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IBM

IBM Instana Observability

Composite Score

7.9 /10

CX Score

8.3 /10

48 Reviews Write a Review

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What is IBM Instana Observability?

IBM Instana® automatically and continuously delivers the highest-fidelity data: One-second granularity so you stay ahead of every problem An end-to-end distributed trace of every call or request A graphing model and dynamic maps to show you how everything is related This insight allows all application stakeholders to see the exact data they want with the context they need. It enables them to quickly determine the cause of an issue and take immediate action to fix it.

Company Details

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Awards & Recognition

IBM Instana Observability won the following awards in the Application Performance & Observability-Enterprise category

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1 Top Rated Capabilities

0 Top Rated Features

Latest Award, 2025

Conflict Resolution

2025

3 Top Rated Capabilities

1 Top Rated Features

2024

2023 Data Quadrant Champion

2023

4 Top Rated Capabilities

5 Top Rated Features

2023

IBM Instana Observability Ratings

Real user data aggregated to summarize the product performance and customer experience.
Download the entire Product Scorecard to access more information on IBM Instana Observability.

Product scores listed below represent current data. This may be different from data contained in reports and awards, which express data as of their publication date.

82 Likeliness to Recommend

1
Since last award

98 Plan to Renew

1
Since last award

79 Satisfaction of Cost Relative to Value

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Emotional Footprint Overview

Product scores listed below represent current data. This may be different from data contained in reports and awards, which express data as of their publication date.

+92 Net Emotional Footprint

The emotional sentiment held by end users of the software based on their experience with the vendor. Responses are captured on an eight-point scale.

How much do users love IBM Instana Observability?

0% Negative

9% Neutral

91% Positive

Pros

Saves Time
Security Protects
Reliable
Fair

Feature Ratings

Average 81

Cloud/On-Prem/Hybrid Deployment

Transaction Request Performance

Error Reporting

Server Monitoring

Application Metric Reporting

Scalability

Application Request Tracing

Domain-Agnostic AI/ML

Non-Commodity Operating Systems

Enterprise Cloud Platform Support

Automated Diagnostics

Vendor Capability Ratings

Average 80

Ease of IT Administration

Ease of Implementation

Breadth of Features

Business Value Created

Vendor Support

Ease of Customization

Usability and Intuitiveness

Quality of Features

Ease of Data Integration

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Availability and Quality of Training

IBM Instana Observability Reviews

Krutarth D.

Role: Information Technology
Industry: Technology
Involvement: End User of Application

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Nov 2023

Easy to use. Great product. Works as expected.

Likeliness to Recommend

9 /10

What differentiates IBM Instana Observability from other similar products?

Three features or capabilities come to my mind that I believe differentiate Instana from other similar products. - Ease of implementation - Dashboards - Extensive details capturing

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

- To be able to trace a single request from Applications (Mobile, Web) to Services (Backend) end to end. - Detail-oriented dashboards - Easy to use and single-step integrations to enable Observability and Monitoring - Intuitiveness and ease of using the product

What do you dislike most about this product?

Not something that I dislike about the product but would be more of Mobile Application performance monitoring features like end-to-end user session capturing, performance monitoring dashboards, the ability to measure performance for Mobile apps etc.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

It's one of the most competitive products to use in this category considering the feature-set and capabilities it offers. If you're looking for end-to-end tracing and complete backend services observability integrations, I would highly recommend Instana. If you're looking for only client-side monitoring and observability, there are other better alternatives out there.

Pros

Enables Productivity
Respectful
Helps Innovate
Continually Improving Product

Mehdi K.

Role: C-Level
Industry: Recreation
Involvement: IT Leader or Manager

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Nov 2023

Performance, easy to use, but pricey

Likeliness to Recommend

7 /10

What differentiates IBM Instana Observability from other similar products?

Instana is at the same level of the competition.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Instana dashboards are very good.

What do you dislike most about this product?

Price and sales team.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Have a clear overview of the market before choosing.

Pros

Trustworthy
Client Friendly Policies
Performance Enhancing
Enables Productivity

Cons

Commodity Features
Less Efficient Service
Vendor's Interest First

Akash S.

Role: Information Technology
Industry: Engineering
Involvement: IT Development, Integration, and Administration

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Nov 2023

Easy to use, but a bit pricey.

Likeliness to Recommend

8 /10

What differentiates IBM Instana Observability from other similar products?

The ease of implementation with instana is way better than it's riavls

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Extensive detail capturing

What do you dislike most about this product?

The initial learning curve

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Get on call with the sales/support to to understand the working

Pros

Continually Improving Product
Reliable
Enables Productivity
Efficient Service

IBM Instana Observability

What is IBM Instana Observability?

Company Details

Need Assistance?

Awards & Recognition

2023 Data Quadrant Champion

IBM Instana Observability Ratings

82 Likeliness to Recommend

1 Since last award

98 Plan to Renew

1 Since last award

79 Satisfaction of Cost Relative to Value

Emotional Footprint Overview

+92 Net Emotional Footprint

How much do users love IBM Instana Observability?

Pros

Feature Ratings Average rating of all product features, some of which may not be shown below

Cloud/On-Prem/Hybrid Deployment Supports one or many deployment models - On-prem, cloud or hybrid hosting of the database system.

Transaction Request Performance Tracking & Observing the performance of an application and all web and other transactions within your system.

Error Reporting Tracking and automatic notification of alerts or errors within the system.

Server Monitoring Monitor usage and performance of all application dependencies like databases, servers, containers, web services, caching, etc.

Application Metric Reporting Tracking of both custom and basic application framework metrics.

Scalability Scalability refers to the transaction size per second / time taken to put a transaction in the block and the time taken to reach a consensus.

Application Request Tracing Detail key attributes of application requests and transactions.

Domain-Agnostic AI/ML Domain-agnostic AI/ML capabilities for events via third-party collectors.

Non-Commodity Operating Systems Non-Commodity Operating Systems capabilities such as AIX, z/OS, Solaris, IBM i, and z/Linux.

Enterprise Cloud Platform Support Monitoring capabilities for cloud platforms such as Cloud Foundry, OpenShift, Kubernetes, Azure ServiceFabric.

Automated Diagnostics Automated diagnostics providing prebuilt workflows for problem detection, correlation of application behavior and performance, and determination of cause.

Vendor Capability Ratings Average rating of all vendor capabilities, some of which may not be shown below

Ease of IT Administration This data indicates whether IT personnel will be able to resolve issues and perform configurations efficiently and effectively.

Ease of Implementation Successfully implementing new software is necessary to realize its full value and promote end user adoption. This data indicates whether or not the product is easy to implement.

Breadth of Features Users prefer feature rich software that enables them to perform diverse series of tasks. This data expresses user satisfaction with the product's breadth of features.

Business Value Created Software needs to create value for employees, customers, partners, and, ultimately, shareholders. This data expresses user satisfaction - or lack thereof - with the product's business value.

Vendor Support The importance of vendor support will vary for each organization depending on internal capabilities, but there will always be issues that only the vendor can resolve.

Ease of Customization Don't get bogged down in a difficult customization; use this data to make sure you can easily achieve the functionality you need for your particular situation.

Usability and Intuitiveness End user learning curves cost the organization money. Pay attention to your end users' technical ability to determine how important UX is in your purchase.

Quality of Features Feature quality is just as important as quantity. Use this data to determine if this product will do what you're purchasing it to do, easily, intuitively, reliably, and effectively.

Ease of Data Integration Use this data to determine whether the product will cause headaches or make data integration easy.

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement Vendors who don't stay on top of emerging needs and trends won't enable you to meet your business goals. Use this data to separate innovators from imposters.

Availability and Quality of Training Effective and readily available training enables users to get the most out of the software you've chosen. Use this section to make sure your vendor's training programs and materials measure up.

IBM Instana Observability Reviews

Krutarth D.

Easy to use. Great product. Works as expected.

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Mehdi K.

Performance, easy to use, but pricey

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Cons

Akash S.

Easy to use, but a bit pricey.

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Most Popular IBM Instana Observability Comparisons

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1
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Feature Ratings

Cloud/On-Prem/Hybrid Deployment

Transaction Request Performance

Error Reporting

Server Monitoring

Application Metric Reporting

Scalability

Application Request Tracing

Domain-Agnostic AI/ML

Non-Commodity Operating Systems

Enterprise Cloud Platform Support

Automated Diagnostics

Vendor Capability Ratings

Ease of IT Administration

Ease of Implementation

Breadth of Features

Business Value Created

Vendor Support

Ease of Customization

Usability and Intuitiveness

Quality of Features

Ease of Data Integration

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Availability and Quality of Training