IBM Instana vs. Splunk AppDynamics

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Instana
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Instana, an IBM company since the December 2020 acquisition, provides APM services for SOA, microservices, containerized applications and Kubernetes, and cloud native applications, as well as discovery and monitoring for IT assets.
$18
per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)
Splunk AppDynamics
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
AppDynamics is an APM and Mobile APM program, with application mapping and predictive capabilities. These capacities enable automated remediation and code-level diagnostics in real time. It can be deployed on-premise or as a SaaS.N/A
Pricing
IBM InstanaSplunk AppDynamics
Editions & Modules
Essentials
$18
per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)
Standard
$75
per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)
Self-Hosted
$93.80
per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM InstanaSplunk AppDynamics
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM InstanaSplunk AppDynamics
Considered Both Products
IBM Instana
Chose IBM Instana
IBM Instana is great for infrastructure monitoring while AppDynamics is ahead in application monitoring
Chose IBM Instana
We chose IBM Instana for its very affordable price, the ease of use of the solution, which was perfectly suited to our needs and specifications, and the feedback from our teams, who had no trouble getting to grips with it in a very short time.The IBM Instana solution is very …
Chose IBM Instana
IBM Instana provides 60 seconds granularity whereas the other products use time series data
IBM Instana automatically detects the Service Endpoints which helps us trace all the calls pinpointed to service endpoints.
IBM Instana provides complete Auto Discovery with no …
Chose IBM Instana
Well again, it comes back to the application monitor. It does a better job than SolarWinds.
Chose IBM Instana
Automatic application discovery with one agent installation instead of manual configuration for each application and multiply agents for each technology stack.

Automatic tracing for application calls without the need to add complex configuration and application instrumentation.
Chose IBM Instana
BMC TrueSight Automation for Networks and Dynatrace
Chose IBM Instana
1- ROI is higher as the budget is much less than other
2- the way of calculating license is much better and fit us and this affect the ROI
3- the ease of implementation
Chose IBM Instana
The primary reason we choose IBM Instana was that is was compatible with nearly all of our apps without requiring any modifications to our code. We are really happy that we decided to adopt IBM Instana.
Chose IBM Instana
because of support and better agents for non containeraized workloads, virtual machines and lpars
Chose IBM Instana
IBM Instana meet LMRA requirements, as IBM Instana is more useful to deep-dive each transaction from Real-user monitoring itself when compared to other APM's in the market. Also gives more flexibility especially from the support perspective to identify bottlenecks and to …
Chose IBM Instana
As a DevOps engineer, I've explored various Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools, including New Relic for real-time insights, AppDynamics for code-level visibility, Dynatrace for AI-driven monitoring, Datadog for comprehensive observability, Splunk for log management, …
Chose IBM Instana
Splunk is also a wonderful tool for log analysis and operational troubleshooting however auto discovery and dependency flow creation makes Instana standout. We have to do a lot of preprocessing to ingest and format data in Splunk and then write complex queries for gathering the …
Chose IBM Instana
We chose IBM Instana for several reasons, and the most important one is that we didn't have to make changes in our code for nearly all of our applications for it to work. We are happy with the decision we made to use IBM Instana.
Chose IBM Instana
We have used them and for the moment we have chosen IBM Instana first of all because of the price because it is accessible and it works in terms of the results we have obtained, also the way of presenting the schemes and the performance of the systems is very good.
Chose IBM Instana
Superior value for money, simpler license approach with automated functions (installation, detection, update, and alarm). Nothing can stop IBM Instana's footprints in the international market as it progressively gains strength and grows in the market. With fair and inexpensive …
Chose IBM Instana
New Relic has it's own perks but when it comes to large infrastructure, we always face some issue at stability but IBM Instana never fails here. In my opinion, Inbuilt dashboard and inbuilt alerting feature what makes IBM Instana better than compared to other tools. I think …
Chose IBM Instana
In my experience, they both have independent strengths and shortcomings, though I have found IBM Instana to be much better for general monitoring and setting up alerts to get ahead of any problems. Contrastly, I think humio/falcon has been easier to use when it comes to …
Chose IBM Instana
We selected IBM Instana because of better support and other products that complement each other.
Chose IBM Instana
We selected IBM Instana because it is more accurate than Datadog.
