IBM Instana Observability vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

IBM and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. IBM is ranked #45 with an average rating of 8.0, while Splunk is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.7. IBM holds a 0.5% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

IBM Instana Observability

Read 3 IBM Instana Observability reviews

636 Views
398 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 52 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

2,105 Views
865 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM Instana Observability

Splunk Observability Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 11, 2025

Splunk Observability Cloud and IBM Instana Observability are direct competitors in the domain of observability solutions. While Splunk holds an edge in complex data settings with its pricing flexibility, IBM Instana leads with its comprehensive features despite higher costs.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud is noted for its scalability, seamless data source integration, and robust alerting. It is particularly effective in handling complex data environments. IBM Instana Observability emphasizes automated monitoring, AI-driven insights, and detailed application performance data, catering to businesses that require thorough application analysis.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Instana provides streamlined deployment and strong customer support, resulting in a smoother onboarding process. Splunk, with its flexible deployment model, focuses on easy integration with existing systems. The reliability of IBM Instana's deployment process and customer service is beneficial for organizations that prioritize quick implementation and support.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Observability Cloud's flexible pricing model often leads to cost-effective solutions with a strong return on investment. IBM Instana, with a more rigid pricing structure, offers comprehensive features and depth of insights, potentially yielding higher long-term returns. Businesses prioritizing budget might prefer Splunk, while those needing detailed performance management might benefit more from IBM Instana.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Instana Observability vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Instana Observability vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

June 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

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

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

11th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (7th), Cloud Monitoring Software (8th), Container Management (7th)

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 Splunk Observability Cloud is 1.2%, up from 0.5% 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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Lakshmi Padaga

Java Developer at U.S. Bank

Collaborates performance metrics with log data to pinpoint the exact cause of issues and offers error detection

Splunk APM is a robust tool with many capabilities. There are always areas for potential improvement to enhance its functionality and user experience. For Splunk APM, there could be simplified navigation, like streamlining the user interface to make navigation more intuitive for our users, especially those new to APM, which can enhance usability. We can provide more customization options for dashboards and visualizations to help users tailor the platform to their specific needs. There could be more integration capabilities with a wider range of third-party tools and platforms would also be beneficial. By focusing on these areas, Splunk APM can enhance its value proposition, improve user satisfaction, and better meet the evolving needs of organizations monitoring their application performance.

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 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."

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

"The solution's service map feature allows us to have a holistic overview and to see quickly where the issues are."

"The features are pretty much ready out of the box."

"It has been beneficial for our IT infrastructure."

"The most valuable feature is log reporting."

"We haven't really experienced any glitches or bugs."

"It's a very easy-to-use solution."

"Detectors are a powerful feature."

"The most beneficial aspect of Splunk APM is the ATM, which is the map displaying the inbound and outbound relationships of the microservices, as well as the traffic between these dependencies. This feature provides us with valuable insights and helps us understand the interactions between different microservices."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

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

"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 security could be better."

"The end-to-end visibility is lacking because Splunk cannot directly monitor network devices."

"We have both on-prem and cloud, and the challenge is getting all our log data aggregated or streams aggregated so that it is real-time. We do a pretty good job of that, but our organization is not using it as a security platform when it can do a great job of that."

"The solution should have more sensors regarding fiber intelligence for security measures."

"It does not have a user-friendly interface and it is difficult to use."

"In the next release, I would like to see more integration with other solutions."

"We currently lack log analysis capabilities in Splunk APM."

"It would be useful if they provided some help pages. If you don't know too much about the tool, there should be more documentation readily available. It would be useful if they had a help button embedded in the solution so you could ask questions and get answers."

More Splunk Observability Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is reasonable compared to that of its competitors like Dynatrace."

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

"I would rate the price of Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring as an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

"Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring is an expensive solution."

"Splunk Observability Cloud is expensive."

"Splunk offers a 14-day free trial and after that, we have to pay but the cost is reasonable."

"It appears to be expensive compared to competitors."

"Splunk APM is a very cost-efficient solution."

"Splunk has been fairly expensive, but it has been predictable."

"The price of Splunk APM is less than some of its competitors."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Hospitality Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

15%

Retailer

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...

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What do you like most about SignalFx?

The most valuable feature is dashboard creation.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SignalFx?

Regarding dashboard customization, while Splunk has many dashboard building options, customers sometimes need to create specific dashboards, particularly for applicative metrics such as Java and pr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SignalFx?

The solution involves observability in general, such as Application Performance Monitoring, and generally addresses digital applications, web applications, sites, and mobile applications. I worked ...

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Comparisons

Elastic Observability vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 36% of the time

Grafana vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 17% 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

BMC TrueSight Operations Management vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM Instana Observability Competitors

Observe vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 18% of the time

Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Rancher Labs vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

More Splunk Observability Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

June 2025

Download IBM Instana Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

May 2025

Download Splunk Observability Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring

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

Splunk Observability Cloud combines log search, data integration, and dashboards for seamless monitoring, enhancing infrastructure visibility and security. Its cloud integration and scalability support diverse environments, improving operational efficiency.

Splunk Observability Cloud offers comprehensive monitoring tools with user-friendly interfaces, enabling end-to-end infrastructure visibility. Its real-time alerting and predictive capabilities enhance security monitoring, while centralized dashboards provide cross-platform visibility. Users benefit from fast data integration and extensive insights into application performance. Despite its advantages, improvements could be made in integration with other tools, data reliability, scalability, and cost management. Users face challenges in configuration complexity and require better automation and endpoint protection features. Enhancing AI integration, alerts, and adaptation for high-throughput services could further improve usability.

What are the key features of Splunk Observability Cloud?

Log Search: Efficiently search and analyze log data for enhanced insights.
Data Integration: Fast integration across platforms for comprehensive visibility.
Custom Dashboards: Powerful and adaptable dashboards for real-time monitoring.
Cloud Integration: Seamless integration with cloud services for scalable solutions.
Application Performance Monitoring: Advanced tools for improving application performance.

What benefits and ROI should be expected?

Infrastructure Monitoring: Improved visibility and monitoring across infrastructure components.
Operational Efficiency: Enhancements in data analysis lead to efficient operations.
Business Resilience: Supports adaptability and swift responses to changing needs.
Security Management: Enhances threat identification and response through real-time alerts.
Compliance Support: Aids in meeting compliance and auditing requirements effectively.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Splunk Observability Cloud is implemented for application performance monitoring and infrastructure metrics. Its ability to track incidents and analyze machine data benefits network infrastructure, while distributed tracing and log analysis aid in tackling security threats. Organizations often integrate it for compliance and auditing purposes, enhancing visibility into network traffic and optimizing performance.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Sunrun, Yelp, Onshape, Tapjoy, Symphony Commerce, Chairish, Clever, Grovo, Bazaar Voice, Zenefits, Avalara

Buyer's Guide

IBM Instana Observability vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

June 2025

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