IBM Instana Observability vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

IBM and Progress Software are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. IBM is ranked #39 with an average rating of 8.0, while Progress Software is ranked #31 with an average rating of 8.7. IBM holds a 0.8% mindshare in APM, compared to Progress Software’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

IBM Instana Observability

Read 3 IBM Instana Observability reviews

954 Views
935 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

2,686 Views
886 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

IBM Instana Observability

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 10, 2025

WhatsUp Gold and IBM Instana Observability compete in network monitoring and observability. WhatsUp Gold attracts cost-aware buyers with its pricing and usability, while IBM Instana stands out due to its advanced features and extensive monitoring, ideal for those seeking comprehensive observability.

Features: WhatsUp Gold emphasizes network map visualization, comprehensive alerting, and straightforward setup. IBM Instana focuses on advanced APM functionalities, real-time analytics, and AI-driven insights.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold offers a straightforward deployment process with minimal setup complexity, catering to users who prioritize quick implementation. IBM Instana, with a more complex deployment, provides robust support and extensive documentation, appealing to users who need high-level customer service and technical guidance.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold is cost-effective, offering solutions with low setup costs and quick ROI, targeting budget-oriented businesses. IBM Instana, requiring a higher investment, provides substantial long-term ROI due to its advanced features, suitable for enterprises investing in comprehensive observability.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Instana Observability vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Instana Observability vs. WhatsUp Gold

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

IBM Instana Observability

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

39th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

31st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (32nd), Server Monitoring (16th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (30th), Configuration Management (17th), Log Management (28th), Cloud Monitoring Software (23rd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of IBM Instana Observability is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 0.6%, up from 0.4% 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 (%)
WhatsUp Gold	0.6%
IBM Instana Observability	0.8%
Other	98.6%

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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Tom Condo

Supervisor Information Services Operations at Seminole County Public Schools

If CPU, memory, or disk space is over-utilized, it alerts us immediately via text or email if there is an issue

When it comes to the intuitiveness of the topology mapping feature, our network architect created a vision diagram of our entire network and then created the links tied into the WhatsUp active monitoring to different spots on our topology map. It's one of the more critical functions we do here. We have the map displayed in different places in our room and help desk. We get alerted via emails but we can also see it visually. It does what it says it's going to do. We find this feature very helpful. The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is. All the information is provided. This feature really helps. You can see the correlation between that link and what failed. This feature is very helpful. The interface is fairly intuitive. Some of our users used SolarWinds and Nagios, and WhatsUp is easy in comparison. Once you get set up, the look, feel, and configuration are good. Our network architect had never used it before but he was able to create the Visio and map. It was very simple. He has no problems with it.

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

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

"NetFlow monitoring, real-time monitoring, and surveys have been the most valuable features for our business."

"The threshold alerting is the most valuable feature."

"The solution effectively monitors network devices and servers."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the visibility it offers of everything in the network and infrastructure."

"It handles the basics of monitoring."

"The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is."

"The most valuable feature is the auto-discovery function."

"The most important features of WhatsUp Gold are the server health and uptime it provides. Additionally, WhatsUp Gold is a Windows-based solution which is a benefit."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

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

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

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

"I might like to see a better interface in the future."

"The initial setup of WhatsUp Gold is a medium range of difficulty levels. However, if it is your first time it could be difficult."

"Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages."

"One of the biggest things that made us start to look at another product is we're not able to have an end to end monitoring from a user perspective throughout the system and back to the user. All the monitoring is from inside out, we need something that also can give us from outside in."

"WhatsUp Gold should work on real-time monitoring and configuration management. If they succeed in doing this, the solution will cover all the network troubleshooting aspects and will be a benefit."

"The tool should focus on increasing its market share, as it is the only area of concern where improvements are needed."

"Integrations with other devices. I want to have a product that has full integration with my active directory so I can track user activity. I want to track my complete user activity, so I'm looking for a product to implement in the near future, which will have full integration with my network and active directory users. It became very difficult to track user activity."

"I would like to see them do an enhancement to the application monitoring. A lot of other products do better application monitoring so they should do some improvements to the application monitoring."

More WhatsUp Gold 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."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

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.

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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 WhatsUp Gold?

The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.

See all answers

Comparisons

Elastic Observability vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 23% of the time

Grafana vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 14% of the time

Dynatrace vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 11% of the time

Splunk Observability Cloud vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 11% of the time

Azure Monitor vs IBM Instana Observability

Compared 10% of the time

More IBM Instana Observability Competitors

Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 12% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 10% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 8% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 7% of the time

Zabbix vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 6% of the time

More WhatsUp Gold Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

September 2025

Download IBM Instana Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

September 2025

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Overview

IBM Instana Observability offers real-time application monitoring and management, designed for automation and intelligence on modern cloud-based environments.

IBM Instana Observability provides deep visibility into application performance, empowering businesses with automated root cause analysis and intelligent alerts to optimize cloud-native applications. It captures and visualizes comprehensive health metrics to enhance operational efficiency across distributed systems, making it an invaluable tool for IT and DevOps teams seeking to improve application reliability and performance.

What are the key features of IBM Instana Observability?

Automatic Discovery: Identifies application components and dependencies without manual configuration.
Real-Time Monitoring: Delivers live data for instant visibility across application metrics.
AI-Powered Root Cause Analysis: Quickly pinpoints issues to reduce downtime and enhance user experience.
Intelligent Alerts: Provides actionable insights, minimizing false alarms.
Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with popular DevOps tools.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating IBM Instana Observability?

Increased Productivity: Reduces manual monitoring efforts, enhancing team efficiency.
Enhanced Performance: Improves application responsiveness and user satisfaction.
Cost Efficiency: Optimizes resource allocation, leading to reduced operational costs.
Scalable Solutions: Adapts to growing business needs, ensuring long-term value.
Detailed Insights: Offers granularity in monitoring, aiding in swift decision-making.

IBM Instana Observability is widely adopted across industries like finance, healthcare, and retail, addressing specific challenges in each sector. In finance, it helps manage high-volume transactions with minimal latency. Healthcare benefits from its compliance support and reliable data monitoring. Retail industries utilize it for maintaining seamless customer interactions and operational uptime, ensuring business continuity and customer satisfaction.

IBM

Explore and manage your entire network infrastructure effortlessly with WhatsUp Gold's robust layer 2/3 discovery, creating a detailed interactive map from the edge to the cloