Percona Monitoring and Management review
A free, self-hosted choice for deep monitoring across databases, queries, and infrastructure.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Percona Monitoring and Management (PMM) is an open-source observability, monitoring, and management platform for database administrators and DevOps teams. It combines database-specific dashboards, performance metrics, Query Analytics, configurable alerting, security and performance advisors, and backup capabilities. PMM is designed for teams managing MySQL and its variants, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Valkey/Redis, cloud database services, proxy services, and infrastructure across on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments.
Its broad ecosystem support is a major strength. PMM can monitor MySQL, Percona Server for MySQL, Percona XtraDB Cluster, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Valkey/Redis, Amazon RDS/Aurora, Microsoft Azure Database, Google Cloud SQL, ProxySQL, HAProxy, and Linux. The architecture uses a centralized PMM Server with distributed PMM Clients, giving teams a defined model for collecting and centralizing monitoring information across environments. That flexibility suits organizations with varied database estates, while teams seeking a hosted-only service may prefer a product without this self-hosted architecture.
The standout capability is its depth of database performance analysis. Query Analytics identifies and analyzes slow queries, ranks query profiles by database load, and supports execution-plan analysis. For MongoDB, PMM adds real-time query analytics and inspection of wait and lock contention for operations. Configurable notifications and automated security and performance advisors extend monitoring into ongoing operational guidance. Backup and restore are included for MySQL and MongoDB. PMM is a strong fit for teams that want free, open-source monitoring with detailed query and database analysis; teams needing broader backup coverage than the listed MySQL and MongoDB support, or a simpler managed experience, should consider an alternative.
Percona Monitoring and Management pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free and open-source with hybrid deployment options
- Deep query profiling, execution plans, and wait/lock analysis
- Supports databases, cloud services, proxies, and infrastructure monitoring
- Where it doesn't
- Self-hosted operation requires PMM Server and distributed PMM Clients
- Backup and restore are specified for MySQL and MongoDB
- Some advanced query analysis is specified specifically for MongoDB
Percona Monitoring and Management fact sheet, pricing and score →
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