Last9 vs Splunk AppDynamics: In-Depth Comparison 2026

Last9 and Splunk AppDynamics operate in different weight classes of the observability market. Last9 is a managed time series storage and observability platform built for teams that need durable, queryable metrics without running their own Prometheus or VictoriaMetrics clusters. Splunk AppDynamics is an enterprise APM suite focused on application performance tied to business outcomes, typically deployed at organizations with multi-tier apps and heavy Java or .NET stacks. Neither is a direct replacement for the other, but teams evaluating both are usually asking: do I need full-stack APM with business analytics, or do I just need a reliable metrics backend that integrates with my existing Prometheus setup?

According to the CNCF Annual Survey 2023, 73% of organizations use Prometheus for metrics, which explains why Last9’s Prometheus-compatible storage and Levitate platform resonates with cloud native teams. AppDynamics, by contrast, leads with distributed tracing, code-level diagnostics, and integration with Cisco’s observability portfolio after Cisco’s acquisition of AppDynamics in 2017 and subsequent purchase of Splunk in 2024.

This guide compares Last9 and Splunk AppDynamics on pricing model, OTel compatibility, deployment options, signal coverage, and total cost of ownership. We include CubeAPM as a third option for teams that want unified logs, metrics, traces, and RUM inside their own cloud with predictable per-GB pricing.

Quick Comparison: Last9 vs Splunk AppDynamics vs CubeAPM

	Last9	Splunk AppDynamics	CubeAPM
Best for	Prometheus users needing managed metrics storage	Enterprise Java/.NET apps needing business-context APM	Teams wanting full observability inside their own cloud
Primary focus	Managed time series metrics, Prometheus compatible	APM, distributed tracing, business transaction monitoring	Unified APM, logs, infra, RUM, synthetics
Pricing model	$0.09/million active series/mo + query pricing	Per-core or host based pricing	$0.15/GB all-in, no seat fees
Deployment	SaaS only	SaaS or on-prem	Self-hosted (vendor-managed) or on-prem
OTel native?	Partial — Prometheus focus	Partial — proprietary agents lead	Native — built on OTel from day one
Full MELT?	Metrics only	APM + logs + infra + RUM	Yes — all signals unified
Unlimited retention?	No — retention tied to plan	No — 90 days default	Yes — no extra cost

Pricing figures based on publicly available information as of early 2026. Enterprise discounts, custom contracts, and negotiated rates are not reflected here.

Last9 Overview

Last9 is a managed observability platform built around durable metrics storage and Prometheus compatibility. Its Levitate product provides a fully managed replacement for self-hosted Prometheus or VictoriaMetrics clusters, handling high cardinality time series data without the operational overhead of running your own metrics backend.

Core capabilities:

• Managed Prometheus-compatible storage with unlimited cardinality
• Query optimization and automatic downsampling
• Built-in alerting and dashboard support
• Integration with Grafana and Prometheus query language (PromQL)
• Focus on metrics — no native tracing or log management

Deployment: SaaS only. Last9 runs in its own cloud infrastructure.

Pricing: Last9 charges $0.09 per million active series per month plus query-based pricing. A typical production setup with 10 million active series costs around $900/month before query costs. Query pricing is billed separately based on volume and complexity.

Use case fit: Last9 is built for teams that have standardized on Prometheus for metrics collection but want to offload the storage, scaling, and durability concerns to a managed service. It does not provide APM, tracing, logs, or RUM — it is purely a metrics backend.

Splunk AppDynamics Overview

Splunk AppDynamics is an enterprise APM platform designed to monitor application performance with business context. Originally built to track Java and .NET application transactions, it now supports distributed microservices, cloud native apps, and hybrid infrastructure. After Cisco acquired Splunk in 2024, AppDynamics became part of Cisco’s broader observability portfolio alongside Splunk Observability Cloud and ThousandEyes.

Core capabilities:

• Application performance monitoring with business transaction tracking
• Code-level diagnostics and slow query identification
• Distributed tracing across microservices
• Infrastructure monitoring for servers, containers, and cloud services
• Real user monitoring (RUM) and synthetic monitoring
• Integration with Splunk log analytics and ThousandEyes network monitoring

Deployment: SaaS or on-prem. AppDynamics offers both cloud-hosted and on-premises deployment options.

