DevOps monitoring tools can help software developers and project managers of software development teams gain critical insight into potential problems and system performance to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently. As DevOps has grown in popularity, the number of DevOps tools entering the market has exploded. This guide will help you filter through all of the available options by focusing on the top DevOps monitoring software. Specifically, we will discuss the following in terms of features, pricing, pros and cons:

• AppDynamics: A great option for developers seeking a flexible and customizable DevOps monitoring tool with solid analytics to optimize their application performance and business operations.
• Sensu: A solid pick for organizations needing scalable monitoring capabilities for complex infrastructure, all from a tool with tons of community plugins and third-party integrations.
• Dynatrace: Ideal for development teams seeking a comprehensive monitoring tool with AI-driven insights and hourly pricing.

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AppDynamics

AppDynamics is an all-in-one application-performance monitoring tool that offers flexibility, customization and powerful analytics for organizations looking to optimize user experiences and digital business outcomes.

Features of AppDynamics

Some of AppDynamics’ top features as a DevOps monitoring tool include:

• Multi-platform support.
• Real-time application-issue spotting.
• Custom dashboards.
• Business IQ.
• User Experience.
• Infrastructure.
• Security.

AppDynamics’ flexibility as a DevOps tool begins with monitoring support for various platforms, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Kubernetes and more. IT teams can quickly pinpoint what is affecting business metrics as AppDynamics uses machine learning to offer real-time root-cause diagnoses of what is behind application problems (code-level issues, third-party APIs, etc.). DevOps teams can enjoy real-time monitoring and troubleshooting to fix issues on the spot.

Project managers are able to enjoy the ability to create custom dashboards to see select data without having to write code. There is also a Business IQ feature that focuses on only the most relevant insights and metrics to fix and expand for optimization, as well as a User Experience feature with journey maps and more to ensure customer satisfaction.

AppDynamics lets developers visualize infrastructure components for optimization (server, database, hybrid, cloud-native environments, etc.) and can detect vulnerabilities in security and application code within minutes.

Pros of AppDynamics

AppDynamics’ pros include:

• Simple setup.
• Customization.
• Real-time visibility.
• Graphs and charts.

AppDynamics is easy to install and configure. The customizable dashboard is another plus, putting users in charge of what insights they see.

The DevOps tool offers real-time insights into application performances, letting users quickly pinpoint and fix problems before they negatively impact end users. The graphs and charts are also valuable tools, offering even non-technical users insight into what is happening.

Cons of AppDynamics

AppDynamics’ cons include:

• No free plan.
• High costs.
• Excessive features for some.
• Resource usage.

Unlike some competing developer tools, AppDynamics does not have a free plan. Combine that with a cost that may seem high, and smaller teams with limited budgets may find AppDynamics out of their price range.

While AppDynamics may seem costly, it does offer a multitude of monitoring features. That may seem like a pro to some, but to others, including smaller teams with needs for less varied functionality, all of AppDynamics’ offerings may seem like overkill. And lastly, AppDynamics can negatively impact smaller systems because it uses significant memory and CPU.

Pricing of AppDynamics

AppDynamics offers a free 15-day trial, plus the following pricing plans:

• Infrastructure Monitoring Edition: $6 per month per CPU core.
• Premium Edition: $60 per month per CPU core.
• Enterprise Edition: $90 per month per CPU core.
• Enterprise Edition for SAP Solutions: $167 per month per CPU core.
• Real User Monitoring: $0.06 per month per 1,000 tokens.

The Infrastructure Monitoring Edition offers foundational infrastructure diagnostics, including servers, containers and networks. The Premium Edition offers complete backend monitoring. This includes infrastructure, application performance and database monitoring. The Enterprise Edition monitors backend and business performance. It includes everything from Premium, plus business performance monitoring. The Enterprise Edition for SAP Solutions offers infrastructure, business performance and SAP monitoring. And the Real User Monitoring plan offers business performance and end-user monitoring. All plans include unlimited access to AppDynamics University and its library of e-learning materials on configuring, managing and observing the full stack.

SEE: Top DevOps Collaboration Tools for Developers

Sensu

Sensu is a cloud-based DevOps tool that monitors infrastructure, applications and more. Its numerous community plugins and third-party integrations make it ideal for teams seeking an extensible and scalable monitoring tool.

Features of Sensu

Sensu’s highlighted features include:

• Pre-configured templates.
• Auto-remediation.
• Custom alerts.
• Incident management.
• Custom metrics.
• Plugins and integrations.

