Classic license vs DPS license cost and features comparison

[ahsanejaz]

Hello Dynatrace Community,

We are a long-time user of Dynatrace on the Classic (Host Unit/DEM Unit) licensing model and are currently evaluating the benefits of migrating to the Dynatrace Platform Subscription (DPS).

To support our internal business case, we are trying to clearly identify the key capability gaps between the two models. Beyond the obvious shift from a quota-based model to a consumption-based one, what are the fundamental features, modules, or platform technologies that are exclusively available under the DPS license?

For example, we are particularly interested in understanding how newer capabilities like Application Security, the Grail™ data lakehouse, and the latest AI-powered enhancements are tied to only the DPS model or are they available on classic as well.

If you could point us to any official documentation, blog posts, or resources that clearly outline these differences, it would be extremely helpful for our decision-making process.

Thank you for your insights.

[JoSk]

Hi,

we have to distinguish DPS licensing (compared to classic licensing) and SaaS tenants, they are not inherently tied to each other.

You could still have a Managed Dynatrace Cluster but already DPS licensing (which adds a few benefits already).
Things that come to mind when talking about upgrading Classic to DPS license:

Much more flexible consumption.
You are no longer bound to Host Unit, DEM or DDU caps. DEM and DDU could be added in packages but for Host Units it is a bit painful with classic licensing I think.
With DPS licensing the features of the rate card(s) are consumed by "hours", so you could have 10 Hosts running a day or 1 Host for 10 days and consume the same license - to boundaries. You can use up your yearly overall commitment in $/€/... with traces, logs, hosts ... however you like.

Some features are added when DPS is available (also on Managed Cluster).
Like Discovery Mode on the OneAgent (very cheap option to enable simple Infra-Monitoring + Logs + AppSec on Hosts).
I think also Business Events can be ingested once DPS is available.

Now with SaaS tenants (Infra provided by Dynatrace) it is a whole different chapter.
With that you will get a new UI which includes the AppEngine that offers a lot more functionality and features compared to Managed Dynatrace. This is only available with DPS licensing.

Most prominent feature-set:

• Notebooks: Work together, query & analyse your data and save it for later, ...
• Workflows: Automate things, now you can build workflows like in RPA tools and trigger stuff based on Dynatrace data, the sky is the limit ...
• Grail Data Lakehouse: Obvious advantage that you can just push in any data and query it later
• DQL: Query language which is very powerful, you can write complex queries that create super useful dashboards, use it for analysis across your environment (loved by security experts for example to dig through logs and events), the sky is the limit again ...
• Then there are a lot of additional reasons to use SaaS, but it would explode the post here.

AI-Enhancements would be Forecasts in e.g. Dashboard tiles based on past data points or Davis CoPilot integration.

To be honest, I only see few (they can be important though) reasons to stay on classic and especially on Managed:

• Your old contract is super cheap compared to current prices (could be), so a new contract would cost a lot more money
• No green light from legal dept. (storing data in the cloud not allowed or something similar)

I think best course of action is to give your local Dynatrace sales representative or Partner a call so they give you a short demo on what you can do in Dynatrace SaaS.

[PierreGutierrez]

Hello @ahsanejaz 
Based on my experience using SaaS solutions with both licensing models, and working with clients who have transitioned between them,

I can tell you that the main differences I see are related to control, flexibility, and dynamic consumption.

- Greater control and detailed visibility of capabilities used/consumed.
- Support for future new functionalities based on Grail.
- Flexibility to adjust the budget allocation across different capabilities.

I think DPS is designed with a "pay-as-you-go" model in mind, a concept that originated with cloud environments and evolved with microservices, closely related to everything that falls under the umbrella of cloud-native technologies.

Therefore, with these models, the key is that you can leverage the full potential, but you need to understand and manage permissions (to functionalities, roles, data access, etc.) as efficiently as possible. That's where the real challenge lies in cost management.

I also recommend that you coordinate with someone on the sales team so they can provide you with more details and show you success stories about license usage efficiency with other clients. 💪