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Application performance monitoring for Elastic Stack

From $95/mo (free plan available)Visit Website
Reviews on G2
14 reviews tracked

The Bottom Line

Price
From $95/mo (free plan available). Compare plans

Key facts

  • Elastic APM is application performance monitoring integrated with the Elastic Stack
  • It traces requests, identifies bottlenecks, and correlates errors with logs and metrics
  • Free self-hosted with Elastic Stack, Cloud has paid tiers

Pros

  • Part of Elastic Stack
  • Good tracing
  • Many agents
  • Correlate with logs
  • Self-hostable

Cons

  • Resource intensive
  • License concerns (SSPL)
  • Complex setup
  • Learning curve
  • Can be expensive

What is Elastic APM?

Editorial review
Elastic APM traces requests through distributed systems as part of the Elastic Stack. Performance monitoring that integrates with Elasticsearch for powerful querying and visualization. The integration with Elastic's ecosystem is seamless. Distributed tracing works across services. The analysis capabilities are deep. Organizations using Elastic Stack add Elastic APM for application performance monitoring that fits their observability strategy.

Available on: Web

Ratings Across the Web

4 (14 reviews)

Elastic APM holds an aggregate rating of 4 out of 5 from 14 reviews across G2, last checked September 17, 2026.

Ratings aggregated from independent review platforms. Learn more

Key Features

  • APM
  • Distributed tracing
  • Real user monitoring
  • Elastic Stack
  • Multi-language
  • Open source

Pricing Plans

14-day Free Trial

Pricing checked Oct 3, 2026

Elastic APM plans and prices, checked October 2026
PlanPriceDetails
Free Popular

$0

Self-hosted

  • APM
  • Distributed tracing
  • All features
Cloud Standard

$95/month

Starting

  • Managed hosting
  • Auto-scaling
  • Support

Is Elastic APM worth the price?

Great value

Elastic APM's self-managed Free tier is incredibly generous, offering all features at no cost, making it exceptionally fair.

The Cloud Standard tier at $95/month is competitive for managed hosting with auto-scaling and support. This pricing is best for organizations ranging from small teams with self-hosting capabilities to growing enterprises needing managed APM solutions.

Hidden Costs & Gotchas

Cloud pricing scales with data ingestion/storage

Full Elastic APM pricing: every plan, hidden costs and alternatives

How Elastic APM's pricing compares

At $95/mo, billing unit not specified, Elastic APM is the most premium of its 4 comparable direct competitors.

Elastic APM
$95

Entry paid plan, monthly. Pricing checked Oct 3, 2026.

Reviews

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4.0/5

Across 14 verified user reviews on G2

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Elastic APM FAQ

How does Elastic APM help monitor application performance?

Elastic APM traces requests through distributed systems, providing performance monitoring that integrates with Elasticsearch. This allows for powerful querying and visualization of application performance data within the Elastic Stack.

Which teams benefit most from using Elastic APM?

Teams already utilizing the Elastic Stack for their observability strategy will find Elastic APM particularly beneficial. It is designed for organizations that need to correlate application performance with logs and other operational data.

How is Elastic APM priced?

Elastic APM is available on a free tier, offering basic functionality. For organizations requiring more extensive usage and advanced features, paid plans are available.

What kind of trade-offs should users consider before adopting Elastic APM?

Users should be aware that Elastic APM can be resource-intensive and has a learning curve due to its complex setup. There are also considerations regarding its licensing model (SSPL).

Can Elastic APM be self-hosted?

Yes, Elastic APM offers the flexibility to be self-hosted. This allows organizations to manage their application performance monitoring infrastructure within their own environments.

How does Elastic APM compare to Datadog for application monitoring?

Elastic APM is deeply integrated into the Elastic Stack, offering seamless correlation with logs and other data within that ecosystem. Datadog provides a broader monitoring platform that may integrate with a wider array of third-party tools outside of a specific stack.

Does Elastic APM support distributed tracing across different services?

Yes, Elastic APM is designed to support distributed tracing, allowing users to track requests as they move across various services within a distributed system. This provides a comprehensive view of transaction flows.

Source: elastic.co

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