How does Elastic APM RUM compare to New Relic Browser?

Elastic APM RUM is open-source and integrates seamlessly with the Elastic Stack, offering cost-effective observability for Elastic users, while New Relic is a commercial SaaS with broader out-of-the-box features but higher costs. Choose Elastic if you're already invested in ELK.

How to set up Elastic APM RUM for a React application?

Install the agent via npm, initialize it in your app's entry point with configuration like service name and server URL, and ensure backend Elastic APM server is running. Refer to the Elastic documentation for framework-specific guides and examples.

What is the performance impact of adding Elastic APM RUM to my site?

The agent is designed to be lightweight with minimal overhead, using asynchronous loading and optimized instrumentation. However, it still adds some JavaScript execution and network calls, which can affect page load times slightly, especially on resource-constrained devices.

Does Elastic APM RUM support single-page applications (SPAs)?

Yes, it fully supports SPAs by tracking route changes, user interactions, and AJAX calls, making it ideal for modern web applications as mentioned in the best-for scenarios like monitoring SPA performance.

How to track custom user actions with Elastic APM RUM?

Use the agent's API to create custom transactions and spans, instrumenting specific workflows or business logic. This allows detailed monitoring of user interactions beyond default metrics, as outlined in the custom metrics feature.

What browsers does Elastic APM RUM work with?

It supports modern browsers and includes polyfills for broader compatibility, ensuring coverage for most user environments. However, very old browsers might have limited functionality or require additional polyfills.

Elastic APM JS agent — JavaScript Performance Monitoring Agent

What is Elastic APM JS agent?

Elastic APM RUM JS is the official JavaScript agent for Elastic's Application Performance Monitoring (APM) platform, focused on Real User Monitoring (RUM). It instruments web applications to collect performance metrics, track errors, and enable distributed tracing from the browser. This helps developers understand how their applications perform in real-world user environments and diagnose frontend issues.

Target Audience

Frontend developers and DevOps teams using Elastic Stack (ELK) for observability who need to monitor web application performance and errors in production. It's also suitable for organizations prioritizing open-source APM solutions.

Value Proposition

As part of the Elastic APM ecosystem, it provides seamless integration with Elasticsearch, Kibana, and other Elastic agents for full-stack observability. Being open-source and maintained by Elastic ensures reliability, active development, and alignment with the broader Elastic monitoring suite.

Overview

The Elastic APM Real User Monitoring (RUM) JavaScript agent is an open-source library that collects performance metrics and error data from end-user browsers. It integrates with the Elastic APM ecosystem to provide insights into frontend application performance, helping developers identify and resolve issues affecting user experience.

Key Features

Performance Monitoring — Tracks page load times, resource timings, and user interactions to measure frontend performance.
Error Tracking — Captures JavaScript errors, including unhandled exceptions and promise rejections, with stack traces.
Distributed Tracing — Correlates frontend requests with backend services by propagating trace context across service boundaries.
Custom Metrics — Allows developers to instrument custom transactions and spans for specific application workflows.
Browser Support — Works across modern browsers and provides polyfills for broader compatibility.

Philosophy

The agent is designed to be lightweight and non-intrusive, prioritizing minimal performance overhead while delivering comprehensive observability data for web applications.

Elastic APM JS agent

What is Elastic APM JS agent?

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