Sensu has several pre-configured templates that offer the versatility of monitoring-as-code workflows without the need for code. The monitoring tool has auto-remediation that self-heals by triggering service restarts or executing custom scripts when issues are spotted.

You can get alerts via SMS, email, Slack, etc. via customized policies and event filters, create and fix incidents in Jira, ServiceNow and PagerDuty, collect basic and custom metrics and more. Sensu also has over 200 community plugins and integrations with third-party platforms and tools like Google Cloud, AWS, Docker, Splunk, Puppet, Chef, Ansible, Slack, Opsgenie, Nagios, Prometheus and more.

Pros of Sensu

Sensu has several strengths as a monitoring DevOps tool, including:

• Customizability and flexibility.
• Easy configuration.
• Tons of community plugins.
• Integrations.

Sensu is a very customizable and versatile monitoring tool that is easy to configure. The 200-plus community plugins are great, as are the integrations with popular third-party developer tools such as Slack, Opsgenie, Chef, Puppet, Ansible and more.

Cons of Sensu

Areas where Sensu could Boost as a programmer tool include:

• User interface.
• Documentation.
• Price.

Sensu’s user interface could use some work: some users have even gone so far as to call it “primitive.” Documentation is another gripe against Sensu, noted by users that it should be easier to understand for those new to the DevOps monitoring tool. And while Sensu does have a free offering, its price, especially after some increases, may be high for smaller teams with minimal budgets.

Pricing of Sensu

Sensu has three pricing plans to choose from, plus a 14-day free trial:

• Sensu Go Free: No cost for new Sensu users, individuals and very small software development teams.
• Sensu Go Pro: $3 per month per node, paid annually. The most popular plan, ideal for small-to-midsized businesses.
• Sensu Go Enterprise: $5 per month per node, paid annually. Created for large teams.

The Free plan works for one site and up to 100 nodes. It offers commercial features for those first 100 nodes, which include server and container monitoring, real-time inventory, health checks, custom metrics, alerts, incident management, automated remediation, custom workflows, over 200 community plugins, dashboards, built-in configuration and user management, and integrations.

The Pro plan works for one site and 100-3,000 nodes. It includes commercial features, commercial support and a six-hour response time. The Enterprise plan works for unlimited sites and 300-unlimited nodes. It offers commercial features and support, plus a three-hour response time.

SEE: What is the DevOps Lifecycle?

Dynatrace

Dynatrace is a full-stack monitoring tool that is powered by AI. Developers can use Dynatrace to gain real-time insights into application performance, user experience and infrastructure.

Features of Dynatrace

Some of Dynatrace’s top features include:

• Full-stack monitoring.
• Infrastructure monitoring.
• Real user monitoring.
• Synthetic monitoring.
• Application security.
• Automation.
• Davis AI.

Dynatrace can monitor multiple facets of an organization to offer complete visibility into performance, including infrastructure, servers, networks, clouds, real users and applications.

It is highly versatile and can offer benefits to various teams. For instance, businesses can use Dynatrace to optimize their user experience and increase conversions. Development teams can use the tool to deliver higher-quality software at a faster rate. Security specialists can use Dynatrace to keep services resilient and reliable while drastically decreasing time spent on vulnerabilities. And operations teams can operate more efficiently to reduce support tickets.

Beyond offering observability into infrastructure, real users, applications and security, Dynatrace also offers business analytics and Davis, an AI engine that helps automate operations by constantly looking for issues and their root causes, and offering solutions for self-healing.

Pros of Dynatrace

The main advantages of Dynatrace include:

• All-in-one functionality.
• Solid alerting system.
• AI-driven analytics.
• Support.

Dynatrace covers monitoring from all angles, giving project managers and developers 360-degree insights into performance and health. The alerting system offers instant insight into issues, and the AI-driven analytics are in a class of their own. The ability to create custom reports is also a major plus. And Dynatrace offers solid support when needed.

Cons of Dynatrace

The main disadvantages of Dynatrace include:

• Learning curve.
• User interface.
• Documentation.
• Cost.

Although Dynatrace is a top-notch monitoring tool, it takes time to get used to its advanced features. The user interface could be more intuitive and allow for easier navigation, and better documentation would help ease adoption. Dynatrace’s cost can also creep up, making it tougher for those with limited budgets to access.

