Dynatrace is an AI-powered application performance monitoring (APM) platform with automated anomaly detection and full-stack observability, while Elasticsearch is an open-source search and analytics engine requiring more manual configuration but offering greater flexibility and lower costs at scale.
Dynatrace vs Elasticsearch — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
AI-powered SaaS application performance monitoring platform with automated root cause analysis
Open-source distributed search and analytics engine for logs, metrics, and traces with flexible deployment options.
Pricing Model. AI/ML Capabilities. Deployment Options. Setup Complexity. Data Retention. APM Monitoring Scope. Query Language Learning Curve
Choose Dynatrace if you need rapid deployment, automated intelligent monitoring, and integrated APM without DevOps overhead—ideal for enterprises prioritizing time-to-value and AI-driven insights. Choose Elasticsearch if you require cost control, multi-cloud flexibility, data sovereignty, or deep customization—better for organizations with strong in-house technical teams and complex data scenarios.
Dynatrace: 6-12 weeks | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 3-5 days | Elasticsearch: N/A
Supported Technologies (Languages/Frameworks)
Dynatrace: 100+ with native agents | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 100K+ enterprise customers | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 0.5-1 FTE | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 40-80+ hours | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 50+ | Elasticsearch: Unlimited (via client libraries)
Dynatrace: Full-stack (hosts, containers, DBs, k8s) | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: $150,000-500,000 | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: $5,000-8,000 | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 2-4 weeks | Elasticsearch: 6-12 weeks
Dynatrace: 500+ | Elasticsearch: ~300 integrations
Dynatrace: Full bytecode line-level | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: ML-based automatic baselines | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: $50/month | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 450+ integrations | Elasticsearch: 2000+
Dynatrace: 70 metrics | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 12-month commitment | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: $0.10 per metric | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: AI-driven Davis engine with code-level insights | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 60% reduction | Elasticsearch: N/A
Monthly Platform Cost (100GB/month ingestion)
Dynatrace: $2,500-$5,000 | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 95+ languages | Elasticsearch: N/A
Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) Improvement
Dynatrace: 40-60% reduction with AI | Elasticsearch: Depends on manual investigation
Setup Time for Multi-Service Environment
Dynatrace: 2-4 days (automatic) | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: Native, automatic service mapping | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 4.5 stars (1,200+ reviews) | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: Full transaction tracing | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: Available but often separate | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: Advanced Davis AI with causality mapping | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 15-30 (with Davis AI) | Elasticsearch: 45-120 (manual investigation required)
Dynatrace: 650+ out-of-box | Elasticsearch: 1000+ via community/Beats
Dynatrace: 15-30 days (configurable) | Elasticsearch: Unlimited (storage-dependent)
Dynatrace: 100,000+ EPS per cluster | Elasticsearch: 500,000+ EPS per cluster
Dynatrace: 1-2 months | Elasticsearch: 3-6 months
Dynatrace: Simplified REST API with UI-first approach | Elasticsearch: Complex Query DSL requiring technical expertise
Dynatrace: $45-65 per host | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: Automatic detection up to 4+ hops | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 700+ pre-built integrations | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 1 unified agent (OneAgent) | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 4.7/5.0 (1,800+ reviews) | Elasticsearch: N/A
Typical Enterprise Annual Cost (1000 hosts)
Dynatrace: $540K-780K | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 45% faster than legacy APM | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: 3-7 days | Elasticsearch: 14-30 days
Dynatrace: 150+ supported technologies | Elasticsearch: 30-40 (via Beats)
Dynatrace: $15,000 | Elasticsearch: $0 (open-source) or $12,000
Dynatrace: Davis AI included | Elasticsearch: Requires third-party integrations
Dynatrace: Limited to predefined queries and dashboards | Elasticsearch: Full Elasticsearch Query DSL and custom scripts
Dynatrace: ~10,000 community members | Elasticsearch: 1M+ active developers
Dynatrace: 20-40 hours (minimal) | Elasticsearch: 80-200 hours (extensive)
Dynatrace: $500-800 | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: $1.20-1.60 | Elasticsearch: N/A
Dynatrace: < 1 day | Elasticsearch: 14-30 days
Total Cost of Ownership (3-year, 500GB/month ingestion)
Dynatrace: $360,000 (6,000 GB × $3/GB × 3 years + support) | Elasticsearch: $120,000 (self-hosted licensing + 2 FTEs infrastructure)
Dynatrace: Logs, metrics, traces, user sessions, synthetics | Elasticsearch: Logs, metrics (via plugins), custom JSON data
Dynatrace: 15 months | Elasticsearch: Unlimited (storage-dependent)
Dynatrace: < 500ms (P95) | Elasticsearch: 100-2000ms (depends on tuning)
Required Infrastructure Team Size (100 users)
Dynatrace: 0.25 (mostly monitoring) | Elasticsearch: 2-3 (cluster management + optimization)
Dynatrace: 5,000+ (proprietary) | Elasticsearch: 180,000+ (open-source)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $0.10 - $0.20
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 30+ days (self-hosted)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 40-80 (self-hosted)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Petabyte-scale (1000+ TB)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 7 (Lucene/DSL - steep learning curve)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Self-hosted, SaaS (Elastic Cloud), or Kubernetes
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 30-90 days
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $0 (self-hosted)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $0 (unlimited after infrastructure cost)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 50-200ms
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 0 (requires custom hardening)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 3 (anomaly detection, forecasting, outlier detection)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Unlimited (enterprise only)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 12-48 (community forums)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 100-500ms
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 1,000+ (tested to 10,000 with advanced tuning)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Native (analyzers, relevance tuning, fuzzy matching)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 1-3 days (schemaless indexing)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: SQL via plugin (Elastic SQL), primary is Query DSL
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 32-64GB for equivalent throughput
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 68,000+ stars
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 5-10 minutes
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 65 docs/sec per thread
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $5,000-$50,000
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Via aggregations (requires custom queries)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 14-28 days
Monthly Cost (100GB index, 1M queries/month)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $200-500 self-hosted
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Petabyte-scale (unlimited)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Requires DevOps expertise
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 100-300ms
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 9/10 (plugins, analyzers, scripting)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Community-based or 4+ hours (enterprise)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 14-28 days (self-hosted)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $3,000-$8,000
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $0.02-$0.05
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Unlimited (configurable)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 1.0-2.0 FTE
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Advanced EQL with full customization
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 8/10 (requires DevOps expertise)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 120-240 minutes
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 50-200 ms
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 1+ Billion (across clusters)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 40+ aggregation types
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Manual configuration required
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: ~60,000 stars
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $50,000-150,000
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Unlimited (petabyte-scale)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 60-120 minutes
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 1000+ plugins/integrations
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 30+ languages
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Requires configuration/plugin
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 500,000+ companies worldwide
Typical Query Latency (1B rows, GROUP BY)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 500-2000ms
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Native, highly optimized (primary feature)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Via Beats and Logstash (indirect)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Low-Medium (simpler operations)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 5+ PB (operational limit)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: SQL plugin available (limited JOIN support)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $180,000-$240,000
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 2-4 full-time engineers
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: 300+ community/official
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Lucene, KQL, SQL, JavaScript
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: $0.50-$1.50
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Varies by deployment (self-hosted: customer responsibility)
Dynatrace: N/A | Elasticsearch: Yes (SSPL/Elastic License)
How to choose between Dynatrace and Elasticsearch
Dynatrace vs Elasticsearch — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Dynatrace vs Elasticsearch. Contains 162 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Dynatrace vs Elasticsearch — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Dynatrace vs Elasticsearch.
Does Dynatrace work with Kubernetes and microservices?
Yes, Dynatrace has native Kubernetes integration with automatic pod instrumentation, service mesh support (Istio, Linkerd), and automatic microservice discovery. It monitors 500+ technologies out-of-the-box and requires zero code changes for Java, Node.js, .NET, and Python applications.
Can I use Elasticsearch for application performance monitoring (APM)?
Elasticsearch alone cannot monitor applications. You must pair it with the Elastic APM Server (separate component) and APM agents for applications. This adds complexity compared to Dynatrace's integrated approach, but gives you more flexibility in data handling and storage.
Which is cheaper for a startup with 50GB monthly logs?
Elasticsearch is significantly cheaper: $0 for open-source software (you only pay for compute/storage ~$500-1,000/month). Dynatrace would cost $3,000-7,500/month ($50-60 per GB). However, Dynatrace requires less engineering effort, which can offset costs for resource-constrained teams.
How long does it take to implement Dynatrace vs Elasticsearch?
Dynatrace typically deploys in hours to 1-2 days with auto-instrumentation and immediate visibility. Elasticsearch requires 2-4 weeks for initial setup, plus 3-6 months for optimization and tuning to production performance levels.
Can I migrate from Elasticsearch to Dynatrace later?
Migration is possible but non-trivial. Dynatrace captures different data structures and metadata than raw Elasticsearch logs. You'd need to re-instrument applications and accept some historical data loss. Consider a hybrid approach (both running in parallel for 1-2 months) during transition.
How to Choose Between Dynatrace and Elasticsearch
Pricing Model: Dynatrace has Per GB ingested ($2-5/GB), SaaS only, while Elasticsearch has Open-source (free) or per node ($2,000-5,000/year).
AI/ML Capabilities: Dynatrace has Built-in AI engine with automatic anomaly detection and root cause analysis, while Elasticsearch has Requires third-party tools or custom development for ML features.
Deployment Options: Dynatrace has SaaS cloud-only (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), while Elasticsearch has Self-hosted, on-premises, or cloud (multi-cloud support).
Setup Complexity: Dynatrace has Low - auto-instrumentation and pre-built integrations (< 1 hour typical), while Elasticsearch has High - requires manual configuration, data pipeline setup (days to weeks).
Data Retention: Dynatrace has 15 months default (configurable), while Elasticsearch has Unlimited (depends on storage).
APM Monitoring Scope: Dynatrace has End-to-end application and infrastructure monitoring included, while Elasticsearch has Requires additional tools (e.g., Beats agents, APM Server plugin).
Query Language Learning Curve: Dynatrace has Dynatrace Query Language (DQL) - proprietary, ~2-3 weeks to proficiency, while Elasticsearch has Lucene/Query DSL - industry standard, ~1-2 weeks to proficiency.