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SmartBear Logo
338 views|248 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
BigPanda Logo
2,522 views|1,358 comparisons
75% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between AlertSite and BigPanda based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability.
To learn more, read our detailed Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Report (Updated: April 2024).
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"If there are any issues, it triggers an alert within 30 seconds. When it triggers the alert, we go ahead and check it immediately. The alert is triggered on a real-time basis.""The best feature of AlertSite is that it shows you a visual graph and also sends you notifications about errors, so you get immediate notifications about errors which means that your support team can start taking steps and more quickly make sure the site is up and that customer experience isn't interrupted in terms of using your system and your products. AlertSite is a very good tool. It's user-friendly, and you can see everything on the dashboard. Configuring it is also easy.""This solution has numerous advantages. It's extremely simple to configure. Either digital monitors or single-URL monitors are simple to configure and build.""There are custom reports available along with the inbuilt reports.""I found multiple features in AlertSite that I like. One is data monitoring history, for example, a history of the blackouts and the data. Sometimes, there's a glitch in the application that AlertSite can capture, and the tool notifies you about that glitch. It also identifies issues that could happen in the future. AlertSite is also a fast tool that you can use to monitor on-premise servers, internal applications, and even global applications. The data is available on a single UI in AlertSite, so there's no need to monitor and click on different applications or URLs. I also love that the tool is quite user-friendly, apart from being fast."

More AlertSite Pros →

"Alert deduplication and correlation - In an environment like the NOC where you're ingesting hundreds and thousands of alerts from various monitoring sources, it's time consuming and difficult to go through individual alerts and also difficult to spot critical issues. It's been great to have BigPanda not only deduplicate alerts but also correlate alerts that are seemingly unrelated, to create a clearer picture.""BigPanda integrates well with other solutions, such as WatchGuard,""The program is very stable.""The solution is user-friendly and has good performance and certification.""The most valuable features of BigPanda are the API integration was good. It enables us to do faster onboarding.""We have also made extensive use of the outbound integrations to ticketing systems (JIRA) and collaboration tools (Slack). The main driver for us has been getting all alerting into a single UI and enabling us to streamline our incident management process.""The most useful feature has been the AI/ML. The way BigPanda uses the AI/ML is good compared to other SRE tools.""A user-friendly solution."

More BigPanda Pros →

Cons
"I would like the ability to get more data points with regard to some of the unique requirements that we have.""AlertSite sometimes triggers false alerts or fake alerts, which needs to be rectified. When we see an alert and go ahead and run certain tests on it, the test always passes. However, on the main screen, it shows up as critical. Therefore, the false alert needs to be fixed.""What needs improvement in AlertSite is the documentation, particularly the lack of documentation. If there's a specific activity you want to do, you can't even find information on how to do it, so you have to contact the AlertSite support team to assist you, and only then would the issue be resolved. At the moment, it's not easy to find or get full documentation on how to deal with different issues. You always have to go back to AlertSite support and get help. The documentation for AlertSite could be improved and it's what I'd like to see in the next release of the tool because at the moment, the documentation isn't complete, so you'll have to contact support, but contacting support isn't an issue because the team responds to you quickly.""One area that needs improvement in AlertSite is the slow UI. I'm using the classic UI because it's quite user-friendly, or in human-readable format, but it's a little slow. It takes time to load all the monitors, so if that could be sped up, that would be helpful. The AlertSite support team also needs improvement in terms of availability. Most of the agents in the team aren't available 24 x 7, so if there's something you need to discuss, you need to tell the support team ahead of time to schedule it. Multiple times, when a case comes up during weekends or whenever my team is doing an update, support needs improvement, availability-wise. I use AlertSite for synthetic monitoring, so whatever is available right now is okay, but if I want to request a new feature on a website, currently, the UI refreshes automatically. I would like to have the option on AlertSite to configure that manually. The UI auto-updates every few minutes, so if I can control that manually, that would be helpful.""It is not compatible with all of the product platforms that we use."

