Database monitoring software watches query load, waits, replication and capacity on production databases and raises alerts before users notice.
This guide ranks twelve products on what the first ninety days cost in hours, what the bill becomes with add-ons, how data leaves, whether the vendor stands alone, and which engines and estate sizes each one was built around.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
In short
What database monitoring software does
Database monitoring software collects performance metrics, query statistics and wait data from database servers, shows trends and slow statements, and alerts administrators when availability or capacity is at risk.
Ranking criteria for this database monitoring tool list, applied top to bottom: effort to get started, cost in practice, data return, ability to leave, buyer fit. Top three places belong to challengers outside the best-known brands whenever possible, and incumbents follow from four. Our how we work page explains the choice of these five and why we give no mark out of ten.
Cross-engine database monitoring from an Oslo company, priced per instance
Ranked #1 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
dbWatch AS gives an Oslo address and the line Made in Norway. A subscription bundles a right-to-use licence, maintenance, upgrades and standard support for one year, and renews on its own.
Support has three levels: Advanced adds ten percent and Premium adds twenty-five percent, with 24/7 phone. Cloud Router and Audit Server are priced as add-ons. The 90-day trial needs no credit card, which gives time to test a full quarter-end load.
What stands out
Per-instance subscription
90-day trial
Seven engines
Where it costs you
Every Oracle pluggable database needs its own licence on top of the container, so multitenant estates cost more than the instance count suggests.
The maintenance and security and compliance packages are listed for SQL Server only, so other engines get fewer add-ons.
Right for
Mixed Oracle, SQL Server and open engine estates wanting one console and annual terms
Wrong for
Buyers who want monthly usage billing instead of annual terms
NorwayAnnual per-instance subscription with a cost calculator; add-on package prices published; 90-day trial
PostgreSQL-only monitoring with index, query and vacuum advisors
Ranked #2 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Primaries count as one billable server and replicas as half. Scale includes four servers and charges a further US$100 a month for each extra one, while Production covers a single server. Both are billed monthly.
Enterprise is annual, with 100 days of statistics, volume discounts and the option to run locally or in your own cloud. Scale and Enterprise add single sign-on. The imprint gives San Francisco, and the site shows SOC 2 Type 2 certification.
What stands out
Postgres only
Per server
Index Advisor
Where it costs you
Production and Scale cap at 5,000 tables per server, so large schemas push a buyer to Enterprise.
History is 14 days on Production and 35 days on Scale, which is short for quarter-over-quarter trend work.
Right for
Teams running PostgreSQL in production who want index and vacuum advice
Wrong for
Estates that also run MySQL, SQL Server or Oracle
United StatesPublished monthly plans by database server; Enterprise on annual terms; trial offered
Multi-platform database monitoring from a Cambridge company, self-hosted or SaaS
Ranked #3 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Self-hostablePricing on requestEurope
The product page offers a 14-day trial and an online demo. Standard lists global overview, diagnosis, alerting, deployment tracking, query impact and multi-platform monitoring. Enterprise is described as for organisations that need advanced monitoring and adds security monitoring and auditing.
Licences run per server per year, with the 20-plus band quoted individually. The contact page lists a Cambridge office first, followed by Pasadena, Austin and Germany, and the copyright line names Red Gate Software Ltd.
What stands out
Self-hosted or SaaS
Five engines
Per-server licence
Where it costs you
Every monitored VM takes a licence, so a consolidated virtual estate costs more than the instance count implies.
Security monitoring and auditing belong to the Enterprise edition, whose price is arranged with sales.
Right for
Mixed SQL Server, PostgreSQL and Oracle estates needing alerting, diagnosis and query impact
Wrong for
Buyers wanting one public price for a large estate
United KingdomPer-server annual subscription in volume bands; Enterprise edition through sales; 14-day trial
Open source monitoring and query analytics for MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Open sourceSelf-hostablePricing on requestElsewhere
The product page lists engine-specific dashboards, Query Analytics, Percona Alerting with more than 15 notification channels, Percona Advisors for security and configuration checks, and annotations for root-cause work.
