Basic Logging vs Application Performance Monitoring

Developers should learn and use basic logging to diagnose issues in production environments where debugging tools are unavailable, track application flow for performance optimization, and maintain audit trails for security and compliance meets developers should learn and use apm to proactively detect and resolve performance issues before they impact users, especially in microservices or cloud-native architectures where complexity can obscure root causes. Here's our take.

Basic Logging

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use basic logging to diagnose issues in production environments where debugging tools are unavailable, track application flow for performance optimization, and maintain audit trails for security and compliance

Pros

• It is essential for any non-trivial application, especially in distributed systems, web services, and long-running processes where real-time monitoring is critical
• Related to: structured-logging, log-aggregation

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Application Performance Monitoring

Developers should learn and use APM to proactively detect and resolve performance issues before they impact users, especially in microservices or cloud-native architectures where complexity can obscure root causes

Pros

• It is critical for maintaining service-level agreements (SLAs), optimizing resource usage, and improving user satisfaction in production environments
• Related to: observability, distributed-tracing

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Basic Logging is a concept while Application Performance Monitoring is a tool. We picked Basic Logging based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Basic Logging wins

Based on overall popularity. Basic Logging is more widely used, but Application Performance Monitoring excels in its own space.