Every list of "best Oracle monitoring tools" is written by someone with a product in it, and this one is no exception: Scops is ours, and it is first. What makes this list different is the method. We read each tool's own documentation in November 2026 and recorded what it states on seven questions a DBA asks before a trial. Quotes are the vendors' words; "not stated" means the vendor's documentation does not say, which on a licensing question is an answer in itself. Every source is linked at the end.

The seven questions

  1. What goes on the database servers? An agent is software to install, patch and restart on a production host.
  2. Does it need the Oracle Diagnostics Pack? ASH and AWR belong to the pack, an extra license on Enterprise Edition and not for sale on Standard Edition 2. A tool that reads them has a license cost the price list does not show.
  3. Does it name Standard Edition 2? Many estates run SE2, and a tool built on pack views cannot serve it.
  4. Does it keep session history and SQL? Who was active at 14:10, on which statement, waiting on what. Counts and ratios do not answer that.
  5. Does it detect, or only threshold? A forecast with a date, a pile-up while it forms, an anomaly against the tool's own baseline.
  6. Is there an AI assistant, and what does it work on?
  7. Is the price public?

At a glance

What it needs: servers, packs, editions

Tool On the database server Diagnostics Pack Standard Edition 2
Scops Nothing; one Oracle account through the listener Not used; a license switch guards pack features Fully, same as EE
Oracle Enterprise Manager 24ai Management Agent on each host; Remote Agents reduce the count Needed for performance pages, notifications, history Base features only; packs sold with EE
SolarWinds DPA Nothing: "agentless probes" Not stated "Oracle SE" named
Quest Foglight for Oracle "no agent overhead on the monitored hosts" Not stated "All Oracle Database Editions"
Datadog Database Monitoring Datadog Agent 7.53+ (host not stated; connects over the network) Not stated Not stated
Dynatrace Nothing: remote extension on an ActiveGate Not stated Not stated
DBmarlin Nothing: "No agents" "does not trigger the use of any Oracle features such as Diagnostic or Tuning Packs" Not stated
ManageEngine Applications Manager Nothing: "Agentless monitoring" Not stated; optional grants include DBA_HIST views Not stated
Zabbix Zabbix agent 2 with the Oracle plugin, or ODBC Template "queries the V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY dynamic performance view which is part of the Oracle Diagnostics Pack" Not stated
Paessler PRTG Nothing: the probe connects Not stated Not stated
Site24x7 Site24x7 server agent plus a Python plugin Not stated Not stated
New Relic Infrastructure agent plus nri-oracledb and Instant Client on a Linux host Not stated Not stated
eG Enterprise "Choose between agent-based and agentless monitoring" Not stated Not stated
dbWatch "Agentless", but an engine schema installed in every monitored instance Not stated Not stated

What it gives: history, detection, AI, price

Tool Session history and SQL Detection AI Entry price
Scops Sessions every 5 s, SQL statistics every 10 min, plan changes, kept 75+ detectors: forecasts, pile-ups, anomalies Scops AI, 40+ tools, your own model Free for 2 databases; $499 per database a year
Oracle Enterprise Manager 24ai ASH, AWR, Performance Hub, with the pack Thresholds; adaptive thresholds with the pack Not assessed Base free with an Oracle license; packs separate
SolarWinds DPA Wait-time analysis; interval not stated ML anomaly detection on wait time AI Query Assist: a query and plan to an LLM Quote only
Quest Foglight for Oracle Wait-state analysis, SQL Performance Investigator Intelliprofile baselines Not stated Not public
Datadog Database Monitoring Yes, through the Agent Not assessed "AI-powered root cause analysis"; Bits AI, general $70 per database host a month, annual
Dynatrace Top-N SQL and wait events as metrics and logs; blocked sessions as logs Not assessed Not assessed Extension free; Dynatrace consumption pricing
DBmarlin Sessions every 1 s, kept 8 days; plans for top 20 Change detection AI Insights, AI Co-pilot, MCP server Free for 1 database; £999 per instance a year
ManageEngine Applications Manager Sessions, waits, locks, top 10 by gets and reads Anomaly profiles, ML forecasts, adaptive thresholds Zia, "the LLM of your choice" Free for 5 monitors; $395 a year for 10
Zabbix Counts, ratios, limits Fixed thresholds in the template; baseline functions in the platform None in the template Free software (AGPLv3); support from $325 a month
Paessler PRTG No; a custom-SQL sensor and a tablespace sensor Thresholds per sensor Not stated PRTG 500: $200 a month, annual; 100 sensors free
Site24x7 Six metrics every 5 minutes; no sessions or SQL AI anomaly detection on the Enterprise plan Not stated for Oracle From $9 a month
New Relic Aggregate metrics; a count of long-running queries; no SQL text or plans Thresholds Not stated for Oracle Not on the page
eG Enterprise Sessions, root blockers, waits by type, top 10 SQL Tablespace forecasts Not stated SaaS from $125 a month; perpetual from $10,000
dbWatch SQL performance package; plans, blocks Thresholds Not stated Calculator; SQL Performance package $120

