Today's companies rely on databases to store data that is essential for business continuity and often sensitive. Safeguarding such information remains one of the top priorities, which calls for full visibility into how data is accessed, managed, and modified. Database activity monitoring (DAM) solutions become a vital component of data-centric ecosystems, enabling tracking, auditing, and alerting of database activities.
In this article, we compare the most popular database monitoring solutions, focusing on their key features and applicability for specific use cases. We hope that this comparison helps you choose the solution that best fits your DAM needs.
The term "database activity monitoring" describes the technology intended to continuously monitor and analyze all activities within a database environment, focusing on who, when, and in what manner interacts with data. While performance monitoring tools focus on operational metrics, such as query speed and resource usage, DAM tools extend this by tracking user actions, data access events, and queries to detect unauthorized access and breach attempts.
The main goals of DAM are to strengthen data security, ensure compliance, and detect anomalies. By providing visibility into all database interactions, DAM tools enable organizations to identify suspicious behavior, prevent unauthorized access, and ensure compliance with data protection standards. DAM is one of the key tools for database administrators and security engineers, helping them detect threats in real time.
In addition to helping maintain database security, DAM tools can also support performance optimization. Query patterns and access frequency analysis provided by DAM can highlight inefficiencies and help database admins pinpoint issues and bottlenecks.
Let's compare the most popular DAM tools on the market and see when they can be the best choice.
Pricing: Free as a standalone add-in or available within a bundle of dbForge SQL tools.
dbForge Monitor for SQL Server is a free add-in for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio designed to track the performance and activities of SQL Server. The tool gathers and analyzes various database-related metrics that allow database administrators to evaluate the overall health of the database and respond to issues proactively.
The comprehensive dashboard of dbForge Monitor for SQL Server provides real-time data on the state of multiple processes running in the database and events that occur. Among other metrics, the Monitor shows session-related information indicating the user that initiated the session, its status, I/O state, and the active program. This data is stored for future reference and audits, enabling trend analysis and helping to identify behavior patterns.
Key features:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
✅ Real-time insights into SQL Server performance and database activity ✅ User-friendly dashboards providing full visibility into database processes ✅ Lightweight installation ✅ Availability as a free add-in |
❌ Primary focus on SQL Server; no multi-database support ❌ Basic audit trail and compliance features |
To get complete visibility into all processes running in your SQL database management environment, download dbForge Monitor for SQL Server and start tracking performance metrics in real time.
Pricing: $229.95 per year with a 30-day free trial available.
dbForge Studio for SQL Server is a comprehensive SQL Server IDE that offers a built-in SQL database monitoring feature. With dbForge Studio, database developers and administrators can monitor and track multiple database metrics and processes in a consolidated dashboard. While not specifically intended as a DAM tool, dbForge Studio for SQL Server provides information about active user connections, data backups, and resource-intensive queries, thus maintaining overall database robustness and performance.
Key features:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
✅ Real-time monitoring of SQL server and database activity ✅ Information about active user connections ✅ Identification of issues blocking or degrading the database performance |
❌ Primary focus on SQL Server; no multi-database support ❌ Lack of specific DAM features |
Best for:
With dbForge Studio for SQL Server, you get a comprehensive database management environment that supports you in all database-related activities, from database design and SQL debugging to data and schema comparison and real-time activity monitoring. Download a 30-day free trial version to experience the full functionality of this database management IDE.
Pricing: Splunk offers its products within two pricing models: Workload Pricing (based on the resources consumed for data search and analytics) and Ingest Pricing (based on the volume of data ingested by Splunk products). In both models, prices can be dynamically adjusted depending on specific business requirements.
Splunk is a platform primarily intended for log aggregation and analytics, which provides rich dashboards and event alerting. While not designed as a dedicated DAM product, Splunk offers features that enable database monitoring and auditing - capturing user access and activity logs, detecting anomalies, and generating reports.
