Splunk announced its Plumbr and Rigor transactions on October 20, 2020, but they were at different stages: Plumbr had already been acquired, while Rigor was still subject to a definitive agreement. Splunk’s filings record Plumbr’s acquisition on October 5, 2020, and Rigor’s on November 5, 2020. The deals broadened Splunk Observability with application performance monitoring (APM), real-user monitoring (RUM), digital experience monitoring (DEM), and synthetic monitoring capabilities.
What did Splunk acquire when it bought Plumbr and Rigor?
Splunk acquired two companies whose monitoring capabilities addressed different parts of software performance. Plumbr focused on application internals and real user activity; Rigor focused on testing and improving digital experiences, including websites and APIs.
| Company | Monitoring approach and scope | Capabilities Splunk identified |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbr | Application performance monitoring and real-user telemetry | Auto-instrumentation, RUM, deep APM insights, database monitoring, and code profiling. Splunk said its technology supported Java, PHP, Python, and .NET applications. |
| Rigor | Digital experience monitoring, including synthetic tests | Synthetic monitoring and optimization tools intended to help identify, fix, and prevent web and API performance problems that affect user experience. |
In practical terms, Plumbr’s described role was to reveal application performance through instrumentation and real-user data. Rigor added a way to monitor digital services using synthetic monitoring and optimization capabilities. Splunk presented the two acquisitions together as broadening its APM and DEM offerings across cloud and on-premises environments. Splunk’s announcement describes the rationale and capabilities.
When did Splunk acquire Plumbr and Rigor?
The October 20, 2020 announcement should not be read as the closing date for both deals. Splunk had completed Plumbr’s acquisition by then, but Rigor was still an agreed transaction.
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- October 5, 2020: Splunk acquired 100% of OÜ Plumbr.
- October 20, 2020: Splunk announced that Plumbr was acquired and that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rigor.
- November 5, 2020: Splunk acquired 100% of Rigor, Inc.
These acquisition dates are recorded in Splunk’s SEC filing. Splunk’s Rigor acquisition page uses October 20, 2020 as the date of its acquisition announcement and describes Rigor’s synthetic monitoring capabilities as adopted into Splunk Observability; the filing separately records the legal acquisition date as November 5. Splunk’s Q3 FY2021 filing and Splunk’s Rigor acquisition page distinguish those details.
What did Splunk disclose about the purchase prices?
Splunk’s filings disclose a specific cash consideration for Rigor, but not a standalone Plumbr price. The figures differ in scope and measurement, so they should not be treated as interchangeable.
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| Reported figure | What it refers to | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| $37.6 million in cash | Rigor | Splunk’s FY2022 Form 10-K reports this as total consideration for Rigor. |
| Approximately $38.0 million | Rigor | Splunk’s Q3 FY2021 filing describes the estimated fair value of consideration. This is a different filing and measurement description from the later FY2022 cash figure. |
| $31.6 million | Plumbr and Flowmill together | Splunk’s FY2022 Form 10-K reports an aggregate purchase price for both companies. It is not a standalone Plumbr valuation. |
Splunk’s later FY2022 Form 10-K reports the $37.6 million Rigor cash consideration and the combined Plumbr-and-Flowmill purchase price. The earlier Q3 FY2021 filing gives the approximately $38.0 million estimated fair value for Rigor. Splunk did not disclose a separate purchase price for Plumbr in these figures.
Why did Splunk pursue the acquisitions?
Splunk said the transactions would expand its observability suite by combining application performance monitoring with digital experience monitoring. The intended coverage included both application-level performance and the experience of people using web and API services, across cloud and on-premises settings. In the October 20, 2020 release, Splunk CTO Tim Tully said: “Together, Plumbr and Rigor accelerate Splunk’s vision to deliver a comprehensive Observability Suite with best-in-class DEM and APM for all applications.” The announcement attributes the statement and describes Splunk’s rationale.
What the announcements establish about Splunk Observability
Splunk’s acquisition materials describe how the companies’ capabilities were incorporated into its observability offering. Its current Plumbr acquisition page characterizes that deal as enhancing auto-instrumentation, RUM, and deep APM capabilities. Its Rigor page says Splunk adopted Rigor’s synthetic monitoring capabilities into Splunk Observability. These are acquisition descriptions, not a guarantee that standalone Plumbr or Rigor products remain available under the same names or packaging today. For the historical capabilities, see Splunk’s Plumbr acquisition page and Splunk’s Rigor acquisition page.
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