Modern observability without the legacy baggage.

Headline statistic. Enterprise-heavy pricing at $60-75/host/month for the full-stack bundles (source, verified 2026-10-10), plus separate Splunk Platform costs for log analytics.

Introduction. Since Cisco acquired Splunk for $28B in March 2024, the observability landscape inside Cisco has two APM products, both kept active and sold under one Splunk Observability portfolio: Splunk APM (from the SignalFx acquisition, positioned for cloud-native workloads) and AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco in 2017, positioned for on-prem, 3-tier, and hybrid) (appdynamics.com now redirects to a Splunk page titled "AppDynamics joins the Splunk Observability portfolio"; source: splunk.com, verified 2026-10-10). Convergence is now actively shipping: Splunk says "Integration throughout the portfolio is underway", with identity and administration among its focus areas, and deep linking between AppDynamics and the Splunk platform is already delivered, so this is a multi-year merge in progress rather than an abandoned roadmap. The live question for teams is that you still choose a product lineage today for a net-new cloud-native workload that might go hybrid later, and you carry the integration risk while the merge completes. Pricing is enterprise-heavy at $60-75/host/month for the full-stack bundles (source, verified 2026-10-10), with additional costs for log analytics through the Splunk Platform.

DeepCube is the product; spatial observability is the category. We are not an APM company, we are a spatial observability company.

Where Splunk Excels. Best-in-class log analytics and a SIEM heritage that DeepCube does not challenge.

• Log analytics and SIEM leadership: the Splunk Platform's log analytics is best-in-class for security and compliance use cases. If your primary need is security operations or SIEM, Splunk is the right tool.
• Two decades of enterprise relationships and the depth of platform maturity that comes with them.
• Cisco portfolio integration: broad integration with Cisco's networking and security stack since the 2024 acquisition.
• NoSample full-fidelity tracing captures 100% of traces with no sampling artifacts. Splunk's Trace Analyzer page says "With 100% of traces stored" (source, verified 2026-10-10), genuinely valuable for debugging rare issues.

The Two-Product Problem. Splunk APM and AppDynamics. Two products. One company. A multi-year merge in progress.

• Two active APM products inside Cisco with different positioning: Splunk APM (SignalFx) for cloud-native, AppDynamics for on-prem and hybrid. Both are kept active and sold under one Splunk Observability portfolio, and convergence is now actively shipping (Splunk: "Integration throughout the portfolio is underway"; deep linking between AppDynamics and the Splunk platform is delivered), but customers adopting new workloads still choose between them today (appdynamics.com now redirects to a Splunk page titled "AppDynamics joins the Splunk Observability portfolio"; source: splunk.com, verified 2026-10-10).
• The real risk is the integration window: you pick a product lineage now for a net-new cloud-native workload that might later go hybrid, and you carry the merge risk while it completes.
• Enterprise-heavy pricing at $60-75/host/month for the full-stack bundles, plus separate Splunk Platform costs for log analytics.

What If You Could Choose Clarity Instead? Modern observability, purpose-built on OpenTelemetry.

• Single platform with a single roadmap. No acquisition integration uncertainty. No competing products from the same vendor.
• Your system rendered spatially in 3D: an investigation surface you move through, where phantoms draw the missing side when a call never reports back, and Tessa, included in every plan, works from that topology into your connected codebase.
• Built exclusively on OpenTelemetry, without the legacy baggage of multi-billion dollar acquisition consolidation.

Architecture: How We Differ. OpenTelemetry exclusive vs Splunk distribution. (The Splunk column was headed "Splunk Observability".)

DeepCube is built exclusively on OpenTelemetry with no proprietary distribution. Standard OTel SDKs and Collectors work out of the box. No Splunk-specific forked collector, no enterprise sales motion, no multi-year commitment required.

Splunk has deep enterprise relationships built over two decades, a log analytics heritage that remains best-in-class for security and compliance use cases, and broad integration with Cisco's networking and security portfolio. Their NoSample full-fidelity tracing captures 100% of traces with no sampling artifacts (Splunk's APM page: "With 100% of traces stored"; source, verified 2026-10-10), which is genuinely valuable for debugging rare issues.

Architecture table, full cells.

• Visualization, Splunk: Dashboards, the APM service map and Tag Spotlight, which we characterize as 2D views (service map, Tag Spotlight, retrieved 2026-10-10)
• Tracing, Splunk: NoSample full-fidelity tracing (100% capture) (source, verified 2026-10-10)

AI: Tessa vs Splunk AI SRE. A spatial investigation surface, with AI included in every plan. (The AI table's columns were headed "Tessa (DeepCube)" and "Splunk AI SRE".)

Tessa connects the telemetry of the environment you are viewing to your connected codebase. Add your repositories as workspaces, and Tessa can trace a production issue from the 3D topology straight to the source file and propose the fix in your workspace. Tessa does the work; you review the change and you own the outcome. That is how Tessa works: human on the loop.

