APM vs. observability

Application performance monitoring (APM) and observability are distinct yet interconnected approaches aimed at enhancing software performance. APM focuses on monitoring application-specific metrics such as response times and error rates, providing insights through dashboards and alerts for known issues. In contrast, observability offers a broader perspective by encompassing various data types like logs, events, and traces to understand complex system behaviors and identify unknown issues. While APM is a critical component of observability, the latter enables teams to analyze diverse telemetry data, providing a holistic view of the system to improve troubleshooting and user experience. Observability platforms, such as New Relic, integrate real-time data analysis across multiple sources, allowing for proactive system management and the application of AI and machine learning to reduce alert noise and improve incident resolution. Overall, APM is a subset of observability, which seeks to optimize the entire software stack, offering deeper insights into system performance and user impact.