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New Relic vs AppDynamics: A Comprehensive Comparison and Alternate DEM Solutions

As a business owner, you may find it challenging to decide between New Relic and AppDynamics when it comes to digital experience monitoring (DEM) tools. So, let’s break it down.

New Relic is a cloud-based observability platform that’s perfect for web and mobile apps. It offers extensive monitoring, analytics, and troubleshooting capabilities, with a strong focus on delivering a great user experience. It’s particularly suited for small to mid-sized companies with straightforward architectures.

On the flip side, AppDynamics is a powerful DEM tool known for its real-time visibility throughout the application stack. It excels in offering deep-dive diagnostics, including code-level diagnostics, real-time analytics, and automatic baselining. It’s the go-to choice for large enterprises with complex applications that demand comprehensive and meticulous monitoring.

But there’s more to this story. AppNeura, a fresh face in the DEM industry, presents a compelling alternative. It offers a more cost-effective and better solution, especially in the areas of real-time analytics, application performance management, and ApDex for health monitoring.

By the end of this article, you’ll clearly understand how these tools differ, the unique features of AppNeura, and which one may be better suited to your business’s specific needs.

Step-by-Step Comparison: New Relic vs AppDynamics

Web-User Monitoring

Web user monitoring of New Relic and AppDynamics depends on their specific features, i.e., ‘Key Transactions’ and ‘Business Transactions’. Here’s what you need to know about these:

New Relic:

• • New Relic’s Key Transactions feature allows you to define a key transaction by specifying the start and end points, group several keys together, and also add steps that are involved in the transaction.

• • New Relic then collects data about the performance of the transaction, including the time it takes to complete, the number of errors that occur, and the resources that are used.

AppDynamics:

• • In contrast, AppDynamics offers a unique Business Transactions feature which is similar to Key transactions feature of New Relic. However, in addition to collecting data about the performance of the transaction, AppDynamics also collects data about the business impact of the transaction.

• • This includes data about the revenue that is generated by the transaction, the customer satisfaction with the transaction, and the risk of the transaction failing.

Real-Time User Monitoring

Let’s jump on to RUM. Real-time user monitoring allows businesses to track user behavior, quickly identify and troubleshoot issues that may impact the end-user experience. Both New Relic and AppDynamics offer robust real-time user monitoring capabilities. However:

New Relic:

• • New Relic’s real-time user monitoring, also known as Browser monitoring, captures detailed user data and provides real-time analytics. One unique feature of New Relic’s RUM solution is its “JavaScript error tracking” capability.

• • This feature allows New Relic to capture errors on the client side in real-time, giving users insights into potential issues impacting the end-user experience.

• • New Relic doesn’t provide the “Session Replay” feature. Although businesses can integrate it with OpenReplay to get session replay analytics.

AppDynamics:

• • AppDynamics, on the other hand, offers a more comprehensive solution with its End User Monitoring feature. This feature allows businesses to track user sessions across multiple devices and platforms.

• • AppDynamics’ RUM solution has a unique “Session Replay” capability. This feature enables users to see a video replay of an end-user session, giving them a better understanding of how users interact with their application.

• • AI-powered analytics: AppDynamics’ EUM solution uses artificial intelligence to analyze user data and identify potential issues.

Synthetic Monitoring

Both New Relic and AppDynamics have tools for simulated tracking, but the level of complexity varies.

New Relic:

• • The Synthetics feature of New Relic lets businesses create and run their scripts to keep an eye on different parts of their web apps.

• • New Relic collects data from ‘real users’ to perform synthetic monitoring.

• • It also offers a variety of notification and alerting features to identify arising issues.

• • Unlike AppDynamics, the setup of synthetic monitoring in New Relic is easy to use and straightforward.

AppDynamics:

• • For synthetic monitoring, AppDynamics collects data from both ‘real users and synthetic users (bots).’

• • It has more advanced tools like code-level debugging and deep-dive analysis than New Relic’s basic simulated tracking.

• • AppDynamics is more powerful and offers deeper insights into application performance than New Relic. However, it can be more difficult to use and has a less intuitive interface.

As AppDynamics can collect data from synthetic users, businesses can also use its synthetic monitoring to find out how apps work under different user loads and levels of stress.

