# Elastic APM vs Kamon

| Attribute | Elastic APM | Kamon |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 49.8 (57% (medium)) | 54.2 (21% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 32 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 6 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 1,271 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Application performance monitoring solution built on OpenTelemetry that automatically instruments applications, visualizes service dependencies, and identifies performance issues through distributed tracing and root cause analysis. It is indexed under APM Tools.","source":"https://www.elastic.co/pricing/self-managed","question":"What is Elastic APM?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Elastic APM does not publish its prices. Pricing is quoted on request, across 3 plans (Open Source, Platinum and Enterprise), so the figure depends on your seat count and requirements. We record this as a pricing-transparency signal rather than guessing a number. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.elastic.co/pricing/self-managed","question":"How much does Elastic APM cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Elastic APM supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.elastic.co/pricing/self-managed","question":"What platforms does Elastic APM support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Elastic APM can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise, air-gapped and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.elastic.co/pricing/self-managed","question":"Can Elastic APM be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 28 integrations for Elastic APM, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Jina AI, Amazon Bedrock, Aryn, LlamaIndex, Red Hat and Microsoft Azure AI, plus 20 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.elastic.co/pricing/self-managed","question":"What does Elastic APM integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Elastic APM is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://www.elastic.co/pricing/self-managed","question":"Where is Elastic APM available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"Application performance monitoring platform providing metrics and distributed tracing for backend services. Supports open-source Kamon Telemetry instrumentation and integrates with Prometheus, Jaeger, and other observability tools. It is indexed under APM Tools.","source":"https://kamon.io/apm/pricing/","question":"What is Kamon?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Kamon offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $89 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://kamon.io/apm/pricing/","question":"Is Kamon free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Kamon. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://kamon.io/apm/pricing/","question":"What platforms does Kamon support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Kamon, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://kamon.io/apm/pricing/","question":"Can Kamon be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 9 integrations for Kamon, including Prometheus, Jaeger, Datadog, Slack, PagerDuty, Akka, Play Framework and Cats Effect, plus 1 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://kamon.io/apm/pricing/","question":"What does Kamon integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Kamon. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Kamon not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://kamon.io/legal/privacy/","question":"What security certifications does Kamon have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Kamon is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in Croatia.","source":"https://kamon.io/apm/pricing/","question":"Where is Kamon available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"air_gapped":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Application performance monitoring solution built on OpenTelemetry that automatically instruments applications, visualizes service dependencies, and identifies performance issues through distributed tracing and root cause analysis. | Application performance monitoring platform providing metrics and distributed tracing for backend services. Supports open-source Kamon Telemetry instrumentation and integrates with Prometheus, Jaeger, and other observability tools. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","languages":"Java, .NET, Python, Node.js, PHP, iOS, Android","service_map":true,"otel_support":"native","slo_tracking":true,"code_profiling":true,"error_analytics":true,"anomaly_detection":true,"distributed_tracing":true,"auto_instrumentation":true}` | `{"rum":false,"hosting":"cloud","languages":"Scala, Akka, Play Framework, Cats Effect, Akka HTTP, Lagom","service_map":true,"slo_tracking":false,"db_monitoring":true,"code_profiling":false,"error_analytics":false,"anomaly_detection":false,"distributed_tracing":true,"auto_instrumentation":true}` |
| integrations.count | 28 | 10 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Anthropic"},{"name":"Jina AI"},{"name":"Amazon Bedrock"},{"name":"Aryn"},{"name":"LlamaIndex"},{"name":"Red Hat"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure AI"},{"name":"Hugging Face"},{"name":"Mistral"},{"name":"Cohere"},{"name":"Google Vertex AI"},{"name":"NVIDIA"},{"name":"Alibaba Cloud"},{"name":"IBM watsonx"},{"name":"Unstructured.io"},{"name":"LangChain"},{"name":"Apache Spark"},{"name":"Apache Hive"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Jira"},{"name":"ServiceNow"},{"name":"PagerDuty"},{"name":"Microsoft Teams"},{"name":"IBM Resilient"},{"name":"xMatters"},{"name":"Tableau"},{"name":"Elasticsearch-Hadoop"},{"name":"Vectorize.io","native":true}]` | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Jaeger"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"PagerDuty"},{"name":"Akka"},{"name":"Play Framework"},{"name":"Cats Effect"},{"name":"Lagom Framework"},{"name":"Akka HTTP"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"HR","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","features":["Elasticsearch search engine and vector database","Kibana visualization and analytics interface","Data ingestion with OTel, Logstash, and Beats","Basic authentication and RBAC","TLS encryption","APM, logging, and metrics","Community support and documentation"],"description":"Free, self-managed Elasticsearch Stack including core APM, logging, and security features","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Platinum","features":["SSO, LDAP/Active Directory, field/document-level security","Automated anomaly detection for logs and metrics","ELSER semantic search models","Cross-cluster replication for high availability","Service maps from APM data","Tail-based trace sampling","Service Level Objectives (SLOs)","APM root cause correlation","Premium support (24/7/365)"],"description":"Advanced security, machine learning anomaly detection, and high availability features","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","features":["Searchable snapshots for long-term low-cost storage","Attack Discovery automated alert triage","Universal Profiling for code-level performance data","Cross-cluster search with advanced security","Elastic Agent Builder for RAG and search development","Jina AI models for semantic search and reranking","Inference Service Management for third-party LLMs","Hybrid search capabilities","Elastic Workflows for incident response automation","AI Assistant for Observability guidance","Endpoint detection and response actions"],"description":"Full-stack capabilities including searchable snapshots, AI-assisted investigation, universal profiling, and advanced orchestration","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free open source self-managed. Platinum and Enterprise tiers available via contact sales. 14-day free trial for Elastic Cloud.