Log Management · head to head
Airbrake vs Dynatrace
Dynatrace
Log Management
Application Performance Management and Observability
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Airbrake data retention is 30 days on every plan, including the $799 a month Business tier; Dynatrace pricing is commitment based: rates require an annual platform level commitment rather than month to month purchase
- They diverge on capability: Airbrake covers Error tracking, Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Airbrake and Dynatrace actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Log Management).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Airbrake
- Error tracking
- Performance monitoring
- Deploy tracking
- Custom notifications
Only in Dynatrace
- AI-powered analytics
- APM
- Infrastructure monitoring
- Log analysis
Both cover
- API
- Webhooks
- REST
- Web support
- Api support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Airbrake
- Error and exception monitoring for web applicationsnot Dynatrace
- Performance monitoring alongside error trackingnot Dynatrace
- Alerting a team when a deploy introduces a spike in errorsnot Dynatrace
- Tracking errors across multiple projects in one accountnot Dynatrace
Dynatrace
- Full stack application performance monitoring with automatic dependency discoverynot Airbrake
- Kubernetes and container platform observability priced per podnot Airbrake
- Log ingest, processing and query analyticsnot Airbrake
- Real user monitoring and session replay for web applicationsnot Airbrake
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Airbrake
- Data retention is 30 days on every plan, including the $799 a month Business tier
- The entry plan at $19 a month covers 25,000 errors and 7,500 events
- Errors beyond the plan quota are billed on demand
- Audit logs and spike forgiveness require the Pro tier
- The lowest tier is limited to 1 user and 1 team
Dynatrace
- Pricing is commitment based: rates require an annual platform level commitment rather than month to month purchase
- Full-Stack Monitoring is priced at $58 per month per 8 GiB of host memory, so a 64 GiB host counts as eight units
- Infrastructure Monitoring at $29 per host per month excludes code level tracing, which requires Full-Stack
- Session Replay doubles Real User Monitoring cost from $2.25 to $4.50 per 1,000 sessions
- Runtime Vulnerability Analytics and Runtime Application Protection are each charged separately at $13 per month per 8 GiB host on top of monitoring
Pricing, plan by plan
Airbrake
Free- FreeFree
- Error tracking
- Performance monitoring
- Deploy tracking
Dynatrace
Free- FreeFree
- AI-powered analytics
- APM
- Infrastructure monitoring
Which should you pick?
Choose Airbrake if
- You need error tracking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want performance monitoring.
Choose Dynatrace if
- You need ai-powered analytics.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want apm.
Questions people ask
- Is Airbrake or Dynatrace better?
- Neither clearly leads. Airbrake starts at Free and Dynatrace at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Airbrake or Dynatrace?
- Airbrake starts at Free and Dynatrace at Free.
- Does Airbrake or Dynatrace run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Airbrake for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Airbrake best used for?
- Airbrake is most often used for error and exception monitoring for web applications, performance monitoring alongside error tracking, alerting a team when a deploy introduces a spike in errors, tracking errors across multiple projects in one account. Of those, error and exception monitoring for web applications and performance monitoring alongside error tracking are not what Dynatrace is typically brought in for.
- What can Airbrake do that Dynatrace cannot?
- Airbrake covers Error tracking, Performance monitoring, Deploy tracking, Custom notifications. Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics, APM, Infrastructure monitoring, Log analysis. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.