SDK Integration

New Relic’s integration is known to be more lightweight than AppDynamics’ integration because New Relic’s SDKs are smaller and easier to install and configure than AppDynamics’ SDKs. But that’s not only it:

New Relic:

• • SDKs: New Relic offers SDKs for a wide range of programming languages and frameworks. This makes it easy to integrate New Relic with your application.

• • Installation: New Relic SDKs are easy to install and configure. Hence, considered as lightweight integration.

• • Data collection: New Relic SDKs collect a wide range of data about your application. This data includes information about the application’s performance, health, and usage. But due to its lightweight nature, the data collection is less resource-intensive.

AppDynamics:

• • SDKs: AppDynamics has some limitations when it comes to supported platforms and frameworks.

• • Installation: AppDynamics SDKs installations and configuration are comparatively more complex than New Relic.

• • Data collection: Data collection for AppDynamics SDKs is more resource-intensive and impact on performance may be noticeable.

Analytics and Monitoring

New Relic and AppDynamics both offer comprehensive analytics features with models of data collection, dashboard display, reporting, and ease-of-use. But there are differences:

New Relic:

• • With New Relic, businesses can create customized dashboards to track the most important metrics.

• • New Relic offers a more focused data collection, i.e., it collects data from a narrower range of sources, which can provide reports that are more concise and easier to understand.

• • The platform also includes alerting and anomaly detection features that help businesses stay on top of real-time performance issues.

AppDynamics:

• • AppDynamics offers similar analytics and monitoring capabilities but with some unique features that set it apart.

• • One of these features is Business IQ, which provides businesses with insights into how their application performance impacts their overall business outcomes.

• • Hence, it collects data from a wider range of sources than New Relic.

• • Additionally, AppDynamics provides a Unified Dashboard that gives businesses a comprehensive view of all their applications and infrastructure performance in one place.

Pricing

New Relic offers different pricing tiers depending on the number of hosts and application instances, while AppDynamics uses a licensing model that charges based on the number of application nodes. However, both tools are generally considered expensive, and companies should weigh their needs before making a final decision.

New Relic’s pricing model includes a free Standard plan for up to one user and 100 GB of data. The Pro and Enterprise plans come with custom pricing, meaning companies must contact New Relic’s sales team for a quote.

On the other hand, AppDynamics offers five plans, each with customized pricing. This pricing model allows businesses to select the best plan for their needs and budget. When selecting between New Relic and AppDynamics, businesses should consider their budget and requirements to determine which pricing plan is the most suitable for them.

A Better Option: AppNeura DEM Solution by Avekshaa Technologies

appNeura is an AI and machine learning-powered Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) solution designed by Avekhshaa Technologies. It offers an easy-to-use software development kit (SDK) that requires minimal lines of code to integrate with any application. The tool provides real-time insights into application performance and helps businesses enhance their end-users’ experiences.

With appNeura, businesses can monitor various performance parameters, including third-party JavaScript performance, image loading, and Ajax requests, and proactively resolve issues before they affect end-users. The predictive analytics tool also forecasts potential app failures and resolves issues across various channels, allowing digital enterprises to deliver world-class experiences to their customers.

Why Choose appNeura over Other Digital Monitoring Tools?

After exploring New Relic vs AppDynamics, let’s see how appNeura comes out as a more advanced DEM tool. Here are some of the key features of appNeura:

1. 1. Predictive Analytics: AppNeura’s predictive analytics is an advantage over Dynatrace and Datadog. While they offer some level of monitoring and alerting, they do not have the same predictive capabilities as AppNeura. This means businesses using AppNeura are more likely to avoid potential issues and downtime, resulting in a better experience for their customers.

1. 1. Lightweight Integration: AppNeura’s SDK is easy to integrate with just a few lines of code. Unlike other popular DEM tools, you don’t need to install agents on every server or device, making it simpler to implement and manage.

1. 1. ApDex Health Indicator: AppNeura’s patented ApDex feature provides a simple and clear indicator of your application’s health. With ApDex, you can quickly understand your app’s overall performance using a percentage score, a numerical scale, or color-coded indicators of green, amber, and red. This helps you identify and address issues, ensuring a smooth user experience.

1. 1. Proactive Monitoring: AppNeura helps identify and resolve issues before they affect end-users, maintaining a positive user experience and preventing revenue loss or damage to the organization’s reputation.