Pricing of Dynatrace

Dynatrace takes a simple approach to pricing. The developer tool claims to offer the only hourly pricing in the industry, allowing software development teams to only pay for what they need. There is a 15-day free trial, and pricing is divided according to category. Here are some examples:

Host monitoring:

• Full-stack monitoring: $0.01 per memory-GiB-hour.
• Infrastructure monitoring: $0.04 per hour for any size host.

Digital experience monitoring:

• Real User Monitoring: $0.00225 per session.
• Real User Monitoring with Session Replay: $0.009 per session replay capture.
• Real User Monitoring Property: $0.0001 per property per session.
• Browser Monitor or Clickpath: $0.009 per synthetic action.
• Third-Party Synthetic API Ingestion: $0.001 per third-party synthetic result.
• HTTP Monitor: $0.001 per synthetic request.

Dynatrace also has separate pricing for Log Management and Analytics, Events powered by Grail, Automation and Platform Extensions. You can view all of Dynatrace’s pricing details here.

What to look for in DevOps monitoring software

While the ideal DevOps monitoring tool will differ according to the needs of your specific software development team, there are a few essential characteristics you should look for to simplify your search.

For starters, the DevOps monitoring software should be user-friendly (even for non-technical users) and easy to set up, configure and maintain. It should have an intuitive interface, solid supporting documentation, customer support and, if possible, a large following or community to provide additional resources. Next, look for comprehensive monitoring features. Some of the standard offerings include real-time monitoring, performance metrics, log analysis, error tracking, alerts, reporting, dashboards, etc.

Your DevOps monitoring software should have extensible functionality via third-party integrations and security via features like encryption and role-based access control. It should also be scalable and flexible to fit your needs. And lastly, the DevOps monitoring software you pick should have pricing that fits your budget.

Final thoughts on the best DevOps monitoring tools

The DevOps monitoring tools in this guide are some of the best due to their comprehensive features and usability. Before picking a developer tool, make sure its features, user-friendliness and pricing align with your needs so it helps — instead of hinders — your team.

DevOps automation tools can help development teams collaborate, increase efficiency, accelerate delivery and produce higher-quality software. This guide will take a closer look at some of the top DevOps automation tools in terms of their features, pros, cons and pricing, including:

• Bamboo: A great pick for developers seeking a flexible and extensible continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) automation tool with an intuitive interface and robust reporting.
• Maven: Ideal for developers seeking a budget-friendly, open-source automation tool with minimal setup.
• Datadog: A solid choice for DevOps teams seeking simplified routine task automation, tons of pre-built blueprints and a modern interface.

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Bamboo

Bamboo is a CI/CD tool from Atlassian. It automates build, test and release processes for software development teams of all sizes while offering resilience, reliability and scalability. With Bamboo, developers can minimize errors, maximize efficiency and release high-quality software faster.

Features of Bamboo

Some of Bamboo’s top features for automating software delivery and boosting developer productivity include:

• Continuous delivery.
• Customization.
• Support for multiple languages/agents.
• Create and merge feature branches automatically.
• Detailed analytics.
• Integrations with other programmer tools.

Developers can streamline their processes using Bamboo’s continuous delivery pipelines to automate building, testing and deployment. The programmer tool lets developers customize build plans, set configurations to send out custom notifications and define custom deployment environments for complete control. Besides control, Bamboo offers flexibility with support for multiple programming languages, build tools and platforms. Developers can run multiple builds in parallel, too, to minimize build time and maximize efficiency. Additionally, automatic branching is another time-saving Bamboo highlight worth mentioning.

Bamboo gives you detailed analytics and reporting on build times, test results, etc. It also integrates with other developer tools like Bitbucket, Jira, Docker, AWS Deploy, Opsgenie and more. Should you need even more integrations or automations, there is a REST API.

Pros of Bamboo

Bamboo’s pros that make it an attractive DevOps tool for automation include:

• Intuitive interface.
• Highly flexible.
• Extensible.
• Robust reporting.

Bamboo’s interface is intuitive and easy to get used to, making navigation a cinch. The developer tool is highly flexible, with support for several build tools, programming languages, platforms, etc. You can easily extend Bamboo’s functionality via seamless integration with Atlassian products like Bitbucket and Jira project management, plus other tools and services. It also excels at detailed reporting that gives project managers insights into their software’s quality and health.

Cons of Bamboo

Bamboo’s cons include:

• Limited community support.
• Cost.
• Outside integrations.

