Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) vs Instana Dynamic APM comparison

Google and Instana are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Google is ranked #27 with an average rating of 8.0, while Instana is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.8. Google holds a 1.1% mindshare in APM, compared to Instana’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Instana users who would recommend it.

Google Cloud's operations s...

Read 10 Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) reviews

2,561 Views
2,126 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Instana Dynamic APM

Read 14 Instana Dynamic APM reviews

2,081 Views
2,060 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Google Cloud's operations s...

Instana Dynamic APM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

Instana Dynamic APM and Google Cloud's operations suite compete in the APM solutions category. Instana Dynamic APM seems to have the upper hand due to higher user satisfaction with deployment and support, whereas Google Cloud's operations suite is preferred for its comprehensive features.

Features: Instana Dynamic APM is praised for its AI-powered automation, real-time data monitoring, and straightforward deployment. Google Cloud's operations suite stands out for its integration with other Google Cloud services, extensive logging, monitoring, and debugging capabilities. Differences lie in the depth of integration and AI features provided.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest that Instana Dynamic APM could benefit from enhanced documentation, improved alerting capabilities, and finer-grained control over deployment settings. For Google Cloud's operations suite, user reviews point to a need for a more intuitive setup process, better resource management, and simplified configuration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Instana Dynamic APM is noted for its straightforward deployment and responsive customer support. Google Cloud's operations suite, while robust, has a more complex setup and varied support experiences. Differences are marked by the simplicity of deployment and consistency in support services.

Pricing and ROI: Instana Dynamic APM offers competitive pricing with quicker ROI due to efficient performance issue resolution. Google Cloud's operations suite, while potentially costing more, delivers value through extensive features that justify the investment. Differences are seen in cost-effectiveness and the perceived value derived from each solution.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) vs. Instana Dynamic APM Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) 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

Google Cloud's operations s...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

27th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Log Management (30th), Cloud Monitoring Software (20th)

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 Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) is 1.1%, down from 1.5% 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 (%)
Instana Dynamic APM	1.0%
Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)	1.1%
Other	97.9%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Anand_Patel

Senior Technical Architect at T-Systems International GmbH

Offers reliable Ops Agent and logging transport feature with easy third-party integrations

As part of our company, we implemented several changes in our log analytics pattern, including the storage and procurement process. Earlier, before implementing the solution, our company was able to procure only one year of data, but later, we came to the three-year mark. Around 15-20% reduction has been witnessed in the total analytic consumption of our company. The aforementioned result was possible because the solution allowed the creation of a dashboard where factors like storage costs, proportion of logs, and logs presence in a storage bucket or BigQuery can all be checked. Earlier all logs were stored in a raw storage, but currently our company is able to move logs in table bucket that contributes towards cost savings.

Read full review

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…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Google's technical support is very good."

"I like the monitoring feature."

"The features that I have found most valuable are its graphs - if I need any statistics, in Kubernetes or Kong level or VPN level, I can quickly get the reports."

"It's easy to use."

"Offers a valuable logging transport feature"

"The most valuable feature is the multi-cloud integration, where there is support for both GCP and AWS."

"The cloud login enables us to get our logs from the different platforms that we currently use."

"We find the solution to be stable."

More Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) pros

"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."

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

"Sometimes it's able to provide a proper RCA on its own. It's able to correlate different events that occurred and that becomes like an RCA in itself."

"It's great for monitoring services and applications."

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

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

"Instana is very fast to implement and deploy because the dashboards are automated and don't need configuration."

"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."

More Instana Dynamic APM pros

Cons

"The product provides minimal metrics that are insufficient."

"It could be more stable."

"While we are satisfied with the overall performance, in certain cases we must add additional metrics and additional tools like Grafana and Dynatrace."

"It is difficult to estimate in advance how much something is going to cost."

"The process of logging analytics can be improved"

"If I want to track any round-trip or breakdowns of my response times, I'm not able to get it. My request goes through various levels of the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and comes back to my client machine. Suppose that my request has taken 10 seconds overall, so if I want to break it down, to see where the delay is happening within my architecture, I am not able to find that out using Stackdriver."

"It could be even more automated."

"The logging functionality could be better."

More Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) cons

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

"Maybe log monitoring could be better."

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

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

"The solution's monitoring is pretty weak and should be improved."

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

"They could improve the product’s dashboards and provide more dashboard options."

More Instana Dynamic APM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost could be lower."

"We have a basic standard license without any additional costs."

"The cost of using Stackdriver depends on usage."

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

14%

Media Company

Manufacturing Company

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	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

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

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Google Stackdriver?

If the errors are caught early in the interface, it would be easier for users to manage. The process of logging analytics can be improved.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Google Stackdriver?

I use the solution for logging, defining alerts, and monitoring. Our company's Java and Python logging teams mainly use it.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Google Stackdriver?

The Ops Agent and logging transport feature of the solution have had a major impact on improving application performance. The solution also allows the transport of logs into log buckets, which is h...

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

AWS X-Ray vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 26% of the time

Datadog vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 16% of the time

New Relic vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 6% of the time

Amazon CloudWatch vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 5% of the time

Dynatrace vs Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver)

Compared 5% of the time

More Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) 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

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

August 2025

Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) report

Download Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) product report

Buyer's Guide

Instana Dynamic APM

September 2025

Download Instana Dynamic APM product report

Also Known As

Google Stackdriver, Stackdriver Monitoring, Stackdriver Logging, Google Cloud Monitoring

No data available

Overview

Real-time log management and analysis

Cloud Logging is a fully managed service that performs at scale and can ingest application and platform log data, as well as custom log data from GKE environments, VMs, and other services inside and outside of Google Cloud. Get advanced performance, troubleshooting, security, and business insights with Log Analytics, integrating the power of BigQuery into Cloud Logging.

Built-in metrics observability at scale

Cloud Monitoring provides visibility into the performance, uptime, and overall health of cloud-powered applications. Collect metrics, events, and metadata from Google Cloud services, hosted uptime probes, application instrumentation, and a variety of common application components. Visualize this data on charts and dashboards and create alerts so you are notified when metrics are outside of expected ranges.

Stand-alone managed service for running and scaling Prometheus

Managed Service for Prometheus is a fully managed Prometheus-compatible monitoring solution, built on top of the same globally scalable data store as Cloud Monitoring. Keep your existing visualization, analysis, and alerting services, as this data can be queried with PromQL or Cloud Monitoring.

Monitor and improve your application's performance

Application Performance Management (APM) combines the monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities of Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring with Cloud Trace and Cloud Profiler to help you reduce latency and cost so you can run more efficient applications.

Google

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

Uber, Batterii, Q42, Dovetail Games

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

Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) vs. Instana Dynamic APM

September 2025

Free Report: Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver) vs. Instana Dynamic APM

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