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Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management vs IBM Instana Observability comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

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

Cross-Enterprise Applicatio...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
49th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Instana Observability
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
25th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
AI Observability (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management is 0.4%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Instana Observability is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Instana Observability0.9%
Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management0.4%
Other98.7%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed  Shahpoup - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Deputy Manager, ITSM Architect at ICT Misr
Offers a great reporting experience, with much customization and flexibility in extracting reports but it can be more user-friendly
My experience indicates that it needs enhancements in the UI. We are in 2024, and the GUI doesn't meet current expectations for user interfaces or Excel integration. Mainly, CA Service Desk has such a bad user interface. All features and systems, like servers, should have a modern graphical user interface, but CA Service Desk remains classic and still uses a desktop-based interface. It doesn't add features easily; if you need additional functionality, you have to go through many steps. Competitors like ServiceNow, Micro Focus SMAX, and ManageEngine all have better user interfaces. This is the main solution that needs improvement. I am very satisfied with the modeling systems, the grid, and the existing features, except for the graphical user interface.
FranciscoGálvez - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Observability has improved collaboration and predicts failures across distributed services
From my perspective, IBM Instana Observability is quite technical. Compared to some competitors, it offers an abundance of information about system performance but lacks planning or capacity planning information. You do not receive reports with recommendations; instead, it provides only the technical layer. Other companies, like Compuware, give more functional information about your environment, while IBM Instana Observability provides only limited functional insights. This means you often must interpret the data independently. Unlike other tools that can offer recommendations to save resources or costs, IBM Instana Observability does not provide that functionality. On the bright side, it is much more affordable than some other options, but it isn't complete. If you want full functionality with IBM Instana Observability, you also need to acquire other products for additional insights in monitoring areas, such as networking monitoring tools or similar products. For instance, we often recommend Turbonomic, which provides complementary insights. One potential feature that could improve IBM Instana Observability is the ability to translate KPIs into monetary terms. It would be interesting to have a product that integrates IBM Instana Observability with Turbonomic, as Turbonomic can utilize data from IBM Instana Observability to inform you about unnecessary spending and suggest whether you can consolidate servers or optimize containers for quicker response times. Implementing some level of simulation or capacity planning would greatly enhance the current capabilities of IBM Instana Observability.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The technical support and documentation are quite good."
"All solutions from Broadcom are very easy to install."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is performance."
"If we are using IBM Instana Observability, we can save money because first, the pricing is very affordable."
"IBM Instana Observability has impacted my organization positively in that it has helped me find out what the issue is in real-time because of its one-second granularity and its ability to identify issues as quickly as possible."
"IBM Instana Observability has positively impacted our organization because it has helped us solve many problems and sell some products."
"The solution has a one-second resolution, giving you the status of your application within one second."
"IBM Instana Observability has had a very positive impact on my organization because it shortens the time required to find the root cause when we have a problem."
"The most valuable features of IBM Instana are its quick data collection and analytics after installing the agent."
"The impact of IBM Instana Observability on collaboration between development and operations teams is essential because it allows operations to identify incidents before they occur."
 

Cons

"They lack support and presence in Egypt."
"The UI could be better. When I look at the dashboard, for example, the information looks cluttered and unorganized."
"From my perspective, IBM Instana Observability is quite technical; compared to some competitors, it offers an abundance of information about system performance but lacks planning or capacity planning information."
"One main issue I found with IBM Instana Observability was the customer support, which was very poor when we needed some features to be enabled or integrated into IBM Instana Observability sensors."
"The pricing for IBM Instana Observability is something I would address in terms of needed improvements because it is expensive."
"The product's initial setup phase is not very easy."
"One area that requires improvement is related to the automation part, specifically automated actions like sending SMS."
"IBM Instana Observability can be improved by providing access to the materials."
"Customer support is good; sometimes it cannot go as deep as I expected, but overall it is good."
"The interface of IBM Instana Observability is really slow, especially when there is a lot of data and when there are a lot of traces."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive. So, it is rather cheap."
"The tool's cost is normal as per the market. The tool is not expensive."
"The solution's pricing is reasonable compared to that of its competitors like Dynatrace."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management?
I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive. So, it is rather cheap. On a yearly basis, we pay $400,000. It is fixed, but it differs from year to year because we can add m...
What needs improvement with Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management?
My experience indicates that it needs enhancements in the UI. We are in 2024, and the GUI doesn't meet current expectations for user interfaces or Excel integration. Mainly, CA Service Desk has suc...
What is your primary use case for Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management?
At our bank, we have two teams: * one for Network Operations Center (NOC) and * another for administration and innovation. I am the technical lead in administration. For daily basis, the NOC team u...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Instana Observability?
I would evaluate the implementation process of IBM Instana Observability as not complex at all because you pay the license, and IBM takes care of everything. The only problem we occasionally face, ...
What needs improvement with IBM Instana Observability?
From my perspective, IBM Instana Observability is quite technical. Compared to some competitors, it offers an abundance of information about system performance but lacks planning or capacity planni...
What is your primary use case for IBM Instana Observability?
I usually recommend IBM Instana Observability for companies in the academic environment, as I have been working in a consultancy company for the last three years, where one of our customers built t...
 

Also Known As

CA Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NIIT Technologies, Cetip Safeguards
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management vs. IBM Instana Observability and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.