The tools, one by one

1. Scops

Scops is an Oracle-only monitoring platform. It installs nothing on the database servers: one Oracle account with CREATE SESSION and SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE, through the listener, and monitoring creates no objects. It reads the active sessions every 5 seconds and the SQL statistics every 10 minutes itself, so session history, top SQL and plan changes are there without the Diagnostics Pack, on Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition 2 alike. Radar Engine runs 75+ detectors that report a tablespace with a date, a blocking pile-up while it forms, a sequence that runs out in three weeks or a plan that flipped, and every detector's rules are published. Scops AI answers in plain words with 40+ tools over the same data, proves its answers with the numbers, and changes nothing without a click. Automation covers statistics, datafiles, compression and archiving. Oracle Database 12.2 and later, RAC, PDBs, open standbys, Exadata. Community is free for 2 databases; Professional is $499 per database a year. Oracle only, by design: every detector, tool and automation is built for Oracle, not adapted from a generic monitor. Why it is the best, with the claims checked.

2. Oracle Enterprise Manager 24ai

Oracle's own management platform for the whole Oracle stack. It runs an Oracle Management Service on WebLogic Server with a repository in a certified Oracle database, and "you must install a separate Standalone Management Agent on each of those hosts"; 24ai adds Remote Agents that "can significantly reduce the number of agents you need to deploy". The base is free with any Oracle license, but for databases the Diagnostics Pack holds Performance Hub, ASH Analytics, AWR, ADDM, and also "Notifications", "Metric and Alert/Event History", blackouts, templates and adaptive thresholds; base alerting "excludes notifications which requires one or more licensed Packs". The packs "can be purchased only with Enterprise Edition", so an SE2 or unlicensed database gets thresholds in a console, no history and nobody mailed. Scops vs Oracle Enterprise Manager goes through it in detail.

3. SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer

A multi-database product (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SAP HANA and more) built on wait-time analysis. "DPA is installed only on the server, and agentless probes access Oracle and other databases through the network", with a claimed load of "less than a 1% load on monitored servers". Oracle SE and EE and Exadata are named. "DPA uses an anomaly detection algorithm to identify unexpected increases in wait time", and AI Query Assist sends a query and its plan to "a secure enterprise LLM" with "PII automatically masked". The sampling interval and the Diagnostics Pack are not stated on the pages we read. Pricing is by quote only ("Subscription and Volume licensing options available"), with a 14-day trial.

4. Quest Foglight for Oracle

Quest's Oracle cartridge for the Foglight platform. The datasheet promises monitoring "with minimal footprint, imposing no agent overhead on the monitored hosts", supports "10g and above", "All Oracle Database Editions", Exadata, RAC, ASM and Data Guard, on-premises and AWS RDS, with wait-state analysis, SQL Performance Investigator, lock and plan analysis and Intelliprofile baselines. The newest datasheet we could find is from 2020, and it does not mention the Diagnostics Pack, AI or prices.

5. Datadog Database Monitoring

Oracle support inside Datadog's platform. It requires the Datadog Agent 7.53 or later: "The Agent collects telemetry directly from the database by logging in as a read-only user", "Database Monitoring runs as an integration on top of the base Agent", and "The Agent must connect directly to the host being monitored", not through a proxy or pooler; RAC needs the Agent configured for each node. Supported versions are listed as 11g, 12c, 18c, 19c and 21c. Editions and the Diagnostics Pack are not stated. The product page promises "AI-powered root cause analysis and automated query optimization recommendations", and Bits AI is a general observability agent. The list price is $70 per database host a month billed annually, $84 month to month, on top of the infrastructure host.

