Apica vs Instana Dynamic APM comparison

Apica and Instana are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Apica is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.7, while Instana is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.8. Apica holds a 0.4% mindshare in APM, compared to Instana’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of Apica users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Instana users who would recommend it.

Apica

Read 11 Apica reviews

1,214 Views
826 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Instana Dynamic APM

Read 14 Instana Dynamic APM reviews

2,081 Views
2,060 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Apica

Instana Dynamic APM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

Apica and Instana Dynamic APM are two competitors in the Application Performance Monitoring category. Apica is favored for its pricing and support, whereas Instana Dynamic APM is seen as superior due to its advanced features.

Features: Apica offers real-time monitoring, analytics, and straightforward deployment. Instana Dynamic APM includes automated root-cause analysis, AI-driven insights, and advanced features suitable for complex environments.

Room for Improvement: Apica needs better dashboard customization, improved alerting mechanisms, and enhanced usability. Instana requires better integration with third-party tools, more comprehensive reporting, and deeper integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Apica has straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Instana offers an automated setup but has mixed reviews on support responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Apica is more cost-effective with a faster ROI. Instana, despite higher costs, justifies the expense with its advanced capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Apica vs. Instana Dynamic APM Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Instana Dynamic APM

September 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Apica

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

17th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Log Management (18th), IT Operations Analytics (5th), Observability Pipeline Software (2nd)

Instana Dynamic APM

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

22nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Apica is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Instana Dynamic APM is 1.0%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Apica	0.4%
Instana Dynamic APM	1.0%
Other	98.6%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Punith H K

Senior Systems Engineer at Infosys

Enables users to create scripts easily and provides excellent real-time monitoring features

It is easy to create scripts. We don't have to write any script. Ready-made options are available. We can select, drag, and drop the options, and the script is ready. The solution’s real-time monitoring features have had a huge impact on our service delivery. If we have an application and the script for it, we keep monitoring it. When the script goes red, it indicates that something is not working. So, we check and analyze the applications. We keep track of applications and monitor whether they are live or not. The tool is also useful for monitoring cloud services.

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Muhammad Jawwad Hassan

IT Consultant at Arcana Info

A really good GUI that is easy for non-technical users to understand

Our company uses the solution for one of our bank clients. We use App Connect middleware to monitor services and applications such as Docker, Kubernetes, MongoDB, and MS SQL Server. We also monitor the bottleneck for all servers. We currently have 20 users at one of our branches. We plan to expand…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The solution captures all our requests and responses."

"It uses a basic scripting language, which is easy to learn and customize as needed. Compared to LoadRunner, I found writing and customizing code much easier in Apica."

"Apica allows me to record APIs easily and enhances scripts through options like auto-correlation, enabling me to access dynamic fields."

"It helps with releases because we monitor them in staging. We can tell if something is critically wrong before it gets into production, e.g., if it was load related or function related and also what was different in the dev stage. It then alerts us straightaway inside of our production monitors once it has been released. Therefore, it has improved how we run our systems since we monitor multiple environments."

"Our application SREs do script checks in such a way that closely mimic our customers' actions using the platform. Because there are so many different ways and options to be able to configure checks to closely mirror your applications' capabilities, it provides a lot of optionality for teams to create the right type of check that can notify when there are any issues. At the end of the day, we want our monitoring tools to be able to catch any outage before our customers do. This is where Apica Synthetic does a great job."

"It is easy to set up and configure."

"APICa allows me to record APIs easily and enhances scripts through options like auto-correlation, enabling me to access dynamic fields."

"The solution’s real-time monitoring features have had a huge impact on our service delivery."

More Apica pros

"Visually, it's very good. It provides everything needed for dynamic detection, which is very useful."

"The most valuable feature of Instana Dynamic APM is auto-instrumentation."

"We can easily perform root cause analysis using the tool."

"If a key monitored value has crossed a threshold, it sends out an alert. And the solution is able to intelligently find out if something is beyond the range that it normally resides in."

"It is user-friendly, but we encounter issues processing input and understanding the graphics, such as seeing a flatline without knowing the cause. When these problems occur, I have to contact my support team to address and fix them. Also, monitoring processing is good."

"With auto-discovery, we didn't need to consider much. We just installed the agent on the host and it was able to detect everything from the host level up to the service level, for whatever stack was installed, and that includes containers and dockers."