Pricing: AppDynamics pricing is based on compute cores or hosts. A typical mid-sized deployment monitoring 50 hosts with APM costs approximately $50 per core per month, translating to $6,000 to $10,000/month depending on core count and feature set. Enterprise pricing often includes custom contracts with volume discounts.

This estimate models a production-ready setup with high availability. A smaller or simpler deployment may cost significantly less.

Use case fit: AppDynamics is built for enterprises running complex, multi-tier applications where application performance directly impacts revenue. It excels at tying slow API calls or database queries back to specific business transactions like checkout flows or account signups.

Feature by Feature Comparison

Metrics Collection and Storage

Last9: Native Prometheus compatibility with unlimited cardinality. Last9 ingests metrics via Prometheus remote write and stores them in its managed backend. Query performance is optimized through automatic downsampling and indexing. No sampling or cardinality limits.

Splunk AppDynamics: Collects application and infrastructure metrics via proprietary agents. Metrics are not stored in a Prometheus-compatible format. AppDynamics focuses on business transaction metrics and resource consumption rather than raw time series storage. High cardinality metrics require additional licensing.

CubeAPM: Ingests metrics via OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Datadog, and New Relic agents. All metrics are stored with unlimited retention at $0.15/GB. No separate indexing or cardinality charges.

Distributed Tracing

Last9: No native tracing support. Last9 is a metrics-only platform.

Splunk AppDynamics: Full distributed tracing with automatic instrumentation for Java, .NET, Node.js, Python, PHP, and more. Traces are correlated with business transactions and infrastructure metrics. Sampling is configurable but defaults to probabilistic sampling to control cost.

CubeAPM: Native OpenTelemetry tracing with full fidelity. AI-based smart sampling retains traces with high latency, errors, or anomalies while reducing storage volume by up to 95%. No sampling decisions required upfront.

Log Management

Last9: No log management capability. Last9 does not ingest, store, or search logs.

Splunk AppDynamics: Log analytics available through integration with Splunk Observability Cloud or Splunk Enterprise. Logs are not natively included in AppDynamics APM — they are a separate product with separate pricing.

CubeAPM: Native log management with full-text search and automatic correlation with traces. All logs are indexed and searchable at $0.15/GB with no retention limits.

Real User Monitoring (RUM)

Last9: No RUM capability.

Splunk AppDynamics: Real user monitoring available as an add-on module. Tracks page load times, JavaScript errors, and user sessions. Priced separately from APM.

CubeAPM: Native RUM with session replay, Core Web Vitals tracking, and automatic correlation with backend traces. Included in $0.15/GB pricing.

Infrastructure Monitoring

Last9: Limited. Last9 can store infrastructure metrics scraped via Prometheus exporters, but it does not provide dashboards or alerting specific to infrastructure components like Kubernetes nodes or AWS services.

Splunk AppDynamics: Full infrastructure monitoring covering servers, containers, Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, and GCP. Infrastructure metrics are correlated with APM data to surface root causes.

CubeAPM: Native infrastructure monitoring with pre-built dashboards for Kubernetes, AWS, databases, and hosts. All metrics are correlated with APM traces and logs.

Alerting

Last9: Built-in alerting based on Prometheus-style alert rules. Alerts fire based on metric thresholds and can route to Slack, PagerDuty, email, and webhooks.

Splunk AppDynamics: Rich alerting with anomaly detection, baseline comparisons, and business transaction context. Alerts include stack traces and diagnostic snapshots. Routes to enterprise incident management tools.

CubeAPM: Contextual alerting with anomaly detection and full trace context. Alerts route to Slack, PagerDuty, email, and more. No separate configuration for logs vs. metrics vs. traces.

Pricing Comparison: Real Cost Scenarios

Pricing estimates reflect a growing team profile: 50 hosts, 10 million active time series, 10 TB/month telemetry ingestion (6 TB logs, 3 TB traces, 1 TB metrics), and 30-day retention.

