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Software · head to head

Papertrail vs Dynatrace

Papertrail logo

Papertrail

Software

Cloud-Hosted Log Management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Dynatrace logo

Dynatrace

Software

Application Performance Management and Observability

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Papertrail log Observability starts at $5.00 per GB per month; Dynatrace pricing is commitment based: rates require an annual platform level commitment rather than month to month purchase
  • They diverge on capability: Papertrail covers Log aggregation, Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Papertrail and Dynatrace actually diverge.

Attributes where Papertrail and Dynatrace differ
AttributePapertrailDynatrace
Founded20112005

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (subscription), 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 Papertrail

  • Log aggregation
  • Real-time tail
  • Saved searches
  • System alerts

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.

Papertrail

  • Aggregating syslog and application logs from many hosts into one searchable streamnot Dynatrace
  • Tail-and-search style troubleshooting during incidentsnot Dynatrace
  • Long-term log archiving to Amazon S3 for later analysisnot Dynatrace

Dynatrace

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

Where each one falls short

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

Papertrail

  • Log Observability starts at $5.00 per GB per month
  • Usage beyond the plan volume is billed at a 30% higher price per GB and is capped at 200% extra
  • Transferred volume is measured as message length plus 50 bytes of metadata per message, so metadata counts against the quota

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

Papertrail

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log aggregation
    • Real-time tail
    • Saved searches

Dynatrace

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Papertrail if

  • You need log aggregation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want real-time tail.
Papertrail review

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

Questions people ask

Is Papertrail or Dynatrace better?
Neither clearly leads. Papertrail 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, Papertrail or Dynatrace?
Papertrail starts at Free and Dynatrace at Free.
Does Papertrail or Dynatrace run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Papertrail for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Papertrail best used for?
Papertrail is most often used for aggregating syslog and application logs from many hosts into one searchable stream, tail-and-search style troubleshooting during incidents, long-term log archiving to amazon s3 for later analysis. Of those, aggregating syslog and application logs from many hosts into one searchable stream and tail-and-search style troubleshooting during incidents are not what Dynatrace is typically brought in for.
What can Papertrail do that Dynatrace cannot?
Papertrail covers Log aggregation, Real-time tail, Saved searches, System alerts. Dynatrace covers AI-powered analytics, APM, Infrastructure monitoring, Log analysis. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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