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Dynatrace vs OpenText Real User Monitoring vs Splunk AppDynamics comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Dynatrace is 10.3%, down from 13.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Real User Monitoring is 0.2%, down from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk AppDynamics is 4.6%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

Anand_Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides a comprehensive view by integrating with other monitoring systems
There may be an issue since there are many tools like Splunk involved in network monitoring. From an IP perspective, Dynatrace is performing well. If they want to develop in network monitoring, they can, as it's part of their product line. It's not rocketry, so they can accomplish it. If I, as an SI, look at it from an enterprise perspective, considering the cost from the client, I prefer not to go with multiple systems, as they don't provide a complete 360-degree view. They need to improve on claims about being an enterprise system. The definition of enterprise is loosely used, however, from a holistic security perspective, including infrastructure, network, ports, software, applications, transactions, and databases, there are areas lacking, especially in network monitoring tools.
Aphiwat Leetavorn. - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers back-end monitoring, so it can analyze user experience but when customers change the software or version, this tool is quite sensitive
Real User Monitoring tools help proactively identify problems before they become critical by monitoring thresholds. There is a threshold and an SOA threshold. For example, it starts to go yellow, and if it becomes red, the system will crash. When it starts to become yellow (Threshold Approaching), we have to resolve it. This is the same case where we'll know what happened before it's too late. So we can make an early decision to prevent it, maybe by kicking some users off the system before it crashes.
Gyanesh Rahatekar - PeerSpot reviewer
Application performance management and error resolution improved with data-driven insights
Dynatrace has multiple functions compared to Splunk AppDynamics, so Splunk AppDynamics should add those functions, which are not available as of now. Dynatrace has a universal agent that collects all information related to their CI, and if one CI has multiple languages, then there is no need to instrument multiple agents. However, Splunk AppDynamics requires multiple agents; if I have one server with multiple applications in different languages, then I need to instrument different agents for each application. Splunk AppDynamics should work with Dynatrace with one single universal agent that works with all application languages, eliminating the need for multiple implementations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Using that telemetry from Dynatrace, we are able to pinpoint what our performance issues are so we can tune the system."
"PurePath view of methods and the call stack are extremely valuable for troubleshooting and performance review."
"The ability to really drill into performance issues and help our application teams understand what is causing the business's problems."
"It helps DevOps find all its problems easily and analyzes performance problems."
"The most valuable function is the ability to replay a customer session."
"The initial setup was straightforward. The documentation and the university helped on Dynatrace."
"We have identified and solved "mystery" issues that we have experienced for a long time, including sporadic latency issues on storage volumes and SQL databases not scaling properly when under certain loads."
"We can see which step in a transaction is causing latency, right down to the particular Java class"
"With the solution, you can easily access any issues in your infrastructure."
"Very easy to implement."
"The most useful feature of this solution is tracking. When the application's traffic has been monitored it is taken from that particular application and analyzed. It is then given a live session of that particular user. For example, if you are using your bank application to do some kind of transaction, everything that you do can be tracked by that application."
"Real User Monitor has improved our productivity."
"The reporting feature is good for us."
"The most valuable feature is application performance monitoring."
"It is a good product."
"It offers near-real-time analytics, which is helpful."
"The alert mechanism in AppDynamics enhances server management tasks by using agents installed on each server."
"We had no issues with scalability. It was very good for us."
"The most valuable features of AppDynamics Database Monitoring are you can configure the performance and see in real-time what is exactly happening with the applications. Additionally, the dashboards are good."
"Applications: This provides us insight into how our applications are performing within our environments and affords us the ability to identify opportunities and make changes to code / environment to effect positive performance lift."
"It is easy to gain visibility into complex environments with AppDynamics. It has the ability to combine operation information of the environment and business information with strong business IQ support."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the response time from the end-to-end server."
"It is used to test customer behavior on a website."
"Application Analytics' most valuable features are the real-user monitoring and the agents installed in the software stack on the application server."
 