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.elastic.co/pricing/self-managed","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T13:46:29.895Z","freeTrialDays":14}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Starter","summary":"Free - 5K metrics, 10M spans/mo, 3 team members, 1-day retention","features":["High-fidelity metrics with up to 1% error margin","End-to-end distributed tracing","Service map with dependencies and realtime status","Built-in integrations for HTTP, Database, and Akka services","Track CPU, memory, and file system usage for unlimited hosts","Search traces by any tag","Analyze and compare metrics with smart filters and insights","Receive in-app and email alert notifications","Sandboxes for staging and development data"],"minSeats":3,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Great for getting started with observability in small projects","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"trace_spans":"10M/mo","data_retention":"1 day","unique_metrics":"5K"}},{"free":false,"name":"Teams","summary":"$89/mo - 10K metrics, 100M spans/mo, 20 team members","features":["High-fidelity metrics with up to 1% error margin","End-to-end distributed tracing","Service map with dependencies and realtime status","Built-in integrations for HTTP, Database, and Akka services","Track CPU, memory, and file system usage for unlimited hosts","Search traces by any tag","Analyze and compare metrics with smart filters and insights","Receive in-app and email alert notifications","Receive alert notifications via Slack and Pager Duty","Sandboxes for staging and development data","Onboarding workshops with the Kamon Telemetry developers","Custom instrumentation for in-house and unsupported libraries"],"minSeats":20,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":89,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For teams getting serious about observability in production","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"trace_spans":"100M/mo","unique_metrics":"10K","spans_retention":"14 days","metrics_retention":"60 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Business","summary":"$299/mo - 30K metrics, 500M spans/mo, 50 team members","features":["High-fidelity metrics with up to 1% error margin","End-to-end distributed tracing","Service map with dependencies and realtime status","Built-in integrations for HTTP, Database, and Akka services","Track CPU, memory, and file system usage for unlimited hosts","Search traces by any tag","Analyze and compare metrics with smart filters and insights","Receive in-app and email alert notifications","Receive alert notifications via Slack and Pager Duty","Sandboxes for staging and development data","Onboarding workshops with the Kamon Telemetry developers","Custom instrumentation for in-house and unsupported libraries"],"minSeats":50,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":299,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For growing organizations feeling the pains of scaling","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"trace_spans":"500M/mo","unique_metrics":"30K","spans_retention":"14 days","metrics_retention":"60 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"From $1499/mo - custom configuration","features":["Custom metrics capacity","Custom span limits","Custom data retention","Dedicated support","Volume discounts","Annual billing"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1499,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Custom capacity and data retention with dedicated support","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Additional metrics capacity","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":90,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Additional spans","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":60,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From $89/mo. Free tier includes 5K metrics and 10M spans/month. Fixed subscription with transparent add-ons, no surprise overage charges.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://kamon.io/apm/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T18:18:06.357Z","startingPrice":{"amount":89,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | high |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.5.5","date":"2026-10-06T14:01:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.5.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.4.8","date":"2026-10-06T14:01:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v8.19.23","date":"2026-10-06T14:01:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.19.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v8.19.22","date":"2026-09-23T15:20:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.19.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.5.4","date":"2026-09-15T18:19:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.5.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.4.7","date":"2026-09-15T18:19:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.5.3","date":"2026-09-03T10:08:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.5.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.4.6","date":"2026-09-01T12:51:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v8.19.21","date":"2026-09-01T12:53:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.19.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.5.2","date":"2026-08-20T16:43:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.5.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.5.1","date":"2026-08-11T17:57:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.4.5","date":"2026-08-11T17:57:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v8.19.20","date":"2026-08-11T18:23:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.19.20"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.5.0","date":"2026-08-04T11:47:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.4.4","date":"2026-07-21T12:56:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.3.8","date":"2026-07-21T12:56:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.3.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v8.19.19","date":"2026-07-21T13:28:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.19.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.4.3","date":"2026-06-30T15:47:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v8.19.18","date":"2026-06-30T16:56:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.19.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/releases/tag/v9.3.7","date":"2026-06-30T16:47:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.3.7"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 6.9 | - |
| security.trust_center | https://www.elastic.co/legal/ethics-and-compliance | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Felastic%2Fapm-server%2Fapprovaltest&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (APM Tools)

| Capability | Elastic APM | Kamon |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Instrumentation** |  |  |
| Auto-instrumentation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Distributed tracing | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Service map | ✓ | ✓ |
| Code / continuous profiling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Database monitoring | - | ✓ |
| Error analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real-user monitoring | - | ✗ |
| SLO / error-budget tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Intelligence** |  |  |
| Anomaly / root-cause AI | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OpenTelemetry support | OTel-native | - |
| **Core** |  |  |
| Language agents | Java, .NET, Python, Node.js, PHP, iOS, Android | Scala, Akka, Play Framework, Cats Effect, Akka HTTP, Lagom |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud only |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-17T05:44:07.916Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*