Prometheus vs. AppDynamics

Table of Contents:

• What is Prometheus?
• What is AppDynamics?
• When to use Hosted Prometheus by MetricFire? 
• When to use AppDynamics?
• Pricing comparison
• Key takeaways? 

What is Prometheus?

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Prometheus is an open-source service monitoring system built around a time series database, able to receive data and store it, in addition to supporting queries, graphs, and in-built alerting. Connecting to target endpoints to request metrics via HTTP, Prometheus provides a multi-dimensional data model wherein metrics can be defined by names and/or tags which identify them as part of a unique time series. Open-source Prometheus metrics have a default retention of 15 days, though with Hosted Prometheus by MetricFire data can be stored for up to 2 years. The Prometheus query language (PromQL) can then be used to explore metrics and draw simple graphs. 

What is AppDynamics?

AppDynamics is an application performance monitoring tool designed to provide real-time detection of anomalies. It can be applied for both cloud or server based apps, and can also be used to see how your app’s performance can affect business metrics. AppDynamic’s feature called Business iQ allows you to correlate app performance, user experience, and business outcomes. AppDynamic’s end user monitoring tool allows for a correlation between front end and back end performance monitoring. Infrastructure Monitoring allows for visibility into how the infrastructure impacts the app performance. AppDynamic is a proprietary service with three stages of pricing. The first stage is only app performance monitoring, the second stage is full-stack visibility, and the third stage brings in Business iQ. 

When to use Hosted Prometheus by MetricFire?

Use Hosted Prometheus when you …

• need a time-series database monitoring solution.
• need long-term storage for Prometheus metrics.
• need to use tags/labels for metrics.
• need to run alerts across different data sources.
• want to use and query both Prometheus and Graphite though Grafana all as a part of the same service.

When to use AppDynamics?

Use AppDynamics when you …

• have an app that needs to be monitored. 
• are looking for ways to optimize your app. 
• want to know where the anomalies in your app are.
• want to identify which anomalies actually affect user experience. 
• want to be able to trace how much anomalies are costing. 

Pricing comparison

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• Prometheus is open source, and free.
• Business-ready Prometheus as a Service by MetricFire, including Hosted Prometheus, Hosted Graphite AND Grafana, starts at 99 USD a month.
• AppDynamics has a starting price of 3300 USD per year. 

Key takeaways

• Prometheus can provide a dimensional data model where metrics are identified by a metric name and tags with built-in storage, graphing and alerting.
• Prometheus is open source, and free.
• AppDynamics is meant for businesses that are defined by their app services.  

Get to know our Hosted Prometheus better, and check out how MetricFire can fit into your monitoring environment!