Log Management · head to head
ELK Stack vs AppDynamics
A
AppDynamics
Log Management
Enterprise Application Performance Management
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: ELK Stack the free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication; AppDynamics appdynamics.com/pricing returns a 301 redirect to Splunk's observability pricing page; the product is now sold as Splunk AppDynamics
- They diverge on capability: ELK Stack covers Full-text search, AppDynamics covers Application performance monitoring.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which ELK Stack and AppDynamics actually diverge.
| Attribute | ELK Stack | AppDynamics |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Founded | 2011 | 2008 |
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 ELK Stack
- Full-text search
- Data visualization
- Log aggregation
- Time-series analytics
Only in AppDynamics
- Application performance monitoring
- Distributed tracing
- Real-time analytics
- Alert management
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.
ELK Stack
- Centralised log search and analytics over Elasticsearchnot AppDynamics
- Dashboards and visualisation of machine data in Kibananot AppDynamics
- Self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardwarenot AppDynamics
AppDynamics
- Application performance monitoring for Java, .NET and other enterprise application stacksnot ELK Stack
- Business transaction tracing across distributed application tiersnot ELK Stack
- Infrastructure monitoring priced per vCPUnot ELK Stack
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
ELK Stack
- The free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication
- Cross cluster operations require the same subscription tier on every cluster involved
- The 99.95 percent monthly uptime SLA applies only to the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers
- Three deployment models are priced on three different bases: resource based for Cloud Hosted, usage based for Serverless and licence based on nodes and RAM for self managed
- Elastic Cloud Serverless does not yet support traffic filtering, cross project search or bring your own key
- The pricing page publishes no rate for any tier
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
Pricing, plan by plan
ELK Stack
Free- FreeFree
- Full-text search
- Data visualization
- Log aggregation
AppDynamics
Free- FreeFree
- Application performance monitoring
- Distributed tracing
- Real-time analytics
Which should you pick?
Choose ELK Stack if
- You need full-text search.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want data visualization.
Choose AppDynamics if
- You need application performance monitoring.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want distributed tracing.
Questions people ask
- Is ELK Stack or AppDynamics better?
- Neither clearly leads. ELK Stack starts at Free and AppDynamics at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, ELK Stack or AppDynamics?
- ELK Stack starts at Free and AppDynamics at Free.
- Does ELK Stack or AppDynamics run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use ELK Stack for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is ELK Stack best used for?
- ELK Stack is most often used for centralised log search and analytics over elasticsearch, dashboards and visualisation of machine data in kibana, self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardware. Of those, centralised log search and analytics over elasticsearch and dashboards and visualisation of machine data in kibana are not what AppDynamics is typically brought in for.
- What can ELK Stack do that AppDynamics cannot?
- ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Data visualization, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics. AppDynamics covers Application performance monitoring, Distributed tracing, Real-time analytics, Alert management. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.