Dynatrace Application Monitoring vs Apache SkyWalking

Dynatrace Application Monitoring9.2Visit Apache SkyWalking8.7Visit

Higher score Dynatrace Application Monitoring #3 in Application Performance Monitoring 9.2/10 15-day trial Free trial✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Dynatrace

vs

Apache SkyWalking #8 in Application Performance Monitoring 8.7/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit SkyWalking

• Dynatrace Application Monitoring fits best

  Enterprise teams needing comprehensive APM

• Apache SkyWalking fits best

  Self-hosted teams needing deep observability

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Side by side

Feature	Dynatrace Application Monitoring 9.2/10 Visit ↗	Apache SkyWalking 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.2	8.7
Ranking	#3 in Application Performance Monitoring	#8 in Application Performance Monitoring
Best for	Enterprise teams needing comprehensive APM	Self-hosted teams needing deep observability
Pricing model	Paid	Free
Starting price	$7/device/mo	Free plan
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	15 days	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android	Web, Windows, Linux
Support	Live chat, Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs · 24/7	Community, Docs
Integrations	600+ integrations	7 integrations
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Dynatrace Application Monitoring 5/5 · Apache SkyWalking 5/5
Distributed tracing	✓	✓
Transaction tracing	✓	✓
Dependency mapping	✓	✓
Real user monitoring	✓	✓
Log correlation	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Hybrid	Self_hosted
Our review
Pros	Automatic discovery maps applications, dependencies, services, and transactions. Distributed tracing, code-level visibility, RUM, and contextualized logs. Integrates with major cloud, DevOps, ticketing, and observability platforms.	Combines tracing, topology maps, metrics, logs, profiling, and alerts Supports Kubernetes, service meshes, browser monitoring, and eBPF profiling Ingests telemetry through OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Zipkin, and more
Cons	No free plan; the free trial lasts 15 days. Full-Stack Monitoring is priced per 8 GiB host, not per host. Monthly prices are hourly-billed equivalents under commitment-based consumption pricing.	Self-hosting requires teams to manage deployment and operations Its wide feature set may exceed the needs of smaller applications It is not presented as a conventional hosted SaaS product
Our verdict	Dynatrace Application Monitoring measures application performance, availability, transactions, dependencies, infrastructure, logs, and user experience across hybrid and multicloud environments. It is designed for development, operations,… Read the review →	Apache SkyWalking is an open-source application performance monitoring and observability platform for distributed, microservices, cloud-native, and container-based applications. It is designed for teams that want to run observability… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Dynatrace Application Monitoring — where it wins

  • Automatic discovery maps applications, dependencies, services, and transactions.
  • Distributed tracing, code-level visibility, RUM, and contextualized logs.
  • Integrates with major cloud, DevOps, ticketing, and observability platforms.

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan; the free trial lasts 15 days.
  • Full-Stack Monitoring is priced per 8 GiB host, not per host.
  • Monthly prices are hourly-billed equivalents under commitment-based consumption pricing.

• Apache SkyWalking — where it wins

  • Combines tracing, topology maps, metrics, logs, profiling, and alerts
  • Supports Kubernetes, service meshes, browser monitoring, and eBPF profiling
  • Ingests telemetry through OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Zipkin, and more

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosting requires teams to manage deployment and operations
  • Its wide feature set may exceed the needs of smaller applications
  • It is not presented as a conventional hosted SaaS product

• Dynatrace Application Monitoring9.2/10 · 15-day trial

  A broad hybrid APM platform for enterprise teams that need end-to-end visibility.

  Visit DynatraceFull verdict →
• Apache SkyWalking8.7/10 · Free plan

  A broad self-hosted APM suite for teams that need tracing, metrics, logs, and topology.

  Visit SkyWalkingFull verdict →