Backup and restore for MongoDB and MySQL, with point-in-time recovery, sits in the same interface. Percona calls itself a global, remote-only company, and none of the pages read names a country of establishment. Because the code is AGPL-3.0, legal teams should read the licence before modifying it.
What stands out
AGPL-3.0
Query Analytics
Runs in Docker
Where it costs you
Oracle and SQL Server are missing from the product page, so mixed estates need a second tool.
You deploy, back up and upgrade the PMM server yourself; the documentation lists Docker, Podman, virtual machine and Helm routes.
Right for
Teams on MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB able to operate their own monitoring server
Wrong for
Buyers wanting the vendor to host and run the monitoring server
Not stated by the vendorOpen source under AGPL-3.0, self-hosted, no paid edition
MySQL-first tuning and monitoring agent with per-server monthly plans
Ranked #5 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
The pricing page shows Starter at US$39 a month billed annually or US$49 on demand, Scale at US$123 a month for five servers billed annually, and Hosting at US$99 a month for up to nine servers. Business adds custom terms, data residency and an SLA.
A payment method may be needed to start the trial. Named features are configuration tuning, query analytics, security checks, process list and deadlock detection. The address given is Austin, Texas.
What stands out
Config tuning
Per server
MySQL focus
Where it costs you
PostgreSQL support is limited to selected validation paths, so confirm fit with Releem before relying on it.
Team management is marked coming soon on Scale, and every public plan keeps three months of retention.
Right for
Small teams on MySQL or MariaDB wanting configuration tuning alongside monitoring
Wrong for
Oracle or SQL Server estates, and PostgreSQL-first teams
United StatesPublished monthly plans by database server; Business plan by arrangement; trial offered
Agentless monitoring for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQL Server, licensed by token
Ranked #6 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
A 14-day, fully functional trial is offered for Windows, macOS and Linux, with Docker and FreeBSD builds listed. The product page names a dashboard, performance charts, replication views, Query Analyzer, SQL Profiler, custom metrics and scheduled reports.
Operating system metrics are read over SSH or SNMP. A non-commercial edition exists for educational and non-profit use. The legal pages name PremiumSoft CyberTech Ltd, but no country of establishment appears.
What stands out
Perpetual licence
Agentless
Token per server
Where it costs you
Oracle is missing from the monitored server list, which covers MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQL Server.
A key activates on one machine running Navicat Monitor and cannot be moved to another afterwards.
Right for
Small teams on MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL preferring a perpetual licence to a subscription
Wrong for
Estates running Oracle, or buyers wanting a vendor-hosted service
Not stated by the vendorPerpetual licence in tokens per monitored server, first year of maintenance included; 14-day trial
Agentless SQL Server monitoring with per-instance pricing and a 14-day trial
Ranked #7 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The trial is full-feature for 14 days with no credit card, and the page says most teams see live instances within about five minutes because nothing is installed on monitored servers. Alerts can run a remediation script, open a ServiceNow ticket or send an SNMP trap.
Deadlocks are captured and visualised, and growth forecasts use your own history. The About page calls IDERA a division of Idera, Inc., with most staff in the Houston or Austin areas of Texas.
What stands out
SQL Server focus
Agentless
Per instance
Where it costs you
The product page frames the tool as SQL Server observability, so Oracle or PostgreSQL estates look at other Idera products.
The page states per-instance pricing but shows no price, so cost is learnt through sales.
Right for
SQL Server DBAs wanting agentless monitoring across on-premises, Azure and AWS RDS
Wrong for
Estates built mainly on PostgreSQL, MySQL or Oracle
United StatesPer-instance licensing with no ingest fees; term licences up to 2,000 days; 14-day trial
Query-level database monitoring sold as an add-on to Datadog infrastructure
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
The pricing page shows a start price of US$70 per database host per month, with annual, monthly and custom billing, and legacy host-based models possible. A database host is one database instance, self-managed or cloud-managed, running one or more logical databases.
