Uptrace vs Dynatrace

Dynatrace alternativebuilt on OpenTelemetry

Compare Dynatrace’s automated enterprise platform with Uptrace’s OpenTelemetry-native workflow, transparent usage pricing, and open-source deployment option.

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No credit card. Cloud or self-hosted. Keep your OpenTelemetry instrumentation.

Choose Uptrace when

You want OTel-first instrumentation, simpler backend ownership, public usage pricing, or a self-hosted open-source option.

Choose Dynatrace when

You require OneAgent automation, Davis AI, deep topology discovery, digital experience monitoring, or a broader enterprise platform.

At a glance

Different answers to observability operations

The choice is less about basic APM support and more about instrumentation, automation, ownership, and commercial model.

Uptrace

Integrated observability

versus

Dynatrace

Enterprise observability platform

Uptrace

OpenTelemetry SDKs and Collector are the primary path.

Instrumentation

Dynatrace

OneAgent provides the deepest automated experience; OpenTelemetry is also supported.

Uptrace

Developer-led investigation with correlated telemetry and alerting.

Automation

Dynatrace

Davis AI and platform automation provide automated causal analysis.

Uptrace

Use managed Cloud or run the open-source backend yourself.

Deployment

Dynatrace

Use Dynatrace SaaS or managed deployment offerings under its platform model.

Uptrace

Public rates for ingested data and metric datapoints.

Buying model

Dynatrace

Dynatrace Platform Subscription uses capability-specific consumption units.

Uptrace

OTLP-first pipeline plus an open-source backend.

Portability

Dynatrace

OTel data is portable; OneAgent-driven configuration and platform workflows are product-specific.

Why Uptrace

Keep instrumentation and backend choices open

Uptrace removes proprietary instrumentation as a prerequisite and gives teams a smaller operational surface.

Keep the instrumentation path open

Dynatrace centers automation around OneAgent. Uptrace keeps the data path explicit and portable through OpenTelemetry.

Uptrace

Your serviceOTel SDKCollectorUptrace

Dynatrace

HostOneAgentDynatrace platform

Instrument openly

OpenTelemetry first

Build collection around community SDKs and OTLP instead of making a proprietary host agent the center of the system.

Native OTLPIngest traces, metrics, and logs through standard protocols.
Collector routingFan out telemetry during evaluation and migration.
Portable setupKeep instrumentation if backend requirements change.

Explore OpenTelemetry

Own the backend

Cloud or self-hosted

Choose managed operations or keep telemetry and infrastructure under your control.

Open sourceInspect and operate the backend without a SaaS dependency.
ClickHouseUse an open analytical database for high-cardinality data.
Data locationKeep telemetry inside your environment when required.

Compare deployment options

Buy clearly

Public usage units

Estimate costs from telemetry volume instead of translating a broad platform contract into an APM budget.

No host meterAutoscaling hosts are not a separate Uptrace Cloud unit.
Unlimited usersBroaden access without a seat dimension.
Telemetry usagePrice traces, logs, and metrics from published rates.

Calculate Uptrace cost

Pricing

Put the same workload on both invoices

Read each row horizontally. Map the same telemetry and enabled capabilities to both models before comparing totals.

Example monthly estimate

Example: a small OpenTelemetry environment

Save about $6,380/month

Same example, public list prices

1 TB traces2.5 TB logs75K timeseries1-minute metrics

Uptrace Cloud

$269/mo

One usage tier covers traces, logs, and all metric datapoints in this example.

Dynatrace

$6,649/mo

Dynatrace applies separate ingest, retention, and metric-datapoint rates.

Why Uptrace costs less in this example

The example metric datapoints are included in the Uptrace tier.
No additional 28-day retention line item.
No host or user charge is added to this estimate.

Show calculation and assumptions

$199 tier + 931 GB data overage: $269
3,024M metric datapoints: Included
Users and hosts: No charge

1 TB traces: ingest + 18 extra days: $213
2.5 TB logs: ingest + 28-day retention: $1,900
3,024M metric points × $1.50/M: $4,536

Illustrative vendor-invoice estimate using public rate-card units and 28-day comparison retention. Network transfer, annual commitment terms, extra queries, taxes, discounts, and other capabilities are excluded. Pricing source

Capabilities

Compare what changes in practice

Expand a category to compare architecture, workflow, and operational differences.

AvailableNot availablePartial · Depends on setup

FeatureUptraceDynatrace

Native OTLP ingestion

Full workflow without proprietary agent

Partial

Open-source backend

Self-hosted open-source deployment

FeatureUptraceDynatrace

Distributed tracing and service maps

Metrics, logs, dashboards, and alerts

Automated causal AI analysis

Automatic deep topology discovery

Digital experience monitoring

FeatureUptraceDynatrace

Published self-serve usage rates

No per-host pricing

Depends

No per-seat pricing

Free self-hosted edition

Migration

Evaluate Uptrace without a blind cutover

Introduce OpenTelemetry service by service, run both systems, and remove OneAgent only after workflows are validated.

1Instrument

Establish the OTel path

Add OpenTelemetry SDKs or auto-instrumentation to representative services and route them through the Collector.

Ready when: critical services produce the required traces, metrics, logs, and resource attributes.

2Parallel run

Compare real incidents

Send production telemetry to Uptrace while Dynatrace remains available for Davis, Smartscape, dashboards, and alerts.

Ready when: teams can complete their normal investigation with equivalent context.

3Cutover

Remove dependencies gradually

Move alerts and dashboards by owner, then disable OneAgent only where no unique Dynatrace workflow remains.

Ready when: rollback, retention, and contract obligations are understood.

FAQ

Questions before you evaluate

How does Uptrace compare with Davis AI?

Uptrace approaches investigation through correlated traces, metrics, logs, search, dashboards, and alerts rather than a direct Davis AI equivalent. A parallel evaluation lets your team compare both approaches against the incidents it handles most often.

Can OpenTelemetry run alongside OneAgent?

Yes. Use a representative set of services and a parallel telemetry path during evaluation. Validate duplicate instrumentation and resource attributes carefully.

How does Uptrace build service topology?

Uptrace builds service graphs from OpenTelemetry trace relationships, giving teams a live view of instrumented service dependencies. Dynatrace can additionally discover infrastructure through OneAgent and Smartscape, so compare the topology coverage your workflows require.

Is Uptrace self-hosted?

Yes. Uptrace Community Edition is open source and runs with ClickHouse. Uptrace Cloud is available when you prefer a managed service.

Evaluate an open telemetry path

Run OpenTelemetry alongside OneAgent, compare real production workflows, and decide with evidence.

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