Key features:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
✅ High scalability and flexibility ✅ Extensive ecosystem enabling effective integrations ✅ Powerful search, alerting, and dashboard capabilities |
❌ DAM functions are only supported for SQL Server and Oracle databases ❌ Implementation as a DAM tool requires special configuration |
Best for:
Pricing: $70 per database host per month.
Datadog Database Monitoring (DBM) is a part of the Datadog observability and security platform. In addition to monitoring query efficiency and resource usage, Datadog DBM can track security-related activities, for example, the identity of the user running a particular query or anomalies in query execution. At the same time, Datadog enables linking query performance to application telemetry, providing deep visibility into root causes of query performance issues.
However, to provide extended DAM capabilities, such as user behavior analytics or audit trails, Datadog requires additional configuration and external modules.
Key features:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
✅ Unified observability platform ✅ Transparent pricing ✅ Query-level insights |
❌ Limited DAM functions ❌ Custom setup required to achieve effective DAM capabilities |
Best for:
Pricing: $7 to $58 per host per month.
Dynatrace database monitoring uses AI to enhance its observation capabilities and provide actionable insights into database performance. Dynatrace represents a comprehensive monitoring platform enabling visibility into the entire organization's system, including applications, infrastructure, and databases.
While not specifically designed as a DAM tool, Dynatrace offers features that enable database activity monitoring, such as query and session behavior tracking, event logging, and AI-powered anomaly detection.
Key features:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
✅ Broad visibility with databases monitored as part of the complete environment ✅ AI-powered tracing and analytics ✅ Multi-database support |
❌ Limited out-of-the-box DAM functions ❌ Configuration complexity ❌ Cost of use |
Best for:
Pricing: Personalized pricing based on the customer's requirements, with a 30-day free trial available.
ManageEngine Applications Manager is a multi-purpose application and infrastructure monitoring solution that supports DAM features, such as query tracking, database slowdown detection, and resource usage monitoring. While focused primarily on identifying database issues that may affect application performance, ManageEngine Applications Manager can provide insights into database activity related to data access and use.
Key features:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
✅ Wide range of supported databases ✅ Unified monitoring covering databases, applications, cloud services, etc. ✅ Dynamic scalability |
❌ Limited out-of-the-box DAM functions ❌ Complex customization required to achieve security-focused or auditing features |
Best for:
Pricing: From €35 per month with a 30-day free trial available in all pricing plans.
Site24x7 is a full-stack observability platform that enables the monitoring of websites, networks, applications, and databases. Among many application and infrastructure monitoring functions, Site 24x7 offers a number of database-focused features: query execution and resource usage monitoring, error detection, and tracking of other metrics that allow administrators to evaluate the overall database health.
Key features:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
✅ Multi-database support ✅ Query- and resource-level insights ✅ Detailed reporting and trend analysis |
❌ Limited out-of-the-box DAM features ❌ Certain DAM features, such as audit logs, require additional configuration |
Best for:
| Tool | Real-time monitoring | Anomaly detection | Compliance and auditing | Ease of use | Database support | Free version | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devart dbForge Monitor |  |
 |
|
High | SQL Server only | |
SQL Server DBA teams |
| dbForge Studio for SQL Server | |
|
|
High | SQL Server only | |
SQL Server developers and administrators |
| Splunk | |
|
|
Medium | SQL Server and Oracle only | Limited | Enterprises with security needs |
| Datadog | |
|
|
High | Wide (cloud-native) | |
Cloud-native teams |
| Dynatrace | |
|
|
High | Wide | |
AI-powered insights |
| ManageEngine Applications Manager | |
|
|
Medium | Wide | |
Mixed application environments |
| Site24x7 | |
|
|
High | Wide | |
SMBs and web-based teams |
Let's look at the most important features of DAM tools that may influence your choice.
DAM tools enable real-time monitoring of the database behavior, capturing such events as query execution, data and schema modifications, and user actions. With an effective DAM tool, database admins can detect, for example, queries to restricted tables or permission changes as they occur, which allows them to respond quickly and adequately.