Named capabilities include normalised query metrics, wait event analysis, explain plans, automatic PII obfuscation and unlimited user accounts. The 14-day trial covers the whole suite. Global headquarters are listed in New York.
What stands out
Per database host
Needs Infrastructure Monitoring
Eight engines
Where it costs you
It cannot be purchased without an Infrastructure Monitoring subscription.
Each Azure SQL Database counts as its own host, so many small databases multiply the per-host charge.
Right for
Teams already on Datadog wanting query plans tied to application traces
Wrong for
Buyers wanting database monitoring as a standalone purchase
United StatesPublished per database host per month; requires Infrastructure Monitoring; 14-day trial
Usage-priced monitoring with database metrics for MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
The page offers a 14-day trial with no credit card and says you pay only for what you use. Database coverage includes InnoDB and MyISAM engine metrics, connection details, select and sort usage, and alerts on tables, handles, threads and cache usage.
Database data can be correlated with application metrics, logs and events in a split view. The agent discovers databases and their logs automatically. The contact line gives Brooklyn, NY, USA.
What stands out
Pay for usage
Slow query counts
Logs alongside
Where it costs you
The database page names no advisor that recommends index or query changes, only metrics, statements and alerts.
Prices are listed per product line, so the database share of a bill depends on how much of the platform you adopt.
Right for
Teams wanting database metrics next to logs and application data on usage billing
Wrong for
DBAs seeking guided query tuning or index recommendations
United StatesUsage-based with starting prices published per product line; 14-day trial
Agentless wait-time analysis for Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL and MariaDB
Ranked #10 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
SolarWinds lists anomaly detection by machine learning, AI help for query tuning and storage forecasting, and correlation of database response time with VMware guest and infrastructure metrics.
Wait analysis, rather than raw counters, is the organising idea. The trial runs fully functional for 14 days and a quote can be requested from the page. The contact page gives global headquarters at 7171 Southwest Parkway in Austin, Texas.
What stands out
Wait-time analysis
Agentless
VMware correlation
Where it costs you
No price appears on the product page, so a quote is the only route to a figure.
The descriptive copy names Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL and MariaDB, so PostgreSQL depth needs confirming in the trial.
Right for
Oracle and SQL Server DBAs wanting wait-time analysis plus VM correlation
Wrong for
Buyers who need a published price before talking to sales
United StatesSubscription and volume licensing; quote form on the product page; 14-day trial
PostgreSQL monitoring bundled into paid EDB subscriptions, built on pgAdmin
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
The documentation, now at version 10.6, covers installing a PEM server and PEM agents, registering agents and Postgres servers, job templates, scheduled system jobs, SSL certificates, custom encryption keys and AI feature settings.
The product page lists dashboards, alerts, query profiling, performance and log analysis, and a REST API that reads and writes data without the web interface. None of the pages read states a country of establishment.
What stands out
Postgres only
Bundled
pgAdmin based
Where it costs you
Buying PEM means buying an EDB Standard or Enterprise subscription, since it is included only there.
The product page names only PostgreSQL-family engines, so other databases need a separate monitor.
Right for
PostgreSQL and EDB Advanced Server estates already on an EDB subscription
Wrong for
Teams wanting a standalone monitor or non-Postgres engines
Not stated by the vendorIncluded with EDB Standard and Enterprise subscription plans
Agentless monitoring for 50+ database types inside a wider application monitor
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best Database Monitoring Software in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
Professional edition annual subscription starts at US$395 for 10 monitors with one user, with a perpetual alternative plus annual maintenance. Enterprise targets distributed monitoring of up to 10,000 applications or servers.
The free plan monitors up to five applications or servers. The database page names Oracle, MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, Couchbase, Redis and Aurora, plus a 30-day trial. The contact page lists offices without marking a headquarters.