1. 1. Advanced Analytics: AppNeura’s AI and ML-powered log analytics provide more detailed insights into the root causes of issues than New Relic and AppDynamics. It can analyze a broader range of performance parameters, including third-party JavaScript, image loading, and Ajax requests.

1. 1. Web Vitals: AppNeura focuses on Web Vitals, which are metrics set by Google to measure the user experience on the web. By monitoring and analyzing these metrics, it helps businesses optimize their web pages for better performance and user experience.

1. 1. Smarter Alerting: AppNeura’s intelligent algorithms prioritize alerts based on their impact, allowing for faster response times and reduced downtime. Its SDK buffers data every 15 seconds and responds to mobile devices if time exceeds the threshold.

1. 1. Customizable Dashboards: AppNeura’s customizable dashboards provide flexibility in monitoring and tracking performance metrics specific to your applications and business goals, unlike Dynatrace and Datadog, which have limited dashboard customization options.

Use-Cases of AppNeura

Here are some use cases of AppNeura and the features that make it a great choice for these scenarios:

E-commerce websites – AppNeura can monitor and analyze various performance parameters, including third-party JavaScript, image loading, and Ajax requests, ensuring a smooth user experience and preventing revenue loss or damage to the organization’s reputation.

Healthcare applications – AppNeura’s customizable dashboards provide flexibility in monitoring and tracking performance metrics specific to your applications and business goals, allowing healthcare organizations to optimize their applications for better performance and user experience.

Financial applications – AppNeura’s predictive analytics capabilities enable businesses to avoid potential issues and downtime, resulting in a better experience for their customers. This is especially crucial for financial applications where even a few seconds of downtime can result in significant losses.

Gaming applications – AppNeura’s smarter alerting algorithms prioritize alerts based on their impact, allowing for faster response times and reduced downtime. Its SDK buffers data every 15 seconds and responds to mobile devices if time exceeds the threshold, ensuring a seamless gaming experience.

SaaS applications – AppNeura’s lightweight integration allows for easy integration with just a few lines of code, making it simpler to implement and manage. This is especially beneficial for SaaS applications that are constantly evolving and require frequent updates.

Overall, AppNeura’s predictive analytics and proactive monitoring capabilities, along with its easy integration and customizable dashboards, make it a great choice for any digital enterprise looking to enhance their end-users’ experiences. Mainly, it is a right fit for your business on cloud. Considering your data centers are AWS/Azure/GCP, appNeura can manage digital experience, website performance, etc.

Case-Study: How appNeura helped an Insurance company improve Digital Experience

A life insurance company was facing a challenge in providing a good digital experience to its customers, distributors, and employees. They were struggling with slow processing times and difficulties accessing services from various devices. To improve their digital experience, the company partnered with appNeura’s Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) product.

AppNeura’s DEM is an advanced technology that provides actionable insights and predictive analytics about the quality of service (QoS) of apps. By analyzing the app’s login-to-disbursement and loan application-to-disbursement ratios, the DEM identified some of the main culprits for high dropouts, including issues with OTP authentication, document uploading, and page design.

Using appNeura’s solutions, the company was able to reduce dropouts at every stage of the app, which led to impressive results. They saw a 20% increase in loan application conversions, a 20% improvement in the document uploading process, and a 15% improvement in KYC processes. They also achieved a 20% improvement in the disbursement process, reduced their launch page response time by 3X, and decreased their bounce rate from 31.20% to 11.1%.

By providing actionable insights and predictive analytics, appNeura helped the company identify and address issues that impacted customer engagement and conversion. Want to know how appNeura can skyrocket digital experience for your business too? Contact the appNeura team now!

Conclusion

New Relic and AppDynamics offer powerful digital experience monitoring (DEM) tools for businesses to track and troubleshoot their web and mobile applications. New Relic is more suitable for small to medium-sized companies with non-complex architecture, while AppDynamics is better suited for large enterprises with complex applications that require thorough and detailed monitoring. However, AppNeura, a new entrant in the DEM market, offers a more cost-effective and superior solution. AppNeura offers a unique solution that combines the capabilities of both New Relic and AppDynamics and provides more flexibility and scalability to businesses. Therefore, if you are looking for a DEM tool that can provide more value for your money, it is recommended to book a call with AppNeura to learn more about their unique features and how they can benefit your business.