Microsoft Application Insights vs Dynatrace Pricing | Costbench

Microsoft Application Insights vs Dynatrace

APM & Monitoring pricing comparison · 2026

Microsoft Application Insights uses custom pricing, while Dynatrace ranges from $1.4–$58/user/month. Microsoft Application Insights is typically 100% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

APM & Monitoring

Microsoft Application Insights

Custom pricing
/month
4 plans
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
APM & Monitoring

Dynatrace

$1.4–$58
/user/month
11 plans
Full pricing breakdown →

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Microsoft Application Insights Dynatrace
Auxiliary Logs Custom $7 /per host/month
Basic Logs Custom $29 /per host/month
Analytics Logs (Pay-As-You-Go) Custom $58 /per 8 GiB host/month
Analytics Logs — Commitment Tier Custom $1.40 /per pod/month
Code Monitoring $3.60 /per container/month
Log Analytics — Pay-per-Query Custom
Log Analytics — Bundled Queries Custom
Metrics Custom
Traces Custom
Events Custom
Real User Monitoring Custom

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

Microsoft Application Insights 2 hidden costs

high
Data Ingestion Costs After Free Tier 10-30% of total observability costs
medium
Hidden Cost Controls 5-15% of license costs
See all Microsoft Application Insights hidden costs →

Dynatrace 6 hidden costs

high
Complex DDU-Based Pricing Model 20-30% of license costs
high
Memory-Based Host Billing 15-25% of license costs
medium
Dedicated Team Required $150,000-$250,000
medium
Strict Renewal Timing and Terms 5-10% of license costs
medium
Host memory-based pricing variability $50-$150/host/month
See all Dynatrace hidden costs →