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Upstat vs Dynatrace

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Executive Snapshot

Dynatrace is enterprise APM. Upstat is complete incident operations.

Dynatrace provides deep application performance monitoring with AI-powered analytics requiring OneAgent deployment—designed for enterprise organizations needing code-level visibility and infrastructure observability. Teams typically pay complex usage-based fees ($0.08/hour per host) plus separate subscriptions for on-call management (PagerDuty, OpsGenie) and status pages. Upstat consolidates external monitoring, incident operations, and status communication into one platform at $29–$49 per user.

APM versus incident operations

Dynatrace excels at deep APM with code-level visibility but lacks native on-call scheduling, incident workflows, runbooks, or status pages. Upstat provides external monitoring (uptime, API, heartbeat) with complete incident operations—ideal for teams prioritizing response coordination over application performance analytics.

Capability comparison

Platform Focus

Upstat

Complete incident operations platform with native monitoring, incident workflows, on-call management, and status communication.

Dynatrace

Enterprise APM and observability platform focused on application performance, infrastructure monitoring, and AI-powered analytics.

Monitoring Approach

Upstat

External uptime, API, and heartbeat monitoring without code instrumentation; monitors service availability.

Dynatrace

Deep APM with code-level visibility requiring agent deployment; monitors application performance, transactions, and infrastructure metrics.

Incident Coordination

Upstat

Native incident workspace with Kanban views, embedded runbooks, role assignments, and collaborative timelines.

Dynatrace

Problem detection and alert correlation; incident coordination happens in external ITSM tools like ServiceNow.

On-Call Management

Upstat

Built-in on-call scheduling, escalation policies, rotation management, and shift swaps.

Dynatrace

Alert notifications and integrations with PagerDuty/OpsGenie; no native on-call scheduling or rotation management.

Status Communication

Upstat

Customer-facing status pages automatically updated from monitoring health and incident progress.

Dynatrace

No native status pages—teams communicate outages via external platforms or custom solutions.

Target Audience

Upstat

DevOps and SRE teams needing unified monitoring, incident operations, and status communication.

Dynatrace

Enterprise organizations requiring deep APM, infrastructure monitoring, and observability across complex distributed systems.

Implementation Complexity

Upstat

Quick setup with external monitoring (no agents); configure monitors and start receiving alerts.

Dynatrace

Complex deployment requiring OneAgent installation across infrastructure, configuration, and integration with existing monitoring stacks.

Pricing

Upstat

$29 / $49 per user with monitoring, incidents, on-call, runbooks, and status pages included.

Dynatrace

Complex usage-based pricing ($0.08/hour per 8GiB host for full-stack monitoring); costs scale with infrastructure size and monitored resources.

Why teams evaluate Dynatrace alternatives

Monitoring without incident coordination

Dynatrace provides problem detection and alert correlation but no native incident workspace, on-call scheduling, or runbooks. Teams coordinate incident response in external ITSM tools (ServiceNow, Jira) while managing Dynatrace separately. Upstat provides native monitoring integrated directly with incident workflows and on-call management.

Complex usage-based pricing

Dynatrace uses complex usage-based pricing ($0.08/hour per 8GiB host for full-stack monitoring); costs scale unpredictably with infrastructure growth and monitored resources. Upstat offers simple per-user pricing with all features included: monitoring, incidents, on-call, runbooks, and status pages without usage-based fees or infrastructure scaling costs.

Requires external on-call and status tools

Dynatrace integrates with PagerDuty and OpsGenie for on-call management but does not provide native scheduling or escalation policies. Teams maintain separate subscriptions for on-call platforms and status page tools. Upstat includes built-in on-call management and status pages—eliminating multiple subscriptions while unifying incident operations.

Learn more about Why teams evaluate Dynatrace alternatives

How teams migrate from Dynatrace to Upstat

Most teams migrate monitoring and incident management in 2-3 weeks by replacing or complementing Dynatrace with Upstat's focused service monitoring and unified incident operations.

  • 1
    Assess whether your team needs deep APM (Dynatrace) or external monitoring with incident operations (Upstat).
  • 2
    Configure Upstat native monitoring to replace or complement Dynatrace alerts for production service availability.
  • 3
    Migrate on-call schedules from PagerDuty/OpsGenie to Upstat unified on-call management.
  • 4
    Set up Upstat incident workflows, runbooks, and status pages for operations coordination.
  • 5
    Evaluate whether to retain Dynatrace for APM or consolidate with Upstat for DevOps-focused monitoring.

Migration checklist

Teams needing deep APM and infrastructure observability should keep Dynatrace. Teams prioritizing service uptime monitoring and incident coordination can consolidate with Upstat.

Learn more about How teams migrate from Dynatrace to Upstat

Business Case

Stack consolidation scenario

A 20-engineer SRE team manages production services using:

  • Dynatrace for APM: $14,000/year (usage-based)
  • PagerDuty for on-call: $6,000/year
  • Status page tool: $2,400/year
  • Total external tools: $22,400/year

With Upstat Teams ($29/user), total cost: $6,960/year—including native monitoring, on-call management, incident workflows, runbooks, and status pages. Annual savings: $15,440 plus predictable per-user pricing.

ROI Summary

Current stack (APM + on-call + status) $22,400/year
Upstat Teams (20 users) $6,960/year
Annual savings $15,440

Additional benefits: Predictable per-user pricing versus usage-based fees, unified incident context, faster MTTR from consolidated workflows.

When Dynatrace makes sense

Enterprise organizations requiring deep application performance monitoring with code-level visibility, transaction tracing, and infrastructure observability benefit from Dynatrace's comprehensive APM platform. Incident coordination still happens in external ITSM tools.

DevOps and SRE teams focused on production service uptime typically find Upstat's external monitoring (uptime, API, heartbeat) sufficient while gaining complete incident operations (on-call, runbooks, incident workspace, status pages) that Dynatrace lacks—all at predictable per-user pricing without usage-based fees.

Frequently asked questions

Organizations using Dynatrace for APM and observability evaluate whether Upstat provides sufficient monitoring for incident operations versus deep infrastructure visibility.

Does Upstat replace Dynatrace for application monitoring?

No. Dynatrace provides deep APM with code-level visibility, transaction tracing, infrastructure monitoring, and AI-powered analytics requiring OneAgent deployment. Upstat provides external uptime and API monitoring without agents—focused on service availability rather than application performance. Choose Dynatrace for deep application performance visibility; choose Upstat for external monitoring plus complete incident operations (on-call, runbooks, incident workspace).

How does Upstat pricing compare to Dynatrace?

Dynatrace uses complex usage-based pricing ($0.08/hour per 8GiB host for full-stack monitoring); costs scale with infrastructure size and monitored resources. Upstat offers $29 (Teams) or $49 (Business) per user with predictable pricing; native monitoring, incidents, on-call, runbooks, and status pages all included—no usage-based fees or infrastructure scaling costs.

Can we use Dynatrace with Upstat?

Yes. Many teams use Dynatrace for deep APM and infrastructure observability, then route critical alerts to Upstat for incident coordination, on-call management, runbooks, and status communication. However, most DevOps teams find Upstat's focused monitoring sufficient for production services—eliminating Dynatrace complexity while gaining unified incident operations that Dynatrace lacks.

Does Upstat include on-call management like Dynatrace?

Dynatrace provides alert notifications and integrations with PagerDuty/OpsGenie but does not include native on-call scheduling or rotation management. Upstat includes built-in on-call scheduling, escalation policies, rotation management, and multi-channel alerting integrated directly with monitoring—eliminating the need for separate on-call platforms that Dynatrace requires.

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