Modern DAM tools are enhanced with AI/ML anomaly detection capabilities that allow them to pinpoint deviations from database usage patterns. For example, such tools will alert the admins about a user login from an unusual location, a non-typical schema change, or a sudden large export of data. Such events may be hard to notice in a manual review, especially in a large and actively used database; however, AI-powered behavior analysis and risk scoring can help admins detect them in real-time and respond proactively.
Typical audit and compliance procedures require historical logs of database activity to be created and stored for reference. An effective DAM tool records and stores audit trails, including all database events with corresponding timestamps, user accounts, and activity details. Such logs must support convenient search, filtering, and exporting functions. At the same time, database logs must be stored in a secure and protected space to prevent manipulation and guarantee that database records remain a trusted source of information.
To ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks, DAM tools must enable the generation of standardized reports showing how database activities conform to the applicable policies and data protection rules.
A DAM tool must integrate with the enterprise-wide security infrastructure, including security information and event management (SIEM), security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR), identity and access management (IAM), and other security solutions. In this context, it is essential that your DAM tool supports standardized log formats, such as JSON, offers APIs for event data export, and is scalable enough to handle enterprise-scale workloads.
At the same time, it is a significant advantage if your DAM tool features multi-database support, can be easily deployed in an existing infrastructure, and can operate in on-premises, cloud, and hybrid architectures.
Choosing a database activity monitoring tool is more than just finding the one with the necessary features. For the DAM tool to perform up to your expectations, it must become an integrated part of your software ecosystem and match your company size, existing technology stack, operational maturity, and budget. Below, we have outlined the main criteria to consider when choosing the DAM tool.
Business size and infrastructure:
Database environments supported:
Budget and licensing models:
Ease of use and support:
In choosing the right database activity monitoring tool for your business, you need to consider lots of different factors, trying to match the supported features to your business requirements. We hope our comparison of the most popular DAM solutions will help you choose the one that meets your needs. Many of the tools offer a free trial, which gives you an opportunity to evaluate the supported functionality in your real business environment.
General database monitoring is primarily focused on maintaining performance and availability, tracking such metrics as response time, resource usage, query latency, uptime, and so on. The main goal of database activity monitoring is to ensure security and compliance; therefore, DAM tools log user activities, such as privilege changes, access attempts, data and schema modifications, etc. DAM tools are designed to flag suspicious or unauthorized activity and assist with maintaining compliance with data protection regulations.
No, DAM tools can be beneficial to businesses of any size, from startups to enterprise-scale organizations. Many of the top DAM tools, such as dbForge Monitor for SQL Server, dbForge Studio for SQL Server, Datadog, Site24/7, and others, offer free versions allowing businesses to experience their database safeguarding capabilities at no cost.
DAM tools can alert security engineers and database administrators of unusual or unauthorized behavior: permission change attempts, user logins from unusual locations, or large data exports. Providing information about such events in real time, DAM tools help administrators proactively respond to threats and take protective measures.
When choosing the right DAM tool for your business, look for the following features:
Many DAM tools support logging of database activity events for further auditing and the generation of standard reports required by the applicable data protection regulations.
To ensure effective SQL Server activity tracking, opt for either a multi-database tool that supports SQL Server database monitoring or one of the dedicated SQL monitoring tools, such as dbForge Monitor for SQL Server.
Database monitoring tools track user activity in real time and analyze all database interactions - queries, logins, data and schema updates - for deviations from normal patterns. The tools alert security engineers and database administrators about unusual behavior, thus helping them respond quickly to prevent data compromise.
Yes, there are effective database monitoring tools that are free to use. For example, check dbForge Monitor for SQL Server, a free add-in for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio that you can use to monitor the behavior and performance of SQL Server databases. Besides, many popular DAM tools offer a free trial that allows you to evaluate their capabilities in your environment.