Cons

"It could be more affordable and therefore, more widely used by including more features like DEM as part of licensing cost rather than an additional expense."
"Need better mapping to true business service rather than purely technical monitoring."
"The container platform could include more value-added features."
"Enterprise Synthetic of DC RUM can be made more robust."
"While designing the business dashboard, I encountered various bugs that impacted my work."
"This solution could be improved with better compatibility with legacy applications."
"Mainly navigation needs improvement. It is easier to follow a flow. Following the flow of the admin now is not easy."
"SSO options are missing."
"The product needs more R&D to make it easier and more compatible with other software."
"We would like to see support for non-Windows environments."
"Some issues with login errors."
"This technology is considered to be older."
"Customer support needs to improve by bringing in more people who are knowledgeable about the tool, as there are very few left."
"Real User Monitor needs to cover more protocols to provide more in-depth information. It could also be better at monitoring voice-related traffic. There is currently no visibility in that channel."
"Everybody is moving away from traffic and installing agents on the application to do the job, but Micro Focus is using traditional ways to collect the traffic. They should change their architecture completely."
"When we want to monitor our encrypted traffic, this product doesn't work because our cipher is not supported."
"AppDynamics Server Monitoring lacks investment in new technologies like Kubernetes and cloud solutions."
"The network diagnostics that they are adding will be really useful. They could add more detail into what is going on in the network."
"The initial setup could be easier."
"This product has an issue with initial lag upon opening that we would like to see improved."
"Based on the user experience feedback that we have had, I think that the most important thing to improve is the availability of the SaaS, the cloud environment."
"The price of the solution could improve."
"The worst part is that the AppDynamics SaaS Environment has a lot of downtimes, and AppDynamics, despite our efforts, does not give us any feedback on these downtimes/incidents."
"I am not very impressed with support. The service could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license issue where if we increase the memory we have to up the licenses. I was unaware of that going in. I thought it was scalable without all the paperwork behind the scenes. ​​"
"Consider volume because that is where you will get the most benefit. Doing a point solution is not cost-effective."
"The cost is somewhat high."
"The pricing is not bad, but it could be better."
"It's expensive."
"The price could be improved."
"Pricing is based on the number of servers monitored, so for big applications, it is a bit expensive."
"There is time savings. People's times have been cut in half using this solution because we were previously doing a lot of that manual work. Now, it's a lot more automated, and the data is just there."
"If I compare with other vendors, other vendors are more expensive"
"The price is approximately €30,000 ($35,500 USD) for the enterprise edition."
"Not expensive."
"Compared to other tools, OpenText Real User Monitoring is an expensive solution."
"There is an annual cost for the use of this solution."
"The pricing is very competitive."
"There were no added costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The license fee for Application Analytics is in the range of 2.5 million over three years, with extra fees for service contingencies."
"We are looking forward to purchasing the solution on the AWS Marketplace."
"We have two different licensing models for this solution. One of them is the agent based model, which requires payment per agent. The other is an infrastructure based model, where the price is based on the CPU core. For the infrastructure model wholesale level pricing applies. All of the up to date licensing prices for this product are available on the manufacturers website."
"AppDynamics Database Monitoring is expensive. I rate it a seven to eight out of ten."
"We find its pricing reasonable and competitive. After it was acquired by Cisco, we found it acceptable."
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Comparison Review

ITspe9886 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 24, 2019
Compared to AppDynamics where we are still trying to get it into production, we had the latest version of Dynatrace in production within three days
Our primary use case for both Dynatrace and AppDynamics is for application performance monitoring (APM). The main reason for having application performance monitoring is, when we see something is running slowly, we can immediately look to see where the issue is at before our systems crash on us…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
29%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
28%
Government
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
Educational Organization
34%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
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 yo...
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 sta...
Any advice about APM solutions?
There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems,...
What needs improvement with Micro Focus Real User Monitor?
The diagnostics perspective, particularly in terms of the root cause analysis of failures, should be improved. There ...
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Real User Monitor?
The use case is about user-level monitoring and the availability of a service for a user. It's about whether the serv...
What advice do you have for others considering Micro Focus Real User Monitor?
I rate the solution as nine. It is a good product. Everyone should have it as it is essential today, but choose the v...
APM tools for a Managed Service Provider - Dynatrace vs. AppDynamics vs. Aternity vs. Ruxit
Hi Avi! It's great to see your thorough approach to selecting an APM package for your MSP company. Considering your f...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AppDynamics?
I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten. The solution is highly expensive. Our company pays for the solution on ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Micro Focus Real User Monitor, Micro Focus RUM, HPE RUM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Audi, Best Buy, LinkedIn, CISCO, Intuit, KRONOS, Scottrade, Wells Fargo, ULTA Beauty, Lenovo, Swarovsk, Nike, Whirlpool, American Express
Avea, Maccabi Healthcare Services, TEB
Cisco, Sony, Nasdaq, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Edmunds.com, Puma, Fox News, DirecTV, Pizza Hut, T-Systems, Cornell University, OpenTable, BITMARCK, Green Mountain Power, Care.com, Overstock, Paddy Power, eHarmony, Kraft, The Motley Fool, The Container Store, and more See more customers
Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, Splunk and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.