What stands out
Per monitor
50+ database types
Subscription or perpetual
Where it costs you
Servers, applications and URLs share the same monitor allowance, so database monitors compete with everything else for licence count.
Additional users and add-ons such as APM agents or log monitoring are charged on top of the monitor price.
Right for
IT teams wanting databases monitored beside servers and applications under one licence
Wrong for
DBAs wanting a dedicated product built around query tuning
Not stated by the vendorPublished prices by monitor count, annual subscription or perpetual licence; free plan for five monitors; 30-day trial
Database monitoring software collects performance metrics, query statistics and wait data from database servers, shows trends and slow statements, and alerts administrators when availability or capacity is at risk. Compare on the following points, in this order, before you compare features.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
The split is 6 published against 6 quoted. If you want to compare numbers first, start with dbWatch, pganalyze, Releem, Datadog, Sematext, ManageEngine Applications Manager.
02
Weigh the vendor's home jurisdiction
Look at the contracting entity: these 12 vendors sit in 4 countries, split by region as North America 6, Elsewhere 4, Europe 2. The servers can be anywhere; the legal obligations follow the company.
03
Consider whether you want the source
Source code is available for Percona Monitoring and Management. Running it yourself swaps the licence fee for your own upkeep.
Database monitoring software: what one licence unit actually counts
The unit on the quote decides the bill. dbWatch and Idera SQL Diagnostic Manager charge per instance, Redgate Monitor per server per year, and Datadog per database host per month, where each Azure database is billed as a separate host. pganalyze counts primaries as one billable server and replicas as half.
Navicat Monitor sells tokens per monitored server, and ManageEngine Applications Manager counts monitors that servers, applications and URLs share. dbWatch adds one licence for every Oracle pluggable database, and Redgate asks one licence per monitored virtual machine. Count containers, replicas, pluggable databases and VMs in your estate first, then price each vendor on those numbers rather than on the instance count you quote in meetings.
List replicas, pluggable databases and VMs separately from primaries
Ask how each vendor counts a managed cloud database
Price a year of growth, not today's estate
Choosing database monitoring tools by engine coverage
Engine coverage splits this market harder than any feature list. pganalyze and EDB Postgres Enterprise Manager name PostgreSQL-family engines only. Releem targets the MySQL family, and PostgreSQL there is a case-by-case matter. Idera SQL Diagnostic Manager is framed around SQL Server. Percona Monitoring and Management covers MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB, while Navicat Monitor trades MongoDB for SQL Server and leaves Oracle out.
dbWatch and Redgate Monitor span Oracle, SQL Server and several open engines, and SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer leads with Oracle and SQL Server. Write down every engine and version you run, including the old Sybase or Oracle 11g box that nobody likes to mention, and check each against the vendor's supported list before you shortlist anything at all.
Map every engine and major version in production
Confirm the oldest version against the vendor's supported list
Ask what depth non-primary engines get
Database monitoring inside observability suites: Datadog, Sematext and ManageEngine
Suites price databases as a layer on something else. Datadog states that Database Monitoring cannot be bought without an Infrastructure Monitoring subscription, so the real price is the hosts plus the database add-on. Sematext lists starting prices per product line and bills for usage, which keeps small estates cheap but makes the database share of the invoice depend on logs and infrastructure volume.
ManageEngine Applications Manager prices by monitor and charges extra for users and add-ons. The benefit is correlation: Datadog links query metrics to traces, and Sematext shows database metrics beside logs. The cost is that query-tuning advice is usually thinner than in a dedicated product, so check what the suite recommends, not just what it graphs.
Add the prerequisite subscription to the database price
Check whether the suite recommends index or query changes
Estimate log and host volume before trusting a starting price
Trials for database monitoring software: what 14 days can and cannot show
Trial length varies more than price transparency does. dbWatch offers 90 days, Sematext, Datadog, Idera, Redgate, SolarWinds and Navicat offer 14, and ManageEngine offers 30. Fourteen days rarely covers a month-end batch run, a backup window or a quarterly report load, which is when monitoring earns its keep. Run the trial on a production-like replica, not a quiet development box.