"The primary selling point of this product is its unparalleled transparency into the infrastructure."

"The detailing of our application behavior and user experience is most valuable. In case there is an issue, we typically use Instana to figure it out. We can drill down to the application and figure out what's going on and where the issue is."

More Instana Dynamic APM pros

Cons

"Learning the tool has always been a little difficult from a scripting perspective because the framework is proprietary and unique. Once we became used to what it does and how to perform it, then it became easier for my team and me. I would like to see some of the testing steps be part of a more well-known language, like Java or Python. That would be a big improvement."

"I have noticed that the tool isn't widely recognized outside our organization. Also, there aren't any tutorials or dedicated resources for this tool, making it challenging for newcomers to learn. It would be beneficial if someone experienced with it could provide guidance."

"When it comes to the way the internal agent is installed, because you can install an application on a server, I would love to see the application Docker-ized. If you could install internal agents using Docker or using containers, it would be easier for us to manage them and spin up internal agents."

"The reporting part that we use for our executives needs a bit more customization capabilities. Right now, you can use only the three main templates for reporting. We would like to be able to customize them."

"Apica is costly, and there's no way to test mobile applications through Apica."

"The accuracy of alerts can be improved a little bit. Right now, it's pretty good in terms of alerting pretty quickly about failures or changes in response times. However, what we have seen happen is the number of alerts that we are getting is very frequent, and we would like to tone down the number of alerts. That's the only trouble we have. Apica could tone down those settings because there is no option for us to tone it down to a level that would reduce the alerts to a minimum. As a platform, it does send us good alerts, but it could be improved a bit."

"The customer service and support were a little slow to respond. The browser sometimes checks alerts on unknown issues like latency from Apica's side."

"Apica should add more features and integrations with different tools and certain ticketing systems, like ServiceNow."

More Apica cons

"The configuration of Instana Dynamic APM needs improvement because it requires quite a bit of work."

"I think that Instana should improve the university and the certification process, so the users can find experts in Instana with their certification module process."

"We should be able to go back to scenarios during or before the issue. There should be something like a history playback. Such a feature or functionality would be good."

"The App Connect middleware does not integrate with or show corresponding sub nodes."

"New Relic has a better UI in terms of how it presents the data."

"Its SLI and SLA features need improvement in setting up alerts."

"Many managers, as well as our customers, used to ask for reports, such as "top X number of queries that are slow," or "top pages that have the highest number of issues." This is something that can be improved by Instana. Currently, they don't have that kind of reporting available out-of-the-box."

"We'd always like to see additional functionalities."

More Instana Dynamic APM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Another main difference between Apica and the other products was the cost. We really thought that the balance in Apica between the features and costs was the best among all the products on which we did a PoC."

"The product is less expensive compared to LoadRunner."

"The level of alerting accuracy has saved us time and money in operational costs. Overall, it has automated a lot of the manual efforts which have been more complex with some of our other scripting tools or monitors. So, it brings things together by doing things faster and saves us money."

"The tool is completely free and open source. I've been using it for about two and a half years and installed it on both my personal and client machines without needing a license. All features are available for use without any hidden fees."

"Apica is pretty cost-effective if you buy both solutions together: Synthetic and LoadTest. If you are going for one solution, the cost is on par with any tool in the market."

"I am sure that Apica's price will be lower than LoadRunner."

"The solution's pricing is not cheap, but it is in the midrange."

"The pricing is very reasonable, but it is not cheap."

More Apica pricing and cost advice

"Pricing is quite competitive. Dynatrace, AppDynamics, and New Relic were all several times more expensive than Instana, both the on-prem and the SaaS versions. Price-wise they are a lot more competitive than anyone else out there."

"The solution's pricing is comparable to other products."

"The pricing is $1,200 per year which is a bit high compared to other vendors."

"The solution is less expensive than one of its competitors."

"It's reasonably priced and manageable, especially for individuals who grasp the significance of application monitoring."

"Instana Dynamic APM is more affordable for small and medium-sized companies compared to other vendors."

"Its pricing isn't a big pain point. Its pricing seems to be better than some of the other competing products in the market, but they also have some of the features and functionalities that are better than Instana."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Media Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

28%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	17

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apica Synthetic?

