{"question": "best application performance monitoring for agencies", "category": "application-performance-monitoring", "category_name": "application performance monitoring", "audience": "agencies", "audience_name": "agencies", "engine": "Claude (Anthropic) with web search", "model": "claude-opus-5", "asked_at": "2026-09-06T21:47:20Z", "permalink": "https://bikoosh.com/answers/s/application-performance-monitoring-agencies-2026-09-06", "question_page": "https://bikoosh.com/answers/q/application-performance-monitoring/agencies", "brands_named": [{"position": 1, "brand": "Sentry", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 2, "brand": "Better Stack", "label": "compared"}, {"position": 3, "brand": "AppSignal", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 4, "brand": "Ruby", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 5, "brand": "New Relic", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 6, "brand": "Datadog", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 7, "brand": "Grafana Cloud", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 8, "brand": "Grafana Cloud + OpenTelemetry", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 9, "brand": "OpenTelemetry", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 10, "brand": "Dynatrace", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 11, "brand": "Pulsetic", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 12, "brand": "Hyperping", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 13, "brand": "Dotcom-Monitor", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 14, "brand": "WordPress", "label": "mentioned"}], "sources_cited": [{"url": "https://betterstack.com/community/comparisons/datadog-vs-sentry/", "domain": "betterstack.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://www.scoutapm.com/blog/best-apm-for-small-teams-2026", "domain": "scoutapm.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://www.appsignal.com/alternative/sentry-alternative", "domain": "appsignal.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://www.scoutapm.com/blog/best-apm-for-small-teams-in-2026", "domain": "scoutapm.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://newrelic.com/blog/apm/application-performance-monitoring-tools", "domain": "newrelic.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://betterstack.com/community/comparisons/datadog-vs-newrelic/", "domain": "betterstack.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://coralogix.com/guides/application-performance-monitoring-tools/", "domain": "coralogix.com", "source_type": "other"}, {"url": "https://ardura.consulting/blog/apm-tools-comparison-2026/", "domain": "ardura.consulting", "source_type": "other"}, {"url": "https://perkydash.com/guides/best-monitoring-tools-for-agencies", "domain": "perkydash.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://pulsetic.com/white-label-website-monitoring/", "domain": "pulsetic.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://hyperping.com/use-cases/agencies", "domain": "hyperping.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://www.dotcom-monitor.com/blog/application-performance-monitoring-tools/", "domain": "dotcom-monitor.com", "source_type": "vendor"}], "answer_text": "Two different things get called \"APM for agencies,\" and the answer splits on which one you mean: instrumenting client *applications* you build and maintain, versus watching a portfolio of client *sites* and reporting on it. I'll name both, application-side first.\n\n## For agencies that build and maintain client apps\n\n**1. Sentry** - My default starting point. Errors plus tracing across 30+ platforms, so one tool covers the PHP site, the Rails app, and the React frontend. Unlimited users on paid plans matters when you have contractors rotating on and off client work. Plans start around $26/mo, billed by event volume. Caveat: its performance data is shallower than real APM - it'll tell you a view was slow, not that a specific query N+1'd. And event-based billing spikes exactly when a bad deploy happens. ([Better Stack comparison](https://betterstack.com/community/comparisons/datadog-vs-sentry/), [Scout](https://www.scoutapm.com/blog/best-apm-for-small-teams-2026))\n\n**2. AppSignal** - The best fit if you want real APM without a DevOps practice. Combines APM, error tracking, and host metrics in one product, and - the part that matters for agencies - pricing is fixed tiers by request vol", "answer_truncated": true, "measurement": "One answer from one engine on one date. Not a ranking and not a claim about the world; brands the engine did not name are not recorded.", "limitation": "Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.", "alerts": {"name": "Answer Watch Pro", "price_usd": 79, "period": "month", "gets": "daily change alerts for up to 5 brands in what one AI answer engine says, history, CSV export. Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included", "url": "https://bikoosh.com/answers"}}