Navicat ties each key to one machine and Releem may ask for a payment method at sign-up, so note those conditions before you start. Record which alerts fired, how many were noise, and how long the first slow query took to trace to a statement. Ask the vendor in writing whether the trial can be extended when a batch window falls just outside it.
Schedule the trial across a batch or backup window
Count noisy alerts and time the first root-cause trace
Note key, card and machine conditions before starting
What goes wrong most often when buying database monitoring software
Pricing from the instance count alone and then meeting extra licences for replicas, pluggable databases, VMs or Azure SQL databases at renewal.
Buying a PostgreSQL-only tool such as pganalyze or EDB Postgres Enterprise Manager and discovering a SQL Server or MySQL estate nobody mentioned.
Treating a suite such as Datadog or ManageEngine Applications Manager as a drop-in database monitor without pricing the prerequisite subscription or add-ons.
Judging a tool on a quiet 14-day trial that never saw a backup window, month-end load or failover.
07
Frequently asked questions
8 answers
What is the best database monitoring software in 2026?
First of 12 on this page is dbWatch. dbWatch AS monitors Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Sybase ASE and MongoDB from one Control Center, on a subscription that normally runs twelve months and renews automatically.
Separate packages for SQL performance, maintenance and security carry their own list prices, and Premium support raises the total by a quarter. The per-instance figure sits behind a calculator that ends in an emailed quote.
Which database monitoring tools publish their pricing?
The ones that do, with the model each states:
dbWatch: Annual per-instance subscription with a cost calculator; add-on package prices published; 90-day trial.
pganalyze: Published monthly plans by database server; Enterprise on annual terms; trial offered.
Releem: Published monthly plans by database server; Business plan by arrangement; trial offered.
Datadog: Published per database host per month; requires Infrastructure Monitoring; 14-day trial.
Sematext: Usage-based with starting prices published per product line; 14-day trial.
ManageEngine Applications Manager: Published prices by monitor count, annual subscription or perpetual licence; free plan for five monitors; 30-day trial.
Everything else on the list is priced on request.
Is there a free database monitoring tool?
ManageEngine Applications Manager can be used for free, either as a free plan or a self-hosted edition.
Where are these database monitoring software vendors established?
The headquarters are spread over 4 countries and 3 regions, North America 6, Elsewhere 4, Europe 2:
dbWatch: Norway.
pganalyze: United States.
Redgate Monitor: United Kingdom.
Percona Monitoring and Management: Not stated by the vendor.
Releem: United States.
Navicat Monitor: Not stated by the vendor.
Idera SQL Diagnostic Manager: United States.
Datadog: United States.
Sematext: United States.
SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer: United States.
EDB Postgres Enterprise Manager: Not stated by the vendor.
ManageEngine Applications Manager: Not stated by the vendor.
Which database monitoring tools are open source?
Percona Monitoring and Management.
Which database monitoring tools can you host yourself?
Redgate Monitor, Percona Monitoring and Management, ManageEngine Applications Manager. The other 9 are hosted by the vendor only.
What should you use instead of dbWatch?
The next in line are pganalyze, aimed at teams running PostgreSQL in production who want index and vacuum advice, and Redgate Monitor, aimed at Mixed SQL Server, PostgreSQL and Oracle estates needing alerting, diagnosis and query impact.
Who should not buy dbWatch?
Buyers who want monthly usage billing instead of annual terms. Every Oracle pluggable database needs its own licence on top of the container, so multitenant estates cost more than the instance count suggests..
Makers of database monitoring software products can ask us to look at theirs. Say what it does and who uses it. We choose what to add, and nothing can be bought; see software advice for what a listing means.