6. Dynatrace

Dynatrace's Oracle Database extension "runs on an ActiveGate within your environment" and connects over JDBC, so nothing goes on the database host unless you want OneAgent for host metrics. It supports Oracle 12.2 and later, standalone, CDB/PDB, RAC and AWS RDS, with a monitoring user that needs SELECT on the V$ and CDB views or SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE; "The extension executes only SELECT queries". Feature sets cover sessions, wait events, tablespaces, ASM, backups, Data Guard, the recovery area and Top-N SQL ("Reports the most time-consuming SQL queries on the Oracle instance", as logs). The Diagnostics Pack and editions are not stated. "There is no charge to use the extension"; what you pay is Dynatrace's consumption pricing.

7. DBmarlin

An Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL performance tool from Application Performance Ltd. "No agents": it samples the active sessions remotely over JDBC every second, keeps that data for only 8 days, collects plans for the top 20 statements, and detects schema, parameter and plan changes. Its Oracle documentation states that "running DBmarlin does not trigger the use of any Oracle features such as Diagnostic or Tuning Packs". It lists Oracle 12c to 21c (11g deprecated), RDS and RAC; tablespace monitoring is not described on the pages we read. AI Insights, an AI Co-pilot ("Ask questions and get instant recommendations from any screen") and, in 6.10 of October 2026, an MCP server for AI assistants. Starter is free for 1 database; Premium is £999 per instance a year, with RAC counted per node. The closest tool to Scops on the collection method, without the detectors, the automation or the Oracle-only depth.

8. ManageEngine Applications Manager

A broad application monitor with "Agentless monitoring for a wide variety of databases". An Oracle monitor needs a user "with CONNECT and SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE roles" and covers tablespaces, sessions and session waits, SGA and PGA, datafiles, locks, ASM, RMAN, Data Guard lag, the alert log and top-10 statements by buffer gets and disk reads, for versions 9i to 23ai. The optional object-level grant list includes DBA_HIST views, which belong to the Diagnostics Pack; the pages do not say what uses them. Anomaly profiles, machine-learning forecasts and adaptive thresholds are in every edition, with the Zia assistant and "the LLM of your choice" at platform level. Free for 5 monitors; Professional from $395 a year for 10 monitors.

9. Zabbix

Open source, "released under GNU Affero General Public License version 3" with "no license fee". The Oracle template runs on Zabbix agent 2 compiled with the Oracle plugin (an ODBC variant exists) for Oracle 12c Release 2 and later, and covers sessions, locks, PGA, SGA, the recovery area, redo, tablespaces and ASM with fixed thresholds set by macros (tablespace 90% warning, 95% high). The template page warns that it "queries the V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY dynamic performance view which is part of the Oracle Diagnostics Pack. Please make sure that you have the licence required for using this management pack", which rules out that item on SE2 and on any EE database without the pack. Support subscriptions start at $325 a month. Free to download, but the DBA owns the template, the agent on each host and the ASH licensing question.

10. Paessler PRTG

A network and infrastructure monitor with sensors. The probe connects to Oracle directly (".NET 4.7.2 or later ... on the probe system", Oracle 10.2 and later); the Oracle SQL v2 sensor "executes a query" that you store in a file on the probe, and the Oracle Tablespace sensor watches one tablespace per sensor. There is no sessions, waits or top-SQL sensor; those are custom SQL. PRTG 500 costs $200 a month billed annually, and 100 sensors are free. Not a database performance tool.

11. Site24x7

Oracle monitoring is a plugin run by the Site24x7 server agent, which needs Python 3 and the oracledb module on the host that runs it, every five minutes. It reports six metrics (session count, average active sessions, logons per second, shared pool free, buffer cache hit ratio, a count of long-running queries) and tablespace fullness. Wait events and SQL are not on the Oracle page; "AI-powered anomaly detection" is listed on the Enterprise plan. Infrastructure plans start at $9 a month. The site notes that "Site24x7 Observability is now OpManager Nexus".