While Atlassian has a following, some users may find Bamboo’s community support lacking compared to other CI/CD tools. Bamboo can also be costly for some development teams, especially when similar tools on the market do not cost a thing. And while Bamboo’s integrations with Atlassian products are seamless, it could use some more third-party options for added extensibility.

Pricing of Bamboo

Bamboo is priced to accommodate software development teams of any size. The DevOps tool’s pricing tiers are based on agents instead of users. More agents allow you to run more concurrent processes.

Bamboo offers a one-month free trial, plus discounts for nonprofits, academic institutions and more. The following are examples of its Data Center pricing, which goes up to 2,000 agents:

• 1 remote agent: $1,200
• 5 remote agents: $3,200
• 10 remote agents: $5,840

Each plan represents a one-year license and maintenance and offers high availability via cold standby.

Check out our Bamboo CI/C Tool Review for more information.

Maven

Apache Maven is a build automation tool launched in 2002 to help Java developers overcome obstacles in managing their projects. The open-source DevOps tool is now used by project managers, developers, and Agile development teams for its dependency and release management features; capabilities for simultaneously building, publishing and deploying multiple projects; and more.

Features of Maven

Apache Maven has become a popular DevOps tool due to the following features:

• Quick setup.
• Tackle multiple projects simultaneously.
• Dependency management.
• Extensible.
• Metadata and library repository.
• Minimized configuration for new features.
• Model-based builds.
• Quick documentation.
• Release management.

Maven’s project setup is simple and allows users to get started with new modules or projects within seconds. The automation tool lets developers tackle multiple projects at the same time for maximum productivity.

The programmer’s tool for dependency management includes transitive dependencies, automatic updating, Ant tasks and more. You can easily extend Maven by writing plugins in scripting languages or Java, plus it has an ever-growing repository of metadata and libraries. Thanks to deals with some of the most prominent open-source projects, Maven ensures you will get their latest releases as soon as they are made available.

Speaking of availability, Maven offers instant access to new features without needing tons of added configuration. It can also save time and effort by using project metadata to build numerous projects into WAR, JAR or other predefined output types without the need for scripting.

And it can use that same build metadata to quickly generate documentation via a website or PDF. Lastly, Maven can integrate with Git, Subversion or your source control system of choice and manage project releases based on tags.

Pros of Maven

Some of Maven’s pros as an automation tool include:

• Free.
• Easy to use.
• Easy to replicate.
• Documentation.

Developers with limited budgets may flock to Maven since it is open-source and free. The automation tool minimizes setup and configuration and is quite easy to use, letting developers work on multiple projects simultaneously without worry.

Maven also offers consistency. By following a standardized approach, it lets developers easily replicate future processes after building their first project with the tool. Lastly, Maven seamlessly generates project documentation (changelogs, dependency lists, etc.).

Cons of Maven

Areas where Maven could Boost as a DevOps tool include:

• Complexity for beginners.
• Support.
• Sluggish performance.

Maven may prove complex for some beginners to use right from the jump. This makes Maven’s limited documentation and support even more of a downer. The automation tool also suffers from slow performance when working with complex or large projects.

Pricing of Maven

Maven is an open-source DevOps tool. Thanks to assistance from volunteers and financial contributions from its online supporters, Maven is free for developers around the world. This means you can enjoy its core features and plugins at no cost. However, if you want to obtain premium plugins or extensions, they may come with separate costs, so keep this in mind when budgeting for the automation tool.

Read our Maven Build Automation Tool Review for more information.

Datadog

Datadog is a monitoring and analytics platform for DevOps teams. Its founders launched the DevOps tool in 2011 as a comprehensive monitoring solution. Since then, it has expanded its capabilities to offer workflow automation and many other features.

Features of Datadog

Some of Datadog’s features that make it one of the top DevOps automation tools include:

• Workflow builder.
• Pre-built blueprints.
• Multi-step automation.
• Workflow auditing.
• Role-based access control.

The Datadog workflow builder is easy to use and comes with over 300 actions out of the box that can connect to GitLab, AWS, Slack and other popular services. The over 40 customizable pre-built blueprints help you start automating DevOps, security, and other processes quickly.

Multi-step automation in Datadog lets developers construct complex workflows using conditions, branching, logic operators and more. It also has workflow auditing to track executions. And while you may use Datadog to automate your development team’s most complex processes, the DevOps tool still lets you maintain human control over who accesses, modifies and executes workflows with granular role-based access control.

