Splunk vs Dynatrace - In-depth Comparison [2024]

Splunk and Dynatrace are popular monitoring tools widely used by businesses for tracking and monitoring data. Dynatrace is different from Splunk as it provides full-stack observability with AI-driven root cause analysis for applications, infrastructure, and user experience, while Splunk focuses primarily on log management and data analysis.

Splunk can also be used for monitoring, including infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring, server monitoring, and continuous monitoring. These features enable comprehensive oversight of system performance, application health, and real-time issues.

In this article, we will explore a detailed comparison of Splunk and Dynatrace, focusing on their core features, and strengths to help you understand how Splunk competes with Dynatrace and choose the right tool for your needs.

In this Blog Post:

1. Comparing Splunk and Dynatrace
2. Infrastructure Monitoring
3. Application Performance Monitoring
4. Log Management
5. Application Security
6. AI-Driven Analytics
7. UI/UX
8. Documentation
9. Pricing Comparison
10. Splunk vs Dynatrace: Which tool to Choose?
11. Atatus: A Better Splunk and Dynatrace Alternative

Comparing Splunk and Dynatrace

A quick overview of  Splunk vs Dynatrace features:

Infrastructure Monitoring

Splunk

By connecting Splunk observability cloud to your cloud provider, you can start collecting data from various cloud services. Although it’s not necessary to link your cloud account to monitor hosts or Kubernetes clusters running in the cloud, doing so is the only way to capture cloud metadata.

To access your infrastructure, simply navigate to the infrastructure overview from the main menu. This section allows you to explore different layers of your tech stack, such as cloud services, containers, and hosts.

You can also visualize metrics for a quick overview of your system’s performance and set up alerts and notifications to stay on top of important indicators for services, infrastructure, and applications.

Dynatrace

Once installed, OneAgent automatically begins collecting data across the entire setup, providing a comprehensive view of infrastructure performance. This includes details on incoming and outgoing connections, host performance, process analysis, and disk usage.

Dynatrace Infrastructure offers real-time visibility into the performance of the entire infrastructure. It automatically detects and monitors all components, provides detailed metrics on system health and resource usage, and delivers end-to-end visibility across applications and services. Additionally, it uses AI-driven insights to offer proactive alerts for faster issue resolution.

Splunk and Dynatrace both offer strong infrastructure monitoring features. Choose the one that suits your needs and budget.

Application Performance Monitoring

Splunk

I set up Splunk APM by first installing the SignalFx-SmartAgent on my server. After completing the setup, the configuration file was updated to start receiving APM traces.

The service map instantly offered visibility into service interactions, dependencies, and overall performance, showcasing all instrumented services.

For troubleshooting, the Troubleshooting tab provided insights into service latency and root errors. Traces could be further explored by filtering them by environment, service, tags, and timeframe. Clicking on a specific trace ID or span gave detailed metadata for deeper analysis.

Dynatrace

Setting up Application Performance Monitoring (APM) in Dynatrace can be tricky at first, as the APM feature isn't immediately obvious in the user interface, making navigation a bit challenging.

Dynatrace provides two options for instrumentation: the OneAgent module or OpenTelemetry. It offers full-stack monitoring, covering everything from the front-end and back-end to infrastructure and cloud environments, helping you understand how application performance impacts customers. It automatically detects all application dependencies and tracks transactions across every tier.

With built-in AI, Dynatrace continuously learns your application's behavior and proactively detects anomalies. It analyses trillions of events daily, pinpointing problems down to individual lines of code, allowing you to identify performance issues before they impact users.

Dynatrace is better for APM because it delivers comprehensive, AI-driven real-time insights into application performance with full-stack monitoring. Its advanced features ensure thorough visibility into application performance.

Log Management

Splunk

Splunk is better than other tools for managing large volumes of logs effectively. However, it doesn't automatically collect logs from applications. To do this, you need to set up the Universal Forwarder (UF) to format and send the logs to Splunk.

Once set up, Splunk helps you manage and analyze logs from various sources, offering insights into system performance and security. Its strong search and visualization tools make it a popular choice.

Additionally, Log Observer Connect in Splunk Observability Cloud lets you import and view logs in an easy, codeless interface, making it quicker to spot and fix issues.

Dynatrace

Once OneAgent is installed on your host, it automatically collects log data for Dynatrace. The Log Management and Analytics feature, powered by Grail, integrates logs seamlessly into Dynatrace. You can easily track log attributes as metrics, like converting session duration into a metric.

Dynatrace also allows you to set custom ingestion rules with OneAgent, controlling log data management and retention. Storing logs in specific retention buckets boosts query performance by speeding up data retrieval and minimizing the amount of data read.

The main use of Splunk is log management. It effectively handles large volumes of logs and provides strong search and visualization tools. So, the clear winner here is Splunk.

Application Security

Splunk

Splunk offers tools that help you understand and manage application security threats . By collecting and analysing data from any source, Splunk provides a clear view of your security situation, which helps you respond faster and detect problems more effectively.

