Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability vs Splunk APM

Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability9.3Visit Splunk APM6.6Visit

Higher score Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability #1 in Application Performance & Observability - Enterprise Software 9.3/10 From $7 · 15-day trial ✓ 2 of 4 features Visit Dynatrace

vs

Splunk APM #8 in Application Performance & Observability - Enterprise Software 6.6/10 Paid ✓ 1 of 4 features Visit Splunk

• Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability fits best

  Enterprise teams needing broad infrastructure observability

• Splunk APM fits best

  Teams needing tracing with continuous code profiling

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Side by side

Feature	Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability 9.3/10 Visit ↗	Splunk APM 6.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.3	6.6
Ranking	#1 in Application Performance & Observability - Enterprise Software	#8 in Application Performance & Observability - Enterprise Software
Best for	Enterprise teams needing broad infrastructure observability	Teams needing tracing with continuous code profiling
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Integrations	8 integrations	100+ integrations
Features Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability 2/4 · Splunk APM 1/4
Distributed tracing	✓	✓
Application monitoring	Not published	Not published
Log management	Not published	Not published
Synthetic monitoring	✓ (best)	Not published
Specs
Deployment options	Not published	Not published
Data retention	Not published	Not published
Our review
Pros	Automatic topology mapping across hybrid and cloud environments Correlates logs, metrics, and traces for root-cause analysis Covers Kubernetes, networks, hosts, and synthetic monitoring	Full-fidelity trace analysis with search and span waterfall views Service maps show dependencies across instrumented and inferred services AlwaysOn Profiling covers CPU and memory in Java, .NET and Node.js
Cons	Full-Stack Monitoring costs $58 per 8 GiB host monthly Advanced capabilities require higher-tier plans Designed for enterprise scope rather than narrow monitoring needs	No free plan is established for APM App & Infra and End-to-End are $60 and $75 per host monthly on annual billing Real User Monitoring appears in End-to-End, not the App & Infra tier
Our verdict	Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability brings hosts, virtual machines, containers, networks, cloud platforms, events, and logs into one monitoring environment. It is aimed at IT operations, infrastructure, cloud, and platform engineering… Read the review →	Splunk APM monitors distributed application availability and performance through trace and span collection. It is suited to teams investigating microservices and complex application environments, especially those that need to connect… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability — where it wins

  • Automatic topology mapping across hybrid and cloud environments
  • Correlates logs, metrics, and traces for root-cause analysis
  • Covers Kubernetes, networks, hosts, and synthetic monitoring

  Where it doesn't

  • Full-Stack Monitoring costs $58 per 8 GiB host monthly
  • Advanced capabilities require higher-tier plans
  • Designed for enterprise scope rather than narrow monitoring needs

• Splunk APM — where it wins

  • Full-fidelity trace analysis with search and span waterfall views
  • Service maps show dependencies across instrumented and inferred services
  • AlwaysOn Profiling covers CPU and memory in Java, .NET and Node.js

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan is established for APM
  • App & Infra and End-to-End are $60 and $75 per host monthly on annual billing
  • Real User Monitoring appears in End-to-End, not the App & Infra tier

• Dynatrace Infrastructure Observability9.3/10 · From $7 · 15-day trial

  Broad infrastructure observability with tracing, logs, synthetic checks, and AI-assisted analysis.

  Visit DynatraceFull verdict →
• Splunk APM6.6/10 · Paid

  Distributed tracing, service maps and continuous profiling, with paid plans starting at $60 per host monthly.

  Visit SplunkFull verdict →