

Find out in this report how the two Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
It provides a single pane of glass from which I can see what is happening with all the servers in my infrastructure, which saves time.
It made a notable difference from when we were almost blind to being able to respond to calls immediately.
If we have a monitoring tool, we can save our transactions and see the performance of the application using MTTR and MTTD.
They are very slow to respond and integrate new features.
IBM support for Instana is responsive and helpful.
We did have experiences where a significant issue arose during implementation, often involving compatibility problems with JavaScript libraries used by IBM Instana Observability.
They need to work on their response time and overall competence.
The distributor's support is rated an eight out of ten, indicating room for improvement in SLA handling.
I am actually happy with technical support from NETSCOUT.
More innovations are coming in every day, so it is scalable and more applications are becoming container-based.
IBM Instana Observability demonstrates scalability, especially in dynamic, distributed environments such as microservices and Kubernetes.
The solution is highly scalable and accommodates the growth needs effectively.
It is not similar to software solutions Datadog or Dynatrace where they can easily add agents without problems.
Datadog is more stable than NETSCOUT nGeniusONE, being a SaaS-based solution compared to on-prem solutions like NETSCOUT.
I rate the stability of NETSCOUT nGeniusONE as ten out of ten since we have not experienced any escalations or downtime issues from the end user's side.
Customers are more sensitive about NETSCOUT nGeniusONE's upgrades because it has hardware.
I had many false positives with IBM Instana Observability. Then I fixed the filters and it became more accurate on the errors reported.
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.
It is not open-source, and I have to be a partner to get more access to the products.
Customers want to have service assurance, including NPM and APM, from one vendor.
It would be beneficial to see more AI capabilities included in nGeniusONE to further streamline processes.
Many big companies Samsung and Hyundai try to build their own monitoring solutions using open-source tools and their own engineers, though it has not been successful.
I find the cost of IBM Instana Observability to be very affordable compared to competitors because the pricing mechanism is based on the host that we monitor, unlike other competitors such as DataDog and Dynatrace, whose pricing is based on other factors.
It is not that costly, especially since we only use two instances.
I think the pricing is good and I do not think it is high.
The cost depends on the size of the customer, as sizing controls the pricing.
Regarding its high price, I give NETSCOUT nGeniusONE a seven.
IBM Instana Observability has positively impacted my organization by making it easy to observe the entire infrastructure under one platform, which was the biggest advantage of onboarding onto IBM Instana Observability.
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.
With multiple servers and multiple applications, IBM Instana Observability allows us to resolve issues very quickly because we immediately know that a disk is full, the storage is full, or the database is down.
The capability of real-time traffic intelligence is also very useful because it allows for the comparison between real-time and historical packet levels.
Their analysis capability actually surpasses other APM solutions, which is why customers love it.
NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE has an easier dashboard to manipulate compared to SolarWinds.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| IBM Instana Observability | 0.7% |
| NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability | 0.8% |
| Other | 98.5% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 6 |
| Large Enterprise | 5 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 26 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 13 |
| Large Enterprise | 59 |
IBM Instana Observability offers real-time metrics, one-second resolution, and integrates alerts with Slack and email, enhancing IT and application monitoring. It aids teams in identifying system issues quickly and effectively, streamlining IT management.
IBM Instana Observability provides a single-vendor solution for seamless observability in distributed environments, integrating one-second resolution metrics, robust application monitoring, and detailed observability maps. Its comprehensive dashboards enhance collaboration by offering real-time insights into infrastructure, traffic flow, and incident tracking. Enhanced tracing and business monitoring help in identifying bottlenecks, improving efficiency. Users can customize dashboards for tailored insights, though some suggest integrating log management and improving interface speed with large datasets. Additional challenges include alerting integration complexity and the need for advanced AI models. Enhancements in reporting, particularly with Cognos, and better support are areas of user feedback.
What features make IBM Instana Observability effective?IBM Instana Observability is widely deployed in monitoring infrastructure and application performance, especially in distributed systems like Kubernetes and OpenShift. It is utilized for insights into microservices management, dynamic communication tracking, and service dependency identification. Popular in academic and consultancy sectors, the tool supports everything from databases to cloud platforms and employs synthetic monitoring to check endpoints effectively.
NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability enhances network operations by offering powerful packet analysis and real-time insights. It transforms raw data into intelligence and simplifies troubleshooting, ensuring effective monitoring across diverse platforms.
NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability delivers comprehensive visibility and interoperability with a single pane of glass to aid in quick troubleshooting and traffic monitoring. It provides real-time insights and metrics that enhance network evaluations, helping transform raw data into actionable intelligence for better performance monitoring across diverse environments. However, it faces challenges like complexity, non-intuitive dashboard setup, and high server requirements. Enhancements in data analysis, visualization, and security features, along with improved integration with other products and detailed alerts, are needed.
What are the key features of NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability?
What benefits do users highlight?
NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability is widely implemented in industries such as telecom and banking for network troubleshooting and application performance management. It helps in monitoring infrastructure, capturing unknown traffic, and managing bandwidth. The tool supports security alerts, real-time communications analysis, and proactive monitoring of remote sites, aiding in efficient network operations and enhanced end-user experience.
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