IBM Instana Observability vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

IBM and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. IBM is ranked #45 with an average rating of 8.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.4. IBM holds a 0.5% mindshare in APM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

IBM Instana Observability

Read 3 IBM Instana Observability reviews

636 Views
398 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 42 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

3,263 Views
2,160 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

IBM Instana Observability

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Instana Observability and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Instana Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Instana Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

June 2025

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Helped 857,688 peers since 2012

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

IBM Instana Observability

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

45th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

18th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (12th), Active Directory Management (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of IBM Instana Observability is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.6%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Tomas Kim

Managing Director at BA Solutions

Not expensive and offers good performance

The most valuable feature of the solution is performance. A one-vendor solution serves as a good feature of the tool. In the IT industry, the IT support team has lots of vendors to contact. DB monitoring is done by one company, while WaaS monitoring is done by another and done by another company, which makes it really complicated for the IT team concerned about the security levels. The tool's main feature is that it is a one-vendor solution. The analysis done by the tool is a good feature. The tool is used as an open-source tool. The tool is growing, and new features are being added to the product.

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Carlos Camargo

Senior Operations Manager at Sencinet

Provides user-friendly API features and has straightforward deployment process

One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules. The misalignment of licensing terms can present commercial challenges when adding new modules or additional pollers. Additionally, the granularity of polling times for specific components could be enhanced to better meet individual customers' needs without impacting the entire polling pool.

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

"The solution has a one-second resolution, giving you the status of your application within one second."

"The most valuable features of IBM Instana are its quick data collection and analytics after installing the agent."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is performance."

"AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters."

"Solarwinds has an open database that allows you to do serious integrations. It doesn't matter which service desk you have, you can implement and integrate it with SolarWinds."

"AppInsight. Provides a simple way to get very in-depth monitoring configured for our most popular applications. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint."

"It is simple to implement and can provide fairly decent Windows-based monitoring, beyond simple SNMP. It is great for monitoring newbies and smaller shops."

"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."

"It's good at monitoring system-specific things like ports, services."

"SolarWinds SAM has significantly improved our workflow by allowing us to develop a comprehensive knowledge base of known errors and automate responses to specific alerts."

"The most valuable feature is application monitoring."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"One area that requires improvement is related to the automation part, specifically automated actions like sending SMS."

"The product's initial setup phase is not very easy."

"The solution should include log management and improve reporting and integration with Cognos."

"The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts."

"Currently SolarWinds SAM offers AppInsight for modern versions of: IIS, Exchange, SQL Server. They have shown to be powerful and insightful tools. However, AppInsight needs to be offered for more applications: Citrix, SharePoint, AX, etc."

"This product has no real downside unless they fail to continue development of its capabilities."

"The technical support was better in previous years. With the launch of the premium support service, the normal support has declined."

"I would like to see support for non-Windows or non-Microsoft domains, especially Apache and other non-Windows servers."

"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."

"The technical support team's response time could be improved."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The product might cost you $30,000 USD to buy, but scaling this solution requires the purchase of additional polling engines at $20,000 USD each."

"Price can always be lower. It is neither on the expensive side nor on the cheap side. We have worked with them for a lot of years, so we get a discount due to the size of the installation."

"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."

"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."

"I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."

"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."

"The licenses start from USD 3000.00 and go up to USD 20,000.00 for the year. It's a perpetual license. Nothing is free in SolarWinds, anything that you need is an additional cost."

"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Instana Observability?

The tool's cost is normal as per the market. The tool is not expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Instana Observability?

The tool should offer more LDR AI models. The monitoring is just a status, but the next level of a monitoring solution is to prevent an accident or stop an accident status. The solution should be t...

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What is your primary use case for IBM Instana Observability?

Before IBM, I ordered our company's engineer to have a look at the tool and test it. I think it was two years ago, the transfer to IBM happened in our company. At the beginning, IBM Instana Observa...

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Identifying the problem statement is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

The initial cost is quite high, but the renewal cost is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

There are no specific features or functionality I would like to see improved or enhanced in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor at this time. I have not encountered any missing features or fu...

See all answers

Comparisons

Elastic Observability vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 35% of the time

Grafana vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 17% of the time

Splunk Observability Cloud vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 10% of the time

IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 8% of the time

Dynatrace vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Instana Observability Competitors

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 19% of the time

Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 18% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 10% of the time

Prometheus Group vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

June 2025

Download IBM Instana Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

May 2025

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

IBM Instana Observability is a versatile tool tailored for real-time monitoring and management of applications, especially in complex cloud environments. It excels in automated root cause analysis, improving system reliability, and dynamic graphing for visualizing system interconnections. With features like real-time alerting, it enhances operational efficiency and aids in prompt issue resolution, making it invaluable for maintaining robust IT operations.

IBM

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

IBM Instana Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

June 2025

Free Report: IBM Instana Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Instana Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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