The GUI is powerful and doesn't require scripting or regular expressions. It has a vast finder for correlation, which is easier than other tools like JMeter and LoadRunner. It's also easy to integr...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apica Synthetic?

I know Apica is an expensive solution, but it is worth the money for the service it provides.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Apica Synthetic?

Apica cannot perform endurance or scale-up tests independently. It requires other tools like ALM. When editing scripts, only one can be accessed at a time, risking changes affecting other folders. ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Instana Dynamic APM?

The platform’s most valuable feature is the ability to monitor the performance of containers for request and response analysis.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Instana Dynamic APM?

I rate the pricing a seven out of ten. There are no additional costs associated with the product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Instana Dynamic APM?

Sometimes, the issue arises from user changes, such as adjusting firewall settings without proper consideration, leading to compatibility issues within the network monitoring.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs Apica

Compared 40% of the time

Cribl vs Apica

Compared 28% of the time

Datadog vs Apica

Compared 17% of the time

Grafana vs Apica

Compared 15% of the time

More Apica Competitors

Dynatrace vs Instana Dynamic APM

Compared 50% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs Instana Dynamic APM

Compared 15% of the time

Datadog vs Instana Dynamic APM

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Application Performance Management vs Instana Dynamic APM

Compared 7% of the time

Broadcom DX Application Performance Management vs Instana Dynamic APM

Compared 6% of the time

More Instana Dynamic APM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Apica

September 2025

Download Apica product report

Buyer's Guide

Instana Dynamic APM

September 2025

Download Instana Dynamic APM product report

Also Known As

Apica LoadTest, Apica Synthetic

No data available

Overview

Apica leads in observability cost optimization, empowering IT teams to manage telemetry data economics efficiently. It supports various data types, reducing costs by 40% with flexible deployment options and eliminating tool sprawl through modular solutions.

Apica Ascent optimizes observability costs across metrics, logs, traces, and events and provides adaptability beyond proprietary formats. Its patented InstaStore™ technology ensures maximum storage efficiency and advanced root cause analysis. Organizations leverage Apica for comprehensive control over observability investments, reducing runaway costs. With solutions for mitigating high-cardinality data challenges, Apica supports any data lake preference and offers cloud or on-premises deployments. Its modular solutions eliminate unnecessary tool redundancies, enhancing economic efficiency in telemetry data management.

What features define Apica's capabilities?

Global Presence: Extensive points of presence worldwide
Advanced Alerting: Accurate system notifications
Robust Scripting: Supports multiple protocols easily
Flexible Integration: Effortless system connections
Environment Simulation: Adapts various test scenarios globally

Which benefits should users expect from Apica?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces observability costs by 40%
Data Flexibility: Supports any data source
Modular Approach: Eliminates tool redundancies
Advanced Analysis: Enhanced root cause capabilities
Deployment Variety: Cloud and on-premises options available

Apica addresses industry needs in monitoring and testing applications, enhancing user experience across sectors. It is instrumental in synthetic checks, load testing, API monitoring, and validating functionalities for stability in gaming, finance, eCommerce, and banking platforms. Apica's versatility supports both on-premises and cloud environments, ensuring accurate insights into service availability and network performance.

Apica

Instana’s Enterprise Observability Platform, powered by automated Application Performance Monitoring, discovers and maps all services, infrastructure, and their inter-dependencies automatically. Instana ingests all observability metrics, traces each request, profiles every process, and updates application dependency maps in real-time to deliver the context and actionable feedback needed by Dev+Ops to optimize application performance, enable innovation, and mitigate risk to help them add value and efficiency to the pipeline. Learn more at https://instana.com.

Instana

Sample Customers

HBO, JPMC, Morgan Stanley, Xander, EA Sports, Volvo

Daxko Lifts Fitness Studios Through COVID Regulations with Quick Engineering PivotsAltissia Meets SLAs to Support Student DeadlinesImmocloud Unlocks Observability to Modernize Real EstateEnento Group Boosts Service Reliability with Real-Time Visibility into Application Performance Instana’s Observability for Amazon EKS Helps Yara Deliver Digital Farming Solutions

Buyer's Guide

Apica vs. Instana Dynamic APM

September 2025

Free Report: Apica vs. Instana Dynamic APM

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