Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

VisualVM VS JConsole

Compare VisualVM VS JConsole and see what are their differences

VisualVM logo VisualVM

VisualVM is a visual tool integrating several commandline JDK tools and lightweight profiling...

JConsole logo JConsole

Provides information about performance and resource consumption for Java applications.
  • VisualVM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-18
  • JConsole Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-01

VisualVM features and specs

  • Comprehensive Monitoring
    VisualVM allows developers to monitor and troubleshoot Java applications through various data points like JVM-level statistics, thread monitoring, and memory inspection.
  • Integration with JDK
    As a part of the JDK, VisualVM is easy to access and use without the need for additional installations or configurations.
  • Lightweight
    Being lightweight, VisualVM does not add significant overhead to the system and can be used effectively in development without impacting performance.
  • User-friendly Interface
    VisualVM provides an intuitive and graphical interface that makes it easier for users to analyze the performance metrics and diagnose issues.
  • Plugin Support
    VisualVM supports plugins, allowing users to extend its functionalities according to specific requirements and use cases.
  • Cross-platform
    As a Java-based tool, VisualVM can be run on any platform that supports Java, making it highly versatile.

Possible disadvantages of VisualVM

  • Limited to Java Applications
    VisualVM can only be used with Java applications, which can be a limitation for mixed-environment monitoring needs.
  • Limited Features for Enterprise
    While excellent for basic monitoring, VisualVM might lack some features and scalability needed for large enterprise-grade monitoring and performance analysis.
  • Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    Despite its user-friendly interface, some advanced features and customizations can be complex and may require a steep learning curve.
  • Infrequent Updates
    The update cycle for VisualVM can be slower compared to commercial alternatives, leading to potential lag in addressing bugs or adding new features.
  • Resource Usage
    Running VisualVM for in-depth analysis on the same machine as the application it monitors could potentially affect the application’s performance due to resource consumption.

JConsole features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    JConsole provides a graphical user interface that is intuitive and easy to use, making it accessible even to those who may not have extensive experience with monitoring tools.
  • Real-time Monitoring
    It offers real-time data visualization for Java Virtual Machine (JVM) performance metrics, such as memory usage and thread activity, enabling prompt diagnosis of issues.
  • Built-in Java Integration
    JConsole is bundled with the Java Development Kit (JDK), meaning no additional installation is necessary for developers already using Java, ensuring seamless integration with Java applications.
  • Customizable Plugins
    The tool supports various plugins, allowing users to extend its functionality and tailor it to monitor additional aspects relevant to their specific applications.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    As a Java-based tool, JConsole can operate on any platform that supports Java, providing flexibility in environments where applications are run and monitored.

Possible disadvantages of JConsole

  • Limited to Java Applications
    JConsole is specifically designed for monitoring Java applications, which means it is not suitable for use with applications running in other programming languages.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running JConsole can introduce some performance overhead on the monitored application because it consumes additional resources, potentially affecting the application's performance.
  • Basic Features
    While JConsole offers a range of monitoring features, it lacks some advanced features and analytics capabilities found in more specialized and modern application performance management tools.
  • Security Risks
    Exposing JMX interfaces, which are used by JConsole, can have security implications if not properly secured, posing a risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data or operations.
  • Resource Constraints
    JConsole is not ideal for monitoring large-scale, distributed systems because it is typically used for monitoring individual JVM instances, which can limit its scalability in enterprise environments.

VisualVM videos

Java Heap Dump Analysis - VisualVM Tutorial

More videos:

  • Tutorial - OutOfMemoryError Java Heap Space Fix - Heap Dump Analysis VisualVM Tutorial

JConsole videos

JConsole (Java Monitoring and Management console)

More videos:

  • Review - Heap Usage and Thread Monitoring using Jconsole
  • Tutorial - Jconsole Basic Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VisualVM and JConsole)
Software Development
66 66%
34% 34
Resource Profiling And Monitoring
IDE
63 63%
37% 37
Memory Monitoring
57 57%
43% 43

User comments

Share your experience with using VisualVM and JConsole. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, VisualVM seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 23 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

VisualVM mentions (23)

  • Streaming data from RDBMS with jooq
    For the purposes of this demo, let’s simply count the number of retrieved rows. The Thread.sleep() is included to give me time to open VisualVM and check the metrics:. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • How to Monitor SQL Performance in Spring Boot
    To track query-level metrics, check out the Hibernate Statistics section. Profiling tools like YourKit or VisualVM can help you analyze key metrics such as:. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Can java collection be fixed?
    If you're curious, attach VisualVM and watch the RAM usage graph. You'll notice that Java performs garbage collections long before reaching allocating the maximum amount of RAM allocated, and you can't even feel any performance issue in-game. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Items won't drop when either mined or dropped from inventory and new chunks won't load.
    Hangs and deadlocks are significantly harder to debug. A first step is taking a thread dump so you can see what each thread in the JVM is currently trying to do. I like VisualVM for this, you can also use the command-line tools jps -l (to list all Java PIDs) and jstack for taking a thread dump. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Top metrics for Elasticsearch monitoring with Prometheus
    The Java VisualVM project is an advanced dashboard for Memory and CPU monitoring. It features advanced resource visualization, as well as process and thread utilization. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
View more

JConsole mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of JConsole yet. Tracking of JConsole recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing VisualVM and JConsole, you can also consider the following products

Eclipse Memory Analyzer - The Eclipse Foundation - home to a global community, the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE and over 350 open source projects, including runtimes, tools and frameworks.

Robot Console - Robot Console is a Message and Event Monitoring Software for IBM i thathas automatic message management, resource monitoring, and log monitoring.

dotMemory - dotMemory allows users to analyze memory usage in a variety of .NET and .NET Core applications.

YourKit Java Profiler - Java profiler

Kcachegrind - Callgrind is a profiling tool and KCachegrind is able to visualize output of the profilers.

ANTS Performance Profiler - Speed up the performance of your application with ANTS Performance Profiler, for .NET code analysis.