Splunk provides two key products for security, Splunk Security Essentials and Splunk Enterprise Security.

1. Splunk Security Essentials helps you set up security measures quickly, supports a proactive approach to security, and addresses both existing and new threats.
2. Splunk Enterprise Security  provides advanced monitoring and analysis to improve threat detection and give deeper insights into security issues.

Dynatrace

Dynatrace provides in-depth security insights, offering a clear view of vulnerabilities and their potential impact on crucial components. It detects code and configuration issues in real-time, preventing exploits to ensure smooth operations.

With Davis AI, it focuses on the most critical vulnerabilities and reduces false alarms. Dynatrace also tracks data flow within applications to detect and prevent malicious activity without interrupting essential processes.

If you need comprehensive security for your entire environment and applications, Splunk is a better option.

AI-Driven Analytics

Splunk

Splunk uses AI-powered analytics by including machine learning (ML), generative AI, and customizable ML tools in its platform. These tools help improve the security and monitoring of applications and services, detect unusual patterns using machine learning, and make it easier for new users to get started with the help of generative AI.

Dynatrace

Dynatrace’s AI engine, Davis, automatically performs root cause analysis and anomaly detection, greatly reducing the time needed to identify and resolve issues. Davis AI also handles automatic application topology discovery and auto-coded workflows.

By combining real-time metrics, traces, and logs, it provides clear insights to pinpoint the root cause of problems, enabling teams to enhance performance and ensure services run smoothly before customer impact occurs.

Dynatrace stands out with its advanced AI engine, Davis, which provides automatic root cause analysis and anomaly detection.

UI/UX

Splunk

Splunk offers more flexible design that allows users to customize dashboards and build their own queries. However, it requires more manual setup, especially when dealing with complex data. Splunk’s powerful search feature is excellent for log analysis but can be difficult for beginners.

Dynatrace

On the other hand, Dynatrace has a user-friendly design with an intuitive interface, making it easy for users to navigate. It automatically generates dashboards for monitoring, reducing the need for manual setup, and its AI-driven insights help users quickly identify and troubleshoot issues without much effort. Dynatrace also has a quick setup process, allowing users to start monitoring right away.

Documentation

Dynatrace has a lot of official documentation, but it often takes time to find what you need because you have to go through several documents. While the information is useful, I had trouble with some parts and had to watch their YouTube videos for better understanding.

On the other hand, Splunk’s documentation is vast but not well-organized, and it’s not beginner-friendly. I had to switch between many documents to understand things, and it could be made easier to use.

Pricing Comparison

Splunk

Splunk’s pricing can be complex and may become expensive, especially for handling large-scale data. Users can begin with a 15-day free trial to explore the platform. Since exact pricing details are not listed on their website, you will need to reach out to Splunk’s sales team for pricing information.

Dynatrace

Dynatrace pricing depends on the services and features you use. Each type of service, like application or infrastructure monitoring, has its own cost. Therefore, how much you pay will depend on which services you choose and how much you use them. Dynatrace offers a clear and flexible pricing model.

Dynatrace can be expensive, but it may be cheaper than Splunk. Dynatrace's all-in-one platform helps save money by including many features in one solution.

Splunk vs Dynatrace: Which tool to Choose?

When choosing between Splunk and Dynatrace, it's important to consider your specific needs and requirements. Here’s a guide to help you choose between Splunk and Dynatrace based on your needs.

• If you need comprehensive application performance monitoring, choose Dynatrace.
• If you need advanced log management and analysis, choose Splunk.
• If you want AI-driven insights and automated root cause analysis, choose Dynatrace.
• If powerful search capabilities are a priority, choose Splunk.
• If you need comprehensive security for your entire infrastructure and applications, choose Splunk.
• If you prefer easy setup choose Dynatrace.

Atatus: A Better Splunk and Dynatrace Alternative

Splunk and Dynatrace are popular monitoring tools, but they may not always meet every organization’s requirements. Splunk excels in log management but can be costly and is not necessarily the best choice for everyone. Dynatrace, while comprehensive in its capabilities, often presents a steep learning curve and is complex for users.

Atatus is a better alternative than Splunk and Dynatrace, offering a full-stack Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and observability solution. It is known for its easy-to-use and straightforward interface. Unlike the more complex setups of Splunk and Dynatrace, Atatus makes it simple for users to navigate and use effectively.

As an OpenTelemetry-native tool, Atatus integrates metrics, logs, and traces to deliver a holistic view of your systems. Its built-in support for distributed tracing ensures end-to-end visibility of services, offering a unified and comprehensive approach to observability that enhances system performance beyond what is achievable with Splunk or Dynatrace alone.

Additionally, Atatus is known for its cost-effectiveness and transparent pricing. With Atatus, what you see is what you pay, making it a highly cost-effective option compared to Splunk and Dynatrace.

Ready to see how Atatus can transform your monitoring experience? Sign up now and get started with a tool that makes observability easy and affordable!