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Since Cisco acquired Splunk for $28B in March 2024, the observability landscape inside Cisco has two competing APM products: Splunk APM (from the SignalFx acquisition) and AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco in 2017). Both are actively sold. Neither has a clear deprecation timeline. For teams evaluating long-term platform investments, acquisition uncertainty is a real risk factor. Meanwhile, pricing remains enterprise-heavy at $60-75/host/month for full-stack observability, with additional costs for log analytics through the Splunk Platform.
One product. One roadmap. Zero acquisition risk.
The Two-Product Problem
Splunk APM and AppDynamics. Two products. One company. No clear roadmap.
- Two competing APM products inside Cisco: Splunk APM (SignalFx) and AppDynamics. Neither has a clear deprecation timeline.
- Customers are left wondering which product represents Cisco's future investment.
- Enterprise-heavy pricing at $60-75/host/month for full-stack observability, plus separate Splunk Platform costs for log analytics.
One product. One roadmap. One price.
What If You Could Choose Clarity Instead?
Modern observability, purpose-built on OpenTelemetry.
- Single platform with a single roadmap. No acquisition integration uncertainty. No competing products from the same vendor.
- Your system rendered spatially in 3D, with AI that accesses your codebase workspace, diagnoses from 3D topology, and makes the fix.
- Built exclusively on OpenTelemetry, without the legacy baggage of multi-billion dollar acquisition consolidation.
Standard OTel. No proprietary forks. No lock-in.
Architecture: How We Differ
OpenTelemetry exclusive vs Splunk distribution.
IAPM is built exclusively on OpenTelemetry with no proprietary distribution. Standard OTel SDKs and Collectors work out of the box. No Splunk-specific forked collector, no enterprise sales motion, no multi-year commitment required.
Splunk has deep enterprise relationships built over two decades, a log analytics heritage that remains best-in-class for security and compliance use cases, and broad integration with Cisco's networking and security portfolio. Their NoSample full-fidelity tracing captures 100% of traces with no sampling artifacts, which is genuinely valuable for debugging rare issues.
| Aspect | IAPM | Splunk Observability |
|---|---|---|
| Instrumentation | Standard OpenTelemetry SDKs only | Splunk distribution of OTel Collector |
| Data Ingestion | Direct OTLP (gRPC + HTTP) | OTel Collector + SignalFx streaming engine |
| Visualization | 3D spatial topology + web dashboards | 2D dashboards, service maps, Tag Spotlight |
| Tracing | Distributed tracing with spatial context | NoSample full-fidelity tracing (100% capture) |
| Log Analytics | Integrated log management | Splunk Platform (petabyte-scale, SPL) |
| Vendor Lock-in | None. Change one endpoint URL to leave. | Splunk Platform ecosystem, enterprise contracts |
Tessa fixes code. You review it. You own it.
| Capability | Tessa (IAPM) | Splunk AI Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Codebase Access | Full workspace: read, search, rename, modify | No codebase access |
| Spatial Context | 3D topology + traces + metrics | No spatial context |
| Code Fixes | Fixes code in your workspace. You review, you own it. | No code changes |
| Focus Area | Application monitoring: topology, traces, metrics, code | Log-focused: SPL query generation, log summarization |
| Pricing | Included in every paid tier | Included with bundles (capabilities limited) |
| Accountability Model | Human on the loop: Tessa does the work, you own the outcome | Query assistance and log summarization |
AI: Tessa vs Splunk AI Assistant
Human on the loop.
Tessa connects your production telemetry to your codebase. Add your repositories as workspaces, and Tessa can trace a production issue from your 3D topology straight to the source file. Tessa accesses your codebase workspace, diagnoses from 3D topology, makes the fix. You review, you own it. Human on the loop.
Splunk's AI Assistant focuses on log analytics: generating SPL queries, summarizing log patterns, and correlating events. Valuable for log investigation, but it operates in the log dimension only. No spatial context. No codebase access. No code fixes. When the investigation is done, you still context-switch to your IDE to make the fix. Tessa closes that gap.
One price. No bundles. No separate log platform.
Pricing: The Full Picture
Scenario: 40 nodes, 10 engineers.
Splunk Observability Cloud prices by bundles with per-host and per-activity billing. Here is what a realistic production deployment looks like:
- No bundle confusion: IAPM includes APM, logs, and AI in one per-node price. Splunk offers three bundles with different feature sets at different price points.
- No separate log platform: Splunk's log analytics runs on the Splunk Platform with its own ingest-based pricing, often the largest cost component. IAPM includes log management.
- No activity-based surprises: Splunk bills by metric time series (MTS), which creates unpredictable costs in high-cardinality environments. IAPM bills per node.
- Predictable math: Nodes x tier price = monthly cost. No enterprise sales engagement required to understand your bill.
| Line Item | IAPM | Splunk Observability |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure Monitoring | N/A | $15/host/mo x 40 = $600 |
| APM (App & Infra bundle) | Included | $60/host/mo x 40 = $2,400 |
| Full Stack (End-to-End bundle) | N/A (application monitoring only) | $75/host/mo x 40 = $3,000 |
| Log Analytics (Splunk Platform) | Included | Separate Splunk Platform pricing (ingest-based) |
| On-Call | N/A | $5/user/mo x 10 = $50 |
| AI Assistant | Included (Tessa) | Included (limited capabilities) |
| Estimated Monthly Total | $1,575 (Analyze) | $2,400-$3,050+ before log analytics |
Splunk pricing based on published rates from splunk.com/pricing, verified as of March 2026. Actual costs vary by bundle selection and usage. IAPM pricing from immersivefusion.com/pricing. All prices USD.
You don't have to rip and replace
Run Both. Migrate Gradually.
Same telemetry, two destinations, zero re-instrumentation.
- Dual-destination: Splunk Observability already uses OpenTelemetry for data collection. Your OTel Collector can fan out telemetry to both Splunk and IAPM simultaneously.
- No code changes: Keep Splunk for your existing services. Point new services at IAPM. Compare the experience side by side with the same production data.
- Keep Splunk for logs and security: The Splunk Platform excels at log analytics and SIEM. Use IAPM for APM and spatial visualization alongside Splunk for security.
- No enterprise lock-in: IAPM has no multi-year commitments. Start free. Upgrade when ready. Leave if it is not right.
- Exit guarantee: If IAPM is not right for you, change one endpoint URL. Your instrumentation stays exactly the same.
Dual-Destination Collector Config
exporters:
otlp/iapm:
endpoint: "https://otlp.iapm.app"
headers:
API-Key: "YOUR-API-KEY"
otlp/splunk:
endpoint: "ingest.signalfx.com:4317"
service:
pipelines:
traces:
exporters: [otlp/iapm, otlp/splunk]
metrics:
exporters: [otlp/iapm, otlp/splunk]Standard OTel Collector config. Same telemetry, two destinations. No code changes required.
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