Question 1

What counts as a request?

Accepted Answer

We treat the following actions as requests:

Your app handles a request from a client.
Your app runs a background job.

If you like, you can specify that certain actions shouldn't be sent to AppSignal by making a small change to the AppSignal configuration file, in Ruby, Elixir, Node.js and Python.

Question 2

What do you mean by unlimited hosts and apps?

Accepted Answer

We measure the total requests per month spanning all of your apps, and we have no host limit per app. For example, 1M requests could look like:

Ten apps generating 100K requests each on a single server.
One app generating 1M requests across 50 servers.

Either way, the price is the same!

Question 3

What happens if I go over my plan?

Accepted Answer

We'll politely ask you to upgrade when you repeatedly go over the limits of your plan. We'll never stop monitoring without notifying you first and discussing upgrade options. For details, please see our Upgrade Policy.

Question 4

Does AppSignal have a free plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Free plan includes 50K requests/month, 1GB logging, and 5-day retention, refreshed every 30 days.

Question 5

What's included in the free plan?

Accepted Answer

AppSignal's free plan includes:

50K requests
1 GB of log storage
5-day retention

Your usage resets every 30 days and is capped, so you won't be charged any overage fees. Once you hit the free plan limit, AppSignal will stop reporting data until your 30-day usage period resets.

You can see your usage in real time at the bottom right of our side navigation, so you always know how much you have left and when your usage resets.

If you wish to purchase additional logging storage, or any other paid add-on, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan.

Question 6

Are VAT charges applied?

Accepted Answer

VAT is added to purchases made by all entities within the European Union, except for companies that are both:

Registered within the EU (outside of the Netherlands).
In possession of a valid VAT ID.

If you're a consumer (i.e. a private individual or non-business entity) anywhere in the EU, a VAT charge is applied. If you're a business based in the US or elsewhere outside the EU, there's no VAT charge. Lucky you!

Question 7

How can I get AppSignal support?

Accepted Answer

We offer great support via email and chat, and we're happy to schedule a call when needed. If you require premium support such as phone support or a dedicated Slack channel, please contact us.

Question 8

How do you make sure my data is secure?

Accepted Answer

We know security is important to you, which is why all traffic runs over SSL (including communication between your app and our servers). Our gem scrubs request data using Rails best practices and customizable post-processing plugins. We're a 100 percent Dutch company, and we keep your data in ISO:9001 and ISO:27001 certified facilities in the Netherlands.

Question 9

How long is logging data stored for?

Accepted Answer

AppSignal retains logging data for 30 days. Send us an email if you are interested in purchasing our Long-term Storage Business Add-On, which allows you to securely store your AppSignal logs in any S3-compatible storage service, like AWS S3 or DigitalOcean.

Question 10

What's your trace retention?

Accepted Answer

We make sure details such as stack traces for slow requests and exceptions are available for at least 30 days (45 days on the 25M plan, 60 days on the 50M plan and up). The overall metrics (performance characteristics, error rates and so on) are available forever as historical data.

Question 11

Does AppSignal offer US-based data hosting?

Accepted Answer

US-based data hosting is coming soon. With this option, your application data will be stored and processed in the United States, helping you meet data residency and compliance requirements. Sign up to be notified when it's available.

Question 12

I heard I can get stroopwafels?

Accepted Answer

Hush! The cops are listening. Meet us in the alley at midnight. Or send an email.

Question 13

Who are you?

Accepted Answer

AppSignal is owned and operated by AppSignal B.V. with its registered office at Rietwaard 4 in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. We're registered with the Chamber of Commerce under number 62960407.

Question 14

What are the terms and conditions?

Accepted Answer

Our Terms & Conditions apply to all services we offer. Nothing fancy, but we ask you to read them anyway. Sorry.

Features	Scout APM	AppSignal
Error tracking	Native error monitoring for Ruby, Python, Node.js, PHP, and Elixir.	A simple solution-focused UI with all the bug-fixing data you need.
Performance monitoring
Host monitoring
Anomaly detection	Alert Conditions for thresholds and performance alerts.	Designed to avoid alert fatigue.
Uptime monitoring		Don’t ping us, we’ll ping you. Easily add monitors via our app with a simple, beautiful overview.
Metric dashboards
Log management
Automated dashboards		Generated automatically based on the data you send us.
Background job and process monitoring	Monitors job timing, N+1s, memory bloat, and errors per execution. No heartbeat or silent-failure detection for jobs that never run.	Monitor cron jobs, background processes, and more with Process Monitoring — including heartbeat checks for jobs that never run.

Core functionality	Scout APM	AppSignal
Deploy markers	Referred to as Deploy tracking	Universally supported.
Namespace monitoring		Simple, no-fuss namespace set-up for all of our packages.
Tagging		Easy set-up, intuitive filtering, and querying.
Filter data	Severely limited, can be configured via uri_reporting config option.	Easily configured via denylist.
Custom metrics	Referred to as custom contexts.

Benefits	Scout APM	AppSignal
EU based hosting		The only EU-based APM.
Free 30-day trial	Only offers 14 day trial.	Includes all of our features.
Free plan	Includes native error tracking. Optional integrations with other error vendors (e.g. Rollbar) are available if you want them.	Access to all features, including 1GB of logging and 50K requests per month.
Simple pricing	Tiered pricing with expensive logging add-on.	Flat, predictable pricing.
Relaxed upgrade policy	Hard cut-off once you exceed your plan.	No overage fees and no monitoring cut offs, we’ll reach out when you’re due an upgrade and make upgrading easy.
Free support	Human support available from the free tier.	Unlimited free human support on every plan.
Straightforward docs	Complex, cluttered documentation.	Written by devs, for devs.
Free stroopwaffles		You send us metrics, we send you stroopwaffles.

Overview

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Scout APM alternative

AppSignal is a powerful Scout APM alternative.

AppSignal makes monitoring simple

Scout APM has limited functionality

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Features

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Simple pricing with AppSignal

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Full monitoring toolkit

Free human support

Flexible fair billing

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