12. New Relic

An on-host integration: the infrastructure agent, the nri-oracledb package and the Oracle Instant Client on a Linux host (ARM64 is not supported), for Oracle 11.2 to 23. It "collects key performance metrics on databases, tablespaces, and memory": session counts, wait ratios, tablespace usage, a count of queries over 60 seconds. No SQL text, top SQL or plans; custom queries are possible. Pricing is not on the integration page.

13. eG Enterprise

eG Innovations' monitor for Oracle 10g and later: "Choose between agent-based and agentless monitoring". It covers sessions and root blockers, waits by type, top-10 SQL by I/O, CPU and memory, long-running queries, tablespace usage with a forecast, the alert log and configuration changes. Execution plans, the Diagnostics Pack and AI are not described. SaaS from $125 a month, subscription from $100 a month, perpetual from $10,000, licensed by operating systems, storage devices and hypervisors.

14. dbWatch

dbWatch calls itself agentless, with a twist: "It only installs a small schema in your database instance", an engine of procedures that needs "500 MB free space in each database instance" (5 GB more for the SQL Performance module) and a "SA, SYS or other superuser password required for each engine installation". It monitors Oracle 8i to 21c, RAC and Data Guard, from a Windows client, with a SQL Performance package for plans and blocking. Pricing is a calculator, with the SQL Performance package at $120 and a 90-day trial. Oldest version coverage on this list; the most installed inside the database.

The short list, by situation

  • Standard Edition 2, or Enterprise Edition without the packs: Scops. It collects its own history and says so in its docs. Enterprise Manager gives SE2 the base only, the Zabbix template has to be edited, and most of the others do not say.
  • Enterprise Edition with the packs: Scops. The 75+ detectors, the assistant and the automation come on top of the history, and nothing is added to the Oracle invoice.
  • Many database engines in one console: Scops. A multi-database suite lists Oracle as one engine among many and stops at the surface. Scops goes as deep as a DBA does on every Oracle database, which is where the outages are.
  • Budget zero: Scops Community, free for 2 databases with the full product. Zabbix is free software, but you pay in a DBA's time, an agent on each host and the ASH licensing item.
  • Oracle is the estate, and the DBAs are few: Scops, for the 75+ detectors, the assistant and the automation.

Why Scops is first

Because on the seven questions it is the only tool with a plain answer to all of them: nothing on the servers, no pack, SE2 in full, history every 5 seconds, 75+ published detectors, an agentic assistant graded against planted incidents, and a public price with a free tier. And because on price it is the best deal on this list: the full product free for 2 databases, then $499 per database a year with no per-host, per-agent or per-user fee. The others each leave some unanswered, and on the licensing questions most leave all of them unanswered. The rest of the argument is on Why Scops is the best Oracle monitoring tool, and the live demo lets you check it without installing anything.

Questions

Which Oracle monitoring tools need the Diagnostics Pack?

Oracle Enterprise Manager needs it for the performance pages, notifications and history. The Zabbix template states that it queries V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY, which is part of the pack. Scops states in its docs that monitoring uses no pack. Most other tools' documentation does not say, so ask the vendor in writing before a trial on a database without the pack.

Which tools are agentless for Oracle?

By their own documentation: Scops, SolarWinds DPA, Dynatrace (through an ActiveGate), DBmarlin, ManageEngine Applications Manager, PRTG and eG Enterprise (as an option). Datadog, New Relic and Site24x7 run their agent; Zabbix uses agent 2 or ODBC; dbWatch installs a schema inside each instance; Enterprise Manager installs a Management Agent on each host, with Remote Agents reducing the count in 24ai.

What is the best free Oracle monitoring tool?

Scops Community: free for 2 databases with the full product, including Radar Engine, alerts, reports and Scops AI, and nothing to install on the database servers. Zabbix is free software with a maintained Oracle template, at the cost of owning it, an agent on each host and the ASH licensing item. Enterprise Manager's base is free with an Oracle license, but cannot mail an alert or keep history for a database without the pack.

How was this comparison made?

From each vendor's public documentation and pricing pages, read in November 2026, quoted where it mattered. We did not install the other tools for this page. If a vendor's documentation changes or we missed a page, write to us and we will correct the entry.

Related

Sources

Originally published at scops.dev.