Pros of Datadog

Datadog’s pros include:

• Modern interface.
• Tons of blueprints.
• Task automation.

Datadog’s interface is clean and modern. The wide variety of pre-built blueprints makes it easy to start automating essential processes out of the box, and the point-and-click workflow builder makes routine task automation simple.

Cons of Datadog

Datadog’s disadvantages include:

• Support.
• Documentation.
• Pricing.

Some users have complained that Datadog support could be more helpful with fixing issues. And if support did not provide sufficient answers, the documentation did not help much either. Datadog’s pricing is another common gripe, primarily with its other offered functionalities like monitoring. Depending on your software development team’s budget, you may find its workflow automation to be fair.

Pricing of Datadog

Datadog has separate pricing for all its offerings, such as log management, database monitoring, etc. Its workflow automation pricing comes with a free trial and is as follows when billed annually:

• Starting at $10 per 100 workflow executions per month. Volume discounts are available.

The workflow automation plan offers over 40 pre-built blueprints, an easy-to-use workflow builder, role-based access control, detailed workflow auditing and more.

SEE: Best APM Tools

What to look for in DevOps automation software

As DevOps’ popularity grows, so does the number of DevOps automation tools that hit the market. With so many choices, it can be challenging to figure out which developer tool is ideal for your software development team’s needs.

What should you look for in DevOps automation software to ensure you pick the perfect fit? You can start filtering down the field by looking at prices and finding a DevOps automation tool that is free or at least fits your budget for your specific team size and feature requirements. From there, try to find a DevOps tool known for having a modern, intuitive interface and being as user-friendly as possible, even for non-technical team members, so configuration and navigation do not become a chore. Does it have a large following and a supportive community? In many cases, the bigger the community, the better for additional resources and support.

As for what specific automation features to look for, an ideal DevOps automation tool should offer CI/CD capabilities, configuration management, orchestration, workflow management, monitoring/logging, support for version control systems, solid security and reporting. The DevOps tool should also offer high availability and scalability. Should the DevOps automation software lack in any area, having plenty of integrations with popular third-party developer tools (CI/CD, version control systems, etc.) would be helpful to fill in those functionality gaps.

Final thoughts on the top DevOps automation tools

There are many more DevOps automation tools than the ones listed above, but the software we included should deliver you a solid starting point for your search. Be sure to look closely at their features, pros, cons and pricing to ensure they fit your software development needs before making a decision. Since the DevOps automation software we included are either free or offer a free trial, you can deliver their features a test drive with minimal risk.

Simplilearn, a global provider of digital skills training, has joined hands with E&ICT Academy, IIT Guwahati, to launch an exclusive professional certificate programme in Cloud Computing and DevOps. This strategic collaboration aims to meet the rising demand for new-age digital skills within the Indian market, an official release said.

By offering a comprehensive curriculum and hands-on experience through real-world Capstone projects, this programme aims to empower professionals to embark on successful careers in the technology industry. The programme is meant for aspiring individuals and current Cloud and DevOps professionals looking to enhance their expertise and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

This comprehensive six-month blended learning programme in Cloud Computing and DevOps includes live online sessions, self-paced videos, hands-on assignments with over 40 projects, three industry-oriented Capstone projects to choose from, and sandboxed cloud labs. Learners will also be able to attend masterclasses from university professors and receive the programme completion certificate.

Additionally, learners can opt for three days of campus immersion at E&ICT Academy, IIT Guwahati. The programme will help learners master tools such as AWS Cloud Formation, SQL, Azure Resource Manager, AWS IAM, Virtual Machines, and DNS, among others. Learners will also be equipped with syllabus on AWS Cloud Fundamentals, Azure Cloud Fundamentals, AWS Solutions Architect, Cloud Computing Capstone Project, DevOps on AWS, Azure Administration, and Azure Solution Architect.

“Cloud Computing and DevOps have emerged as crucial skills that Indian companies seek in their workforce to drive business growth and achieve success. In response to this demand, we are delighted to collaborate with E&ICT Academy, IIT Guwahati, on the Cloud Computing and DevOps professional certificate programme. This programme will enable learners to proactively stay ahead of the curve and effectively upskill with highly sought-after skills, ensuring their competitiveness in the job market,” Anand Narayanan, chief product officer, Simplilearn, said.