More AlertSite Cons →

"BigPanda could improve by syncing its threshold settings with Dynatrace to align with users' familiarity.""The UI for this solution could be improved. It is very hard to find what you are looking for.""We had to use a partner for the deployment.""Analytics is an area for improvement, being able to break down the actions that are being taken by users of BigPanda, as well as the auto-magical work that is being done by BigPanda.""The cost of this product is too high compared to New Relic.""BigPanda attempts a little of everything and fails at most.""The solution could improve by having better integration.""The observability can be enriched with regards to infrastructure and the application-integrated environment. The dashboard and reports could be improved."

More BigPanda Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We purchased the license once and had the option of selecting the number of user licenses."
  • "My company pays to use AlertSite, but I'm unsure of the exact costs because it depends on how many monitors you have."
  • "The cost is high."
  • More AlertSite Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "They were great to work with on pricing/licensing. Given we are a high-growth company, we needed a flexible site license."
  • "We pay $200,000 USD per year."
  • "The price of BigPanda is in the middle compared to other solutions."
  • "BigPanda is cheaper than the competitors."
  • More BigPanda Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I found multiple features in AlertSite that I like. One is data monitoring history, for example, a history of the blackouts and the data. Sometimes, there's a glitch in the application that AlertSite… more »
    Top Answer:The management team handles the licensing policy for AlertSite. I have some billing details, but I'm unable to share them.
    Top Answer:One area that needs improvement in AlertSite is the slow UI. I'm using the classic UI because it's quite user-friendly, or in human-readable format, but it's a little slow. It takes time to load all… more »
    Top Answer:There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra… more »
    Top Answer:The solution is user-friendly and has good performance and certification.
    Ranking
    Views
    338
    Comparisons
    248
    Reviews
    5
    Average Words per Review
    965
    Rating
    8.0
    Views
    2,522
    Comparisons
    1,358
    Reviews
    6
    Average Words per Review
    336
    Rating
    6.5
    Comparisons
    Dynatrace logo
    Compared 27% of the time.
    New Relic logo
    Compared 19% of the time.
    Datadog logo
    Compared 18% of the time.
    ITRS Geneos logo
    Compared 18% of the time.
    Postman logo
    Compared 18% of the time.
    Learn More
    Overview

    SmartBear's AlertSite is an application performance management and system monitoring software. AlertSite is an early warning system that users can rely on to monitor their websites, web apps, and APIs from any physical location as well as from within their private networks. It offers real-time alerting with root-cause analytics and robust reporting. AlertSite allows you to proactively monitor from an independent network of over 350 monitoring nodes worldwide.

    Here are AlertSite’s 6 use cases: 

    1. Monitor web: AlertSite monitors beyond availability to detect performance anomalies and notify the appropriate people when deviations occur, whether it's online apps or websites.

    2. Monitor APIs: Check to see that your internal, external, and third-party APIs are working properly, returning the correct content, and performing as expected.

    3. Monitor apps: With nearly any action, monitor your online sites and applications using actual browsers, just like a consumer. There is no need for scripting.

    4. Monitor mobile: Monitor your mobile-friendly websites, native mobile apps, carrier-based nodes, and network speeds with real devices (3G, 4G LTE).

    5. Monitor SLAs: Make sure you're meeting service-level agreements' requirements. SLA requirements are monitored and reported on by AlertSite.

    6. Monitor cloud: Monitor your cloud-based applications to improve mobility. AlertSite monitors your apps across public and private clouds, giving you complete visibility into their status.

    AlertSite Features

    AlertSite has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Enables a comprehensive view of UI and API performance.

    • Monitoring coverage from 350+ worldwide nodes and private networks.
    • Integrates with DevOps and Ops tool stacks.

    • Displays availability and performance data that assist in determining the root cause of performance problems.

    • With AlertSite's Single Sign-On (SSO) support, you can assist your authentication procedures.

    • Free training and assistance. AlertSite’s responsive team is always there to assist you, from the initial rollout through day-to-day support.

    • Eliminates the stress of false alerts using these key features:

      • Tracks the performance of your apps, APIs, and websites.

      • Sets up monitor and alarm schedules, as well as blackout periods and retry choices.

      • Sets alert thresholds that are both static and dynamic.

      • Calculates the number of failures needed to set off an alarm.

      • After the first failure, retries logic.

      • Based on error code, sends an alert to recipients and group routing.

      • Tests from over 85 different locations across the world, with internal and external monitoring.

      • Defines assertions and validations.