Small Team (10 hosts, 2 million active series, 2 TB/month)

Last9:

• 2 million active series: $180/month
• Query pricing estimate: $120/month
• Total: ~$300/month

Splunk AppDynamics:

• 10 hosts × $50/core/month × 4 cores: $2,000/month
• RUM add-on estimate: $500/month
• Total: ~$2,500/month

CubeAPM:

• 2 TB ingestion × $0.15/GB: $300/month
• Total: $300/month

Mid-Sized Team (50 hosts, 10 million active series, 10 TB/month)

Last9:

• 10 million active series: $900/month
• Query pricing estimate: $600/month
• Total: ~$1,500/month

Splunk AppDynamics:

• 50 hosts × $50/core/month × 4 cores: $10,000/month
• RUM add-on estimate: $2,000/month
• Log integration (Splunk Cloud): $5,000/month
• Total: ~$17,000/month

CubeAPM:

• 10 TB ingestion × $0.15/GB: $1,500/month
• Total: $1,500/month

This estimate models a specific workload profile. Your actual costs will vary based on data volume, retention period, and feature usage.

Enterprise Team (200 hosts, 50 million active series, 40 TB/month)

Last9:

• 50 million active series: $4,500/month
• Query pricing estimate: $3,000/month
• Total: ~$7,500/month

Splunk AppDynamics:

• 200 hosts × $50/core/month × 4 cores: $40,000/month
• RUM add-on estimate: $8,000/month
• Log integration (Splunk Cloud): $20,000/month
• Total: ~$68,000/month

CubeAPM:

• 40 TB ingestion × $0.15/GB: $6,000/month
• Total: $6,000/month

OpenTelemetry Support

Last9: Partial. Last9 is built around Prometheus and does not natively ingest OpenTelemetry traces or logs. Metrics from OTel can be scraped via Prometheus exporters.

Splunk AppDynamics: Partial. AppDynamics supports OpenTelemetry instrumentation libraries but proprietary agents remain the primary instrumentation method. Full OTel support is improving but not yet feature-complete.

CubeAPM: Native. CubeAPM is built on OpenTelemetry from day one. All metrics, logs, traces, and RUM data flow through OTel collectors with no proprietary agent required.

Deployment Models and Data Control

Last9: SaaS only. Telemetry data is sent to Last9’s cloud infrastructure. No on-prem or BYOC option.

Splunk AppDynamics: SaaS or on-prem. AppDynamics offers both cloud-hosted and on-premises deployment. On-prem deployments keep telemetry data inside your infrastructure but require your team to manage the AppDynamics controller and backend.

CubeAPM: Self-hosted with vendor management. CubeAPM deploys inside your VPC or on-prem but is managed by CubeAPM’s team. You own the data, CubeAPM handles upgrades, patches, and scaling. Zero telemetry leaves your cloud.

Who Should Choose Each

Choose Last9 if:

• You are already standardized on Prometheus for metrics
• You want to offload Prometheus storage and scaling to a managed service
• You only need metrics — no logs, traces, or RUM
• Your team has low cardinality pain and needs unlimited series storage
• Budget is constrained and you do not need full APM

Choose Splunk AppDynamics if:

• You run enterprise Java or .NET applications with complex business logic
• You need to tie application performance directly to revenue metrics
• Your organization already uses Splunk for log analytics or SIEM
• You have budget for enterprise APM and support contracts
• You need code-level diagnostics and automatic root cause analysis

Choose CubeAPM if:

• You want full-stack observability (APM, logs, metrics, RUM) in one platform
• You need data to stay inside your cloud for compliance or cost reasons
• You want predictable per-GB pricing with no seat fees or host limits
• Your team values OpenTelemetry compatibility and vendor neutrality
• You want unlimited retention without separate storage charges

Verdict

Last9 and Splunk AppDynamics serve fundamentally different use cases. Last9 is a metrics backend for Prometheus users who want to avoid running their own storage clusters. Splunk AppDynamics is an enterprise APM suite for organizations that need application performance tied to business context and are willing to pay premium pricing for it.

If your primary need is durable, queryable metrics storage and you do not need tracing or logs, Last9 delivers that at a predictable cost. If you run complex, revenue-critical applications and need deep APM with business transaction tracking, AppDynamics justifies its cost through faster root cause analysis and business impact correlation.

CubeAPM sits between these two — offering full-stack observability with metrics, logs, traces, and RUM in one platform, deployed inside your infrastructure with predictable $0.15/GB pricing. Teams that need unified observability without SaaS vendor lock-in or per-seat fees should evaluate CubeAPM alongside both Last9 and AppDynamics.

Disclaimer: The information in this article reflects the latest details available at the time of publication and may change as technologies and products evolve. Features, pricing, and plan limits can change over time. Always verify the latest information directly with the vendor before making purchasing or deployment decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions