Application performance monitoring systems are sometimes available in two modes: on-premise and cloud-based SaaS. Which is the “right” choice? Cloud-based SaaS offerings have significant benefits when compared to on-premise.

However, it’s not always as simple. The right selection depends on the facts on the ground.

Using my experience working for a large-scale cloud solutions department, I have put together some key things you will want to consider before you make a decision, starting with some benefits and challenges.

The main benefits of cloud-based solutions

All things being equal, SaaS offerings tend to be superior to on-premise systems in several ways. Here are the more important reasons why that’s the case.

Easier ability to scale

When application performance monitoring (or any other supporting service, for that matter) is installed in your data center, you “own it” in more than one sense. You own all of it - the servers/VMs, the networking, the storage, and everything else the system requires. The support infrastructure will have to scale along with your application infrastructure. The TCO (total cost of ownership) grows as a constant factor of your overall application infrastructure footprint.

This is one of the key value propositions for cloud-based SaaS solutions: you can disconnect the growth of your support costs from your core application infrastructure costs. SaaS-based systems typically bill in very predictable increments, based on your usage. The servers, memory, and storage needed to monitor your systems become the SaaS-provider’s problem, rather than yours.

#on-premise #cloud