      • Integrates with PagerDuty, Slack, Splunk, VictorOps, and more.
    • Easy configuration with help from these key features:

      • DejaClick is an intuitive, seamless plug-in for documenting web transactions and user journeys.

      • Use the point-and-click script creation for website, web, and mobile monitor scripts.

      • Benefit from using native API monitor creation.

      • Scripts for functional tests can be reused.

      • Automate monitor creation by using Swagger Specs or OpenAPI Specification files.

    BigPanda Autonomous Operations platform is a cutting-edge solution that helps IT Ops, NOC and DevOps teams detect, investigate, and resolve IT incidents faster and more easily than ever before. Powered by Open Box Machine Learning, BigPanda correlates IT noise into insights, automates incident management, and unifies fragmented IT operations.

    BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations platform increases the ease with which IT administrators are able to both manage their systems and respond to issues that arise. It combines machine learning and automation, which not only provide administrators with reliable suggestions concerning future issues that may arise, but also allows for certain tasks to be assigned to the system itself. These allow organizations to save both time and resources that can be dedicated to more critical tasks.

    BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations platform possesses a simplified and unified user interface, enabling users to manage the solution from one place. The UI allows users to view and manage all of the information and controls that IT teams need to be able to easily access, providing a level of visibility that ensures users will be able to view all of their system’s most up-to-date and critical information at any time that they wish.

    Benefits of BigPanda Autonomous Operations Platform

    Some the benefits of using BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations platform include:

    • The ability to autonomously detect and respond to IT issues. BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations software autonomously searches for and detects issues. When found, its level-zero feature can then handle elementary tasks such as threat prioritization, which would otherwise require a dedicated team to handle. The solution can be adapted to meet your organization’s specific requirements.
    • The ability to receive new threat suggestions based on historical data. Armed with this knowledge, BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations’s machine learning algorithm makes reliable predictions of issues that might come up in the future.
    • The ability to manage BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations platform and view both real-time and historical data from a single interface. BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations platform UI is a centralized location where all levels of your organization’s IT teams can view system data and manage situations that may arise. The data displayed on this interface is always up-to-date. IT teams have the latest relevant information available to them at all times without having to conduct a search.

    Reviews from Real Users

    BigPanda’s Autonomous Operations platform stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its centralized user interface and its ability to easily integrate with other security solutions. The centralized UI gives users the ability to clearly see all their alert data in a single location without having to search for it. Its easy integration allows administrators to augment their IT security capabilities when they find it necessary to do so.

    PeerSpot user Larry C., the principal engineer in charge of site operations for a tech vendor, notes this benefit when he writes, "Alert aggregation was the primary requirement. BigPanda pulls all this together into a single UI for us, allowing us to see related alerts grouped together into an incident, and enables us to easily create a JIRA ticket and Slack channel to manage an issue."

    Another PeerSpot user, who is an independent entrepreneur in the IT environment at a tech services company, notes the flexibility of this platform when they write “BigPanda integrates well with other solutions, such as WatchGuard.”


    Sample Customers
    JetBlue, Payless ShoeSource, Hilton Inc., StubHub, Symantec, Newegg, Sapient, AstraZeneca, Dell, Quest Diagnostics
    Nagios, ServiceNow, ITSM, NOC, CMDB Evolved, RemedyIncident Management Process
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Retailer9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm25%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Insurance Company7%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise75%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Large Enterprise58%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise76%
    Buyer's Guide
    Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    April 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability. Updated: April 2024.
    767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    AlertSite is ranked 23rd in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 5 reviews while BigPanda is ranked 40th in IT Infrastructure Monitoring with 12 reviews. AlertSite is rated 8.0, while BigPanda is rated 7.2. The top reviewer of AlertSite writes "Quickly triggers alerts, fast and user-friendly, and makes data available in a single UI". On the other hand, the top reviewer of BigPanda writes "Offers comprehensive alert monitoring and a user-friendly interface but requires manual validation to provide accurate alerts". AlertSite is most compared with Dynatrace, New Relic, Datadog, ITRS Geneos and Postman, whereas BigPanda is most compared with ServiceNow, Moogsoft, PagerDuty Operations Cloud, IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus and ServiceNow IT Operations Management.

    We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.