Dynatrace alternatives: 5 apps ranked by verified data

Facts checked Oct 25, 2026AppBreakup editorialHow we rank

Common reasons people leave Dynatrace: expensive for small teams, and large platform with a steep learning curve. We ranked 5 alternatives by how directly each one replaces Dynatrace, then by reviews, real visits and how recently each app's facts were checked against its own website. Datadog currently ranks first.

Quick comparison

#	App	Pricing	Open source	Platforms	Verified facts	Score
1	Grafana	Open source	Yes	Web, Self-hosted	4 of 4	55.3

1. GrafanaTop pick
Best for: Teams that want flexible dashboards over many data sources, self-hosted or as a managed cloud
Open sourceSelf-hostableWeb, Self-hosted
55.3
score / 100
Why switch from Dynatrace
Open-source building blocks for teams that prefer to own their monitoring stack.
Pros
Connects to almost any metrics, logs or SQL data source
Fully open-source stack you can self-host
Hosted cloud has a usable free tier
Cons
Self-hosting Loki, Tempo and Mimir at scale is real work
Building good dashboards takes time and query knowledge
Cloud usage pricing has many meters to track
Visit Grafana Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.363
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.1585
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Grafana a good Dynatrace alternative?
Verified facts
4 of 4 verified
License
AGPL-3.0
Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free tier
10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention
Checked Oct 25, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
Pro plan
From $19/month + usage
Checked Oct 25, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
Logs on free tier
50 GB/month
Checked Oct 25, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)

The best Dynatrace alternative for…

The highest-ranked app in this list for each need.

Best Dynatrace alternative for most people

Datadog

Easier to start small and add products one at a time, with a huge integration list.

Best Dynatrace alternative for a free option

Grafana

Open-source building blocks for teams that prefer to own their monitoring stack.

Best Dynatrace alternative for a free plan you can upgrade

New Relic

Usage-based pricing with a free tier, friendlier for smaller teams.

Best Dynatrace alternative for open source

Grafana

Open-source building blocks for teams that prefer to own their monitoring stack.

Best Dynatrace alternative for self-hosting

IBM Instana

Also focuses on automatic discovery for microservices, with a self-hosted edition.

Best Dynatrace alternative for iPhone and Android

Datadog

Easier to start small and add products one at a time, with a huge integration list.

Best Dynatrace alternative for working in the browser

Splunk Observability Cloud

Another enterprise suite, attractive if you already run Splunk for logs.

Dynatrace alternatives: common questions

What is the best alternative to Dynatrace?

Datadog ranks first right now. Easier to start small and add products one at a time, with a huge integration list. New Relic and Splunk Observability Cloud follow it in our ranking.

Is there a free alternative to Dynatrace?

Yes. Datadog (free plan + paid), New Relic (free plan + paid) and Grafana (open source) have a free option. Check each app's verified facts for current plan limits.

Is there an open-source alternative to Dynatrace?

Yes: Grafana. Grafana can also be self-hosted.

Why do people switch from Dynatrace?

The complaints we hear most: expensive for small teams; large platform with a steep learning curve; no meaningful free tier, only a trial.

How is this list ranked?

Every app is scored with the same published formula: how directly it replaces Dynatrace, reviews (weighted by verification), visits from AppBreakup, how recently its facts were checked against its own website, and reader votes.