Splunk has moved well beyond log-only AI. Its AI SRE, generally available since June 2026, does cross-signal root-cause analysis and delivers a "probable root cause ... along with a remediation plan that provides a step-by-step guide", and Splunk says it is "designed with a "human-in-the-loop" approach" (source, verified 2026-10-10). On 2026-09-17 Splunk extended AI SRE to code-level remediation on Claude Managed Agents, in Alpha: it works in "a disposable, network-isolated sandbox where Claude reasons over real source code" and opens a pull request for an engineer to review (source, Splunk blog 2026-09-17, verified 2026-10-10). A Splunk MCP Server also exposes observability data to external AI clients. It is genuinely capable, and AI that works in your code is now table stakes: Tessa's code fixes ship today on every plan, where Splunk's code remediation is in Alpha. The durable difference is where the investigation happens. In our reading, Splunk's investigation surfaces are 2D: dashboards, the APM service map and Tag Spotlight (Splunk docs, retrieved 2026-10-10); Tessa starts from where you stand in the 3D model (a node, a trace, or the core for the whole system), and phantoms show you, in place, what stops reporting.

AI table, full cells.

• Codebase Access, Splunk: In Alpha (2026-09-17): AI SRE code remediation on Claude Managed Agents reasons over source code in a sandbox and opens a pull request for review (source, verified 2026-10-10). A Splunk MCP Server exposes observability data to external AI clients
• Spatial Context, Splunk: 2D investigation surfaces, in our characterization: dashboards, the APM service map and Tag Spotlight (Splunk docs, retrieved 2026-10-10)
• Code Fixes, DeepCube: Shipped and available on every plan. Tessa traces the issue to the source file in your connected workspace and proposes the change. You review the change and own the outcome.
• Code Fixes, Splunk: Code remediation in Alpha (2026-09-17): proposes a targeted fix in the codebase and opens a pull request for an engineer to review. Generally available AI SRE delivers step-by-step remediation plans (source, source, verified 2026-10-10)
• Focus Area, Splunk: Cross-signal RCA (metrics, events, logs, traces) + remediation plans (AI SRE, generally available since June 2026); code remediation in Alpha (source, verified 2026-10-10)
• Pricing, DeepCube: Included in the price of every plan. No AI seat or add-on required, no per-query AI meter. Model quality scales with the plan.
• Pricing, Splunk: Not priced on Splunk's pricing page: AI SRE appears there in the product navigation with no price or entitlement stated (source, verified 2026-10-10)
• Accountability Model, Splunk: Human-in-the-loop by design: your team will "review, approve, and execute the final steps" (source, verified 2026-10-10)

Pricing: The Full Picture. Scenario: 40 nodes, 10 engineers. Splunk Observability Cloud prices by bundles with per-host and per-activity billing. Here is what a realistic production deployment looks like:

• No bundle confusion: DeepCube includes APM, logs, and AI in one per-node price. Splunk offers three bundles with different feature sets at different price points.
• No separate log platform: Splunk's log analytics runs on the Splunk Platform with its own ingest-based pricing, often the largest cost component. DeepCube includes log management.
• No activity-based surprises: Splunk offers MTS/usage-based billing alongside host-based billing, and draws the distinction itself: "In MTS-based subscriptions, all MTS are considered custom and charged", where host-based plans instead bundle host and container metrics into the subscription and meter only custom MTS against a per-host entitlement of 200 MTS on Enterprise and 100 on Standard (source: help.splunk.com, "Infrastructure subscription usage (Host and metrics plans)", page last updated 2026-07-13, verified 2026-10-10). That can create unpredictable costs in high-cardinality environments. DeepCube bills per node.
• Predictable math: Nodes x tier price = monthly cost. No enterprise sales engagement required to understand your bill.

Pricing table, full cells. Infrastructure Monitoring, Splunk: $15/host/mo x 40 = $600 (entry bundle). A separate Free Edition "supports up to 15 hosts", scoped to Agent Observability (source, verified 2026-10-10)

Splunk pricing verified 2026-10-10 against splunk.com/en_us/products/pricing.html (the former observability pricing URL now redirects there). Actual costs vary by bundle selection and usage. DeepCube pricing from deepcube.ai/pricing. All prices USD.

Run Both. Migrate Gradually. Same telemetry, two destinations, zero re-instrumentation.

• Dual-destination: Splunk Observability already uses OpenTelemetry for data collection. Your OTel Collector can fan out telemetry to both Splunk and DeepCube simultaneously.
• No code changes: Keep Splunk for your existing services. Point new services at DeepCube. Compare the experience side by side with the same production data.
• Keep Splunk for logs and security: The Splunk Platform excels at log analytics and SIEM. Use DeepCube for APM and spatial visualization alongside Splunk for security.
• No enterprise lock-in: DeepCube has no multi-year commitments. Start free. Upgrade when ready. Leave if it is not right.
• Exit guarantee: If DeepCube is not right for you, change one endpoint URL. Your instrumentation stays exactly the same.