impact on our service delivery."

"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."

"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."

More Apica pros

"The solution's most valuable features are the queries for the OpenTelemetry events and all the tracing."

"The solution's initial setup process was straightforward since we were getting enough support from Honeycomb.io's team."

Cons

"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."

"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."

"We have been focused on reducing polling times for synthetic checks. We have gone from 10 minutes down to five minutes for a pretty broad swath, but there is some appetite to reduce that further, which could be an improvement."

"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."

"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."

"We could use more detailed information in the request and response sections."

"Alerting needs improvement. It's a little noisy. It needs some better options. Currently, they have an issue, when you set up a synthetic monitor, you can set up where it's monitoring from, a data center that Apica owns."

More Apica cons

"The process of log scraping gets delayed on Honeycomb.io. At times, it gives false alerts to the application team."

"We can make alerts based on static numbers, which may block us from building alerts that could be generic enough or could be serviced."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 tool is completely free and open source. I've been using it for about two and a half years and installed it on both my personal and client machines without needing a license. All features are available for use without any hidden fees."

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

"The solution's pricing is not cheap, but it is in the midrange."

"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 product is less expensive compared to LoadRunner."

"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."

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

More Apica pricing and cost advice

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

857,585 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

31%

Computer Software Company

10%

Media Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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 Honeycomb.io?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Honeycomb.io?

The solution is mainly used for stack observability. It observes service behavior or any kind of failure that may be happening. The tool is also related to research. My company is working more on t...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Honeycomb.io?

We set up Honeycomb.io on all the services so that we can have all the set traces of the communication between all the services inside the company. This helps us understand where it could be failin...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs Apica

Compared 28% of the time

Cribl vs Apica

Compared 21% of the time

Datadog vs Apica

Compared 15% of the time

AlertSite vs Apica

Compared 13% of the time

Grafana vs Apica

Compared 12% of the time

More Apica Competitors

Sentry vs Honeycomb.io

Compared 25% of the time

Grafana vs Honeycomb.io

Compared 18% of the time

Datadog vs Honeycomb.io

Compared 12% of the time

Zabbix vs Honeycomb.io

Compared 6% of the time

Prometheus Group vs Honeycomb.io

Compared 5% of the time

More Honeycomb.io Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Apica

June 2025

Download Apica product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

June 2025

Download Honeycomb.io product report

Also Known As

Apica LoadTest, Apica Synthetic

Grit

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

Honeycomb.io offers a comprehensive platform for observability, facilitating debugging and analysis of production systems through real-time data insights.

This advanced observability tool is tailored for engineering teams, providing deep insight into complex systems' performance. Honeycomb.io enables real-time data analysis, empowering teams to quickly identify and resolve issues, ensuring optimized system performance and reliability. Its innovative approach allows seamless integration into production workflows, enhancing the capability to observe and debug systems efficiently.

What are the key features of Honeycomb.io?

Query Builder: Enables complex queries to analyze and visualize data effectively.
BubbleUp: Assists in pinpointing anomalous behaviors in vast datasets.
Tracing: Provides detailed traces that help in understanding request flows.
Service Maps: Visualizes architecture dependencies aiding comprehension.

What benefits should users look for in Honeycomb.io reviews?

Rapid Problem Resolution: Reduces mean time to resolution by offering clear diagnostics.
Cost Efficiency: Enables resource optimization by understanding usage patterns.
Improved Collaboration: Facilitates cross-team communication through shared insights.
Increased Productivity: Streamlines workflows, freeing up time for development.

Implementation of Honeycomb.io spans multiple industries, enhancing system reliability and performance. In e-commerce, it offers robust monitoring of online services to mitigate downtime. In fintech, it ensures secure and seamless transactions, protecting against potential failures. SaaS companies utilize it for maintaining seamless experience by identifying bottlenecks swiftly. Honeycomb.io's scalability ensures it meets growing demands of dynamic industry requirements.

Honeycomb.io

Sample Customers

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

Clover Health, Eaze, Intercom, Fender

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Honeycomb.io

June 2025

Free Report: Apica vs. Honeycomb.io

Find out what your peers are saying about Apica vs. Honeycomb.io and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

857,585 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Apica vs. Honeycomb.io report.

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.