Software · head to head
Filebeat vs Dynatrace
Dynatrace
Software
Application Performance Management and Observability
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Filebeat filebeat ships only as part of the Elastic Stack and has no standalone commercial license; using it in production requires deploying Elasticsearch and typically Kibana alongside it.; Dynatrace pricing is commitment based: rates require an annual platform level commitment rather than month to month purchase
- They diverge on capability: Filebeat covers File tailing, Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Filebeat and Dynatrace actually diverge.
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 Filebeat
- File tailing
- Log forwarding
- Event parsing
- Input harvesting
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.
Filebeat
- Log monitoringnot Dynatrace
- Application performancenot Dynatrace
- Security analyticsnot Dynatrace
- Troubleshootingnot Dynatrace
Dynatrace
- Full stack application performance monitoring with automatic dependency discoverynot Filebeat
- Kubernetes and container platform observability priced per podnot Filebeat
- Log ingest, processing and query analyticsnot Filebeat
- Real user monitoring and session replay for web applicationsnot Filebeat
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Filebeat
- Filebeat ships only as part of the Elastic Stack and has no standalone commercial license; using it in production requires deploying Elasticsearch and typically Kibana alongside it.
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
Filebeat
Free- FreeFree
- File tailing
- Log forwarding
- Event parsing
Dynatrace
Free- FreeFree
- AI-powered analytics
- APM
- Infrastructure monitoring
Which should you pick?
Choose Filebeat if
- You need file tailing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want log forwarding.
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 Filebeat or Dynatrace better?
- Neither clearly leads. Filebeat 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, Filebeat or Dynatrace?
- Filebeat starts at Free and Dynatrace at Free.
- Does Filebeat or Dynatrace run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Filebeat for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Filebeat best used for?
- Filebeat is most often used for log monitoring, application performance, security analytics, troubleshooting. Of those, log monitoring and application performance are not what Dynatrace is typically brought in for.
- What can Filebeat do that Dynatrace cannot?
- Filebeat covers File tailing, Log forwarding, Event parsing, Input harvesting. Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics, APM, Infrastructure monitoring, Log analysis. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.