apitrace vs Optick

apitrace records OpenGL, Direct3D and DirectDraw API calls in trace files for replay and examination. Recorded calls can be replayed on another machine; OpenGL traces can also be replayed across operating systems. Its tools let users inspect graphics state and call data, view framebuffers and textures, edit trace files and profile performance. Coverage varies across APIs and operations: the feature matrix spans OpenGL 1.0–4.5, OpenGL ES 1.0–3.0, Direct3D 7–11.x and DirectDraw. Command-line profiling can capture frame, GPU, CPU and pixels-drawn data, with shader-profile formatting available through a script. The operating-system matrix lists Linux, OS X and Windows for tracing, replay, command-line and GUI use. Windows and Linux binaries are available for x86_64 and Arm64, with Windows x86 binaries also provided. The open-source project is licensed under MIT. One stated limitation is that programmatic Direct3D capture interfaces are unsupported. The maintainer says patches, issues and requests are handled as time permits, and the project links to a manual, bug-reporting guide, source-hacking guide, wiki and mailing list.

Optick is a free C++ profiler for game performance analysis and optimization. Its tools include instrumentation, context-switch tracing, sampling, CPU profiling, frame-time analysis and GPU counters. Developers can integrate it with OPTICK_FRAME, OPTICK_EVENT and OPTICK_THREAD macros. Context tracing uses ETW on Windows, FTrace on Linux and DTrace on macOS; GPU profiling supports D3D12 and Vulkan on Windows, and Vulkan on Linux and macOS. Desktop build configurations are listed for Windows x64, Linux x64 and macOS x64. Optick also offers Unreal Engine 4 and Unreal Engine 5 plugins; its v1.4.0 release added Unreal Engine 5.0 support, and Android support in the core appears in v1.3.0 release notes. The configuration header can enable or disable features for particular platforms or builds, including disabling Optick in final builds. With multiple DLLs in one executable, Optick must be added to a shared dynamic library compiled with OPTICK_EXPORT; static linking will not work. The MIT license permits use, copying, modification, publication and distribution, and provides the software without warranty.