Splunk AppDynamics
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
IBM Instana and Dynatrace
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
Our organization prefers AppDynamics for its focus on user experience and business metrics which is quite useful for aligning IT performance with organization goal. it is also known for its AI driven insights and monitoring capabilities making it very effective as compares to …
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
AppDynamics is easy to use, very good monitoring and provides us with detailed information about the performance of the underlying infrastructure, including servers, database,and external services.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
Actually they are integrated and are the completion of something bigger, larger, better in order to get a full stack observability.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
ScienceLogic SL1, Dynatrace, SolarWinds AppOptics, Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), Datadog and ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
AppDynamics gives a better insight and query tuning compared to the others.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
AppDynamics is a mature product with probably the simplest of UIs to use which is a huge benefit. I can train users to be proficient in AppDynamics in under an hour. But the product can definitely do some very advanced operations... depending on the need.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
It differs from these programs because it integrates seamlessly with a wide range of technologies and platforms and has strong integration capabilities, a crucial factor in adapting to different technology stacks.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
It is distinguished from these programs because the platform provides visualizations of application processes, showing the interplay between various parts and services. Understanding the architecture of complicated apps and finding their weak spots is greatly aided by this.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
AppDynamics excels at delivering extensive insights into the performance of apps at the code level. It enables developers to zero in on certain lines of code or modules that are causing performance difficulties, making it possible for more effective debugging and optimization. …
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
It's easy to customize alerts into easy notifications, view everything in a graphical manner, and it's easy to understand. AppDynamics helps us to understand and monitor our network and servers related issues before they cause an impact on our business processes or clients. …
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
I have used Splunk for a short period. It was difficult to connect with the server and it takes much time to connect with the central server but AppDynamics is quite fast in it. Plus the service handlers for Splunk were a little ignorant their response was usually late in …
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
Unfortunately, I wasn't in the company when the decision was made, hence can tell just because. What I can tell from my experience, it was not a bad choice and alternatives like New Relic or Datadog provide more or less similar functionality. In most cases the main reasons are …
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
AppDymanics and Solarwinds was a good products at application and website monitoring. For SQL monitoring AppDymanics was the superior product is it found several queries that were slowing down the server while Solarwinds could not find any issues. The version of Nagios that we …
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
Overall value...AppDynamics won out in cost, support, and data returned for applications.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
Ease of use, the fast pace of the product growth.

Analytics and BiQ is a huge bonus for adding value to Business who ultimately are the owners as they pay for AppDynamics.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
The bank has some legacy application infrastructures that only AppD can monitor. no other competitors can monitor it.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
AppDynamics is more a graphical representation of data, where as other tools like Splunk shows data in a table format using Query structure. AppDynamics helps is in analyzing system performance, but other tools just help to log the data and send alerts upon manual setting. …
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
We haven't evaluate any other product. AppDynamics was what we required at that time.
Chose Splunk AppDynamics
AppDynamics falls under Cisco's Full Stack Observability and is now deeplyintegrated with Thousand Eyes, Secure App and Intersight covering addional monitoring layes that no other solution out there does well.
Features
IBM InstanaSplunk AppDynamics
Application Performance Management
Comparison of Application Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
IBM Instana
-
Ratings
Splunk AppDynamics
8.5
Ratings
11% above category average
Application monitoring00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Database monitoring00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Threshold alerts00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Predictive capabilities00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Application performance management console00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Collaboration tools00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Server availability and performance monitoring00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Server usage monitoring and capacity forecasting00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
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User Ratings
IBM InstanaSplunk AppDynamics
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
4.5
(0 ratings)
8.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM InstanaSplunk AppDynamics
Likelihood to Recommend
With enterprise IT assets in a multitude of ecosystems, cloud infrastructures and sometimes still left stuck in a legacy on prem architecture, IBM Instana makes it easy to get the right data to drive development and / or DevSecOps processes with tangible input from the target environment itself.
Read full review
Platforms for software as a service (SaaS) frequently cater to a large number of users with a variety of needs and usage patterns. Because AppDynamics offers multi-tenant monitoring capabilities to track performance across various customer environments, it is a good choice for SaaS platform monitoring. SaaS providers can maximize resource utilization, proactively detect and resolve performance issues, and provide a dependable and consistent user experience for their clients with AppDynamics.
Read full review
Pros
  • Collecting Kubernetes and Infra level logs and presenting in easy to understand visuals.
  • Tracing the end-to-end journey of an event and also categorizing by technology and Endpoints
  • Built-in and custom alerts help to monitor almost all of scenarios without much additional configuration.
  • Ability to create Applications to logical group important flows
Read full review
  • AppDynamics excels in creating dynamic baselines for application performance. For instance, during periods of varying workloads, it automatically adjusts performance baselines. This adaptive baseline creation helps in accurately detecting anomalies and deviations, ensuring that abnormal behavior is quickly identified and addressed.
  • The scalability of an organization's apps can be evaluated with the assistance of AppDynamics. It gives insights into how effectively programs can handle increased workloads, helping to proactively address scalability concerns before they impair performance.
Read full review
Cons
  • I believe that the "live" option in monitoring does not truly update the status in real-time, thus I must manually update to feel comfortable.
  • The call analysis tool might be improved, third-party resources are restricted, and the pricing is slightly more than competitors in comparable categories.
Read full review
  • The initial setup process of AppDynamics could be more user-friendly. Some users find the configuration and onboarding to be a bit complex. Improving the onboarding experience could make it more accessible, especially for smaller teams or those with limited resources.
  • It can be difficult for some users to get AppDynamics up and running for the first time. For new users, the platform's usability might be improved by streamlining the onboarding process or providing more user-friendly setup wizards.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Instana has been able to fulfill our all requirement and provide out of box solution for multiple component like AWS RDS Monitoring and real time alerting setup on basis of that. it is also easy to integrate with other open-source alerting and monitoring tools which makes it easier to incorporate into our solutions
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its working for us, we are familiar and comfortable with the tool and its proven valuable/indispensable in helping evaluate our code.
Read full review
Usability
IBM Instana totally alters our monitoring approach since it increases the stability of the system and simplifies the process of problem solving. And since it helps to lower the degree of alert exhaustion that we experience, it is a total game changer for us.
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Actually, I would like to give it a score of 10 out of 10, but taking into account certain factors such as: the cost of the annual licence, the complexity of installation and configuration, the blurring of setting Splunk AppDynamics over the cloud and especially OpenShift since we use it as a container platform. So, 8 out of 10 looks perfect for it
Read full review
Support Rating
IBM instana support team is good but when we ask them for support, they keep asking same thing again and again and mostly there is no solution
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AppDynamics has its own community site that includes forums and a knowledge base. On the forums, you can converse with other members of the community and ask technical questions as you have them. Though this forum isn’t filled with people there are active members for you to gain some valuable insights.
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Alternatives Considered
As a DevOps engineer, I've explored various Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools, including New Relic for real-time insights, AppDynamics for code-level visibility, Dynatrace for AI-driven monitoring, Datadog for comprehensive observability, Splunk for log management, Stackify Retrace for error tracking, and Raygun for crash reporting. Each tool offers distinct features, and the choice depends on specific use cases, technology stacks, and organizational needs. Thorough evaluations, considering factors like ease of use, integration capabilities, and scalability, help in selecting the most suitable APM solution for effective application monitoring in a DevOps environment.
Read full review
It is distinguished from these programs because the platform provides visualizations of application processes, showing the interplay between various parts and services. Understanding the architecture of complicated apps and finding their weak spots is greatly aided by this.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Let's me monitor and pinpoint issues across multiple critical systems and applications that work in tandem, reducing drastically, the time in identifying root cause and solving the issues.
  • Let's me deep dive into issues found with a lot of detailed information about particular requests , and find proper solutions by my own research or even with Gen AI assistant using Watson.x or you could prompt your AI solution of choice as well.
  • All systems fail at some point, so IBM Instana gives stakeholders ease that large complex and critical systems that affect the very livelihood of people is being observed with pinpoint precision and that issues are addressed promptly and with compass pointing north towards the problem's root cause and solutions.
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  • We can optimize infrastructure utilization and lower cloud or server costs by locating and removing resource-intensive bottlenecks with the aid of AppDynamics.
  • Building trust with external stakeholders and encouraging accountability within our organization, AppDynamics' comprehensive reporting and monitoring capabilities offer transparency into the health of applications.
  • We can find bugs earlier and improve development workflows with the help of AppDynamics' real-time insights and code-level profiling.
Read full review
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