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AppDynamics vs Arize AI

AppDynamics logo

AppDynamics

Logging

Enterprise Application Performance Management

From
$6/month
Rated
-
Arize AI logo

Arize AI

AI

AI engineering platform for observability and evaluation of agents and LLM apps

From
Free
Rated
-

The short version

  • Only Arize AI has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: AppDynamics appdynamics.com/pricing returns a 301 redirect to Splunk's observability pricing page; the product is now sold as Splunk AppDynamics; Arize AI the free plan caps trace spans at 25,000 per month with only 15 days of retention.
  • They diverge on capability: AppDynamics covers Application performance monitoring, Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which AppDynamics and Arize AI actually diverge.

Attributes where AppDynamics and Arize AI differ
AttributeAppDynamicsArize AI
Starting price$6/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionfreemium
Free tierNoYes
CategoryLoggingAI
Founded2008Unknown

Identical on both: platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 AppDynamics

  • Application performance monitoring
  • Distributed tracing
  • Real-time analytics
  • Alert management
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support

Only in Arize AI

  • End-to-end tracing
  • Evaluation framework
  • Prompt testing and improvement
  • Alyx AI engineering agent
  • Custom dashboards
  • Data warehouse integrations

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

AppDynamics

  • Application performance monitoring for Java, .NET and other enterprise application stacksnot Arize AI
  • Business transaction tracing across distributed application tiersnot Arize AI
  • Infrastructure monitoring priced per vCPUnot Arize AI

Arize AI

  • Tracing and debugging production AI agentsnot AppDynamics
  • Running large-scale evaluations across traces and sessionsnot AppDynamics
  • Improving prompts before production rolloutnot AppDynamics
  • Storing and querying GenAI traces alongside a data warehousenot AppDynamics

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

AppDynamics

  • appdynamics.com/pricing returns a 301 redirect to Splunk's observability pricing page; the product is now sold as Splunk AppDynamics
  • Infrastructure Edition starts at $6 per vCPU per month billed annually, so cost scales with core count rather than host count
  • Premium Edition starts at $33 per host per month and Enterprise Edition at $50 per host per month, both billed annually
  • The published figures are starting prices only, with volume pricing requiring a sales quote

Arize AI

  • The free plan caps trace spans at 25,000 per month with only 15 days of retention.
  • Self-hosted deployment and Data Fabric integration are restricted to the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
  • Pricing beyond the $50/month Pro plan requires a custom quote, making cost planning less transparent at scale.
  • Advanced compliance features like HIPAA are only available on Enterprise.

Pricing, plan by plan

AppDynamics

$6/month
  • Infrastructure Edition$6/month
    • Infrastructure monitoring
  • Premium Edition$33/month
    • Infrastructure monitoring
    • Applications
    • APM
  • Enterprise Edition$50/month
    • Premium Edition features
    • Business Analytics

Arize AI

Free
  • AX FreeFree
    • 25k trace spans/month
    • 1 GB storage/month
    • 15-day retention
  • AX Pro$50/month
    • 50k trace spans/month
    • 10 GB storage/month
    • 30-day retention
  • AX Enterprise$undefined/mo
    • Custom trace spans, storage, and retention
    • SaaS or self-hosted deployment
    • Managed agents and Data Fabric

Which should you pick?

Choose AppDynamics if

  • You need application performance monitoring.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want distributed tracing.

Choose Arize AI if

  • You need end-to-end tracing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want evaluation framework.

Questions people ask

Is AppDynamics or Arize AI better?
Neither clearly leads. AppDynamics starts at $6/month and Arize AI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, AppDynamics or Arize AI?
Arize AI has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $6/month for AppDynamics and Free for Arize AI.
Does AppDynamics or Arize AI run on more platforms?
AppDynamics runs on Web, Api. Arize AI runs on web, api.
Can I use Arize AI for free?
Yes. Arize AI has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. AppDynamics starts at $6/month.
What is AppDynamics best used for?
AppDynamics is most often used for application performance monitoring for java, .net and other enterprise application stacks, business transaction tracing across distributed application tiers, infrastructure monitoring priced per vcpu. Of those, application performance monitoring for java, .net and other enterprise application stacks and business transaction tracing across distributed application tiers are not what Arize AI is typically brought in for.
What can AppDynamics do that Arize AI cannot?
AppDynamics covers Application performance monitoring, Distributed tracing, Real-time analytics, Alert management. Arize AI covers End-to-end tracing, Evaluation framework, Prompt testing and improvement, Alyx AI engineering agent.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

AppDynamics: How is AppDynamics priced?

AppDynamics uses a subscription model based on vCPU usage, billed annually. Infrastructure Edition starts at $6 per vCPU/month, Premium Edition at $33 per vCPU/month, and Enterprise Edition at $50 per vCPU/month. Additional capabilities like Secure Application, Real User Monitoring, and Synthetics have separate per-unit pricing.

Source
Arize AI: What does Arize AX cost?

Arize AX offers a free plan, a Pro plan at $50/month, and a custom-priced Enterprise plan, with pricing based on trace spans, storage, and retention needs.

Source
AppDynamics: What add-on costs does AppDynamics charge?

Secure Application costs $13.75 per CPU core per month (billed annually). Real User Monitoring is $0.06 per 1000 tokens per month. Browser Synthetics costs $12 per test location per month. SAP Solutions monitoring is $95 per CPU core per month.

Source
Arize AI: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

The AX Free plan includes 25,000 trace spans and 1 GB of storage per month with 15-day retention, plus unlimited users, evaluations, and experiments.

Source
Arize AI: What deployment options are available?

Free and Pro plans are SaaS-only, while Enterprise customers can choose SaaS or self-hosted deployment with custom SLAs.

Source
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