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IBM

IBM Instana Observability

Composite Score

7.9 /10

CX Score

8.3 /10

48 Reviews Write a Review

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

Sunil M.

Role: Consultant
Industry: Telecommunications
Involvement: IT Leader or Manager

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Nov 2023

Great tool as APM -Application performance monitor

Likeliness to Recommend

10 /10

What differentiates IBM Instana Observability from other similar products?

Easy to use and configure. as compared to other APM tools in the market, Has many features like synthetic monitoring , application /server monitoring, Kubernetes workload monitoring etc.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Synthetic monitoring and server statistics reporting.

What do you dislike most about this product?

Nothing as of now.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Great tool as APM for your application and infrastructure., easy to use and implementation.

Pros

Helps Innovate
Continually Improving Product
Reliable
Performance Enhancing

Alexandre R.

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

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Jul 2023

YAML file configuration disappoints

Likeliness to Recommend

7 /10

What differentiates IBM Instana Observability from other similar products?

Topology view of monitored entities; Customization of events, though the metrics are quite limited yet; Integration with problems notifications;

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

Agent installation is very simple and easy UI navigation

What do you dislike most about this product?

YAML file configuration Synthetic monitoring needs to improve Support to monitor new technologies

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

It is very toilsome and laborious to implement and install the agents and configure the YAML files.

Pros

Trustworthy
Fair
Transparent
Includes Product Enhancements

Cons

Under Delivered

Ramazan A.

Role: C-Level
Industry: Insurance
Involvement: Business Leader or Manager

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Jul 2023

Easy to integrate and great pricing strategy

Likeliness to Recommend

10 /10

What differentiates IBM Instana Observability from other similar products?

Pricing strategy and all in one solution

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

It is not complicated as other products. You do not have to worry about separate components and separate pricing

What do you dislike most about this product?

Creating custom alerts

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

It brings simplicity and you will get great support.

Pros

Helps Innovate
Reliable
Performance Enhancing
Enables Productivity

How We Deliver

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

Sunil M.

Great tool as APM -Application performance monitor

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Alexandre R.

YAML file configuration disappoints

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Cons

Ramazan A.

Easy to integrate and great pricing strategy

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

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Title

1
Since last award

1
Since last award

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