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Dynatrace vs Kibana

Dynatrace logo

Dynatrace

Software

Application Performance Management and Observability

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Kibana logo

Kibana

Software

Visualize Your Elasticsearch Data

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Dynatrace pricing is commitment based: rates require an annual platform level commitment rather than month to month purchase; Kibana requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool
  • They diverge on capability: Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics, Kibana covers Data visualization.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dynatrace and Kibana actually diverge.

Attributes where Dynatrace and Kibana differ
AttributeDynatraceKibana
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source
Founded20052011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 Dynatrace

  • AI-powered analytics
  • APM
  • Infrastructure monitoring
  • Log analysis

Only in Kibana

  • Data visualization
  • Dashboard creation
  • Log discovery
  • Alerting

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.

Dynatrace

  • Full stack application performance monitoring with automatic dependency discoverynot Kibana
  • Kubernetes and container platform observability priced per podnot Kibana
  • Log ingest, processing and query analyticsnot Kibana
  • Real user monitoring and session replay for web applicationsnot Kibana

Kibana

  • Querying and visualising data held in Elasticsearchnot Dynatrace
  • Dashboards over log and metric datanot Dynatrace
  • Anomaly detection with machine learning jobsnot Dynatrace
  • Geospatial analysis on indexed location datanot Dynatrace
  • Alerting on query thresholdsnot Dynatrace

Where each one falls short

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

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

Kibana

  • Requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool
  • Self-managed means running and scaling the Elastic stack yourself
  • Cost is not Kibana's own; it follows whichever Elastic deployment sits underneath

Pricing, plan by plan

Dynatrace

Free
  • FreeFree
    • AI-powered analytics
    • APM
    • Infrastructure monitoring

Kibana

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Data visualization
    • Dashboard creation
    • Log discovery

Which should you pick?

Choose Dynatrace if

  • You need ai-powered analytics.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want apm.
Dynatrace review

Choose Kibana if

  • You need data visualization.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want dashboard creation.
Kibana review

Questions people ask

Is Dynatrace or Kibana better?
Neither clearly leads. Dynatrace starts at Free and Kibana at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dynatrace or Kibana?
Dynatrace starts at Free and Kibana at Free.
Does Dynatrace or Kibana run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Dynatrace for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Dynatrace best used for?
Dynatrace is most often used for full stack application performance monitoring with automatic dependency discovery, kubernetes and container platform observability priced per pod, log ingest, processing and query analytics, real user monitoring and session replay for web applications. Of those, full stack application performance monitoring with automatic dependency discovery and kubernetes and container platform observability priced per pod are not what Kibana is typically brought in for.
What can Dynatrace do that Kibana cannot?
Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics, APM, Infrastructure monitoring, Log analysis. Kibana covers Data visualization, Dashboard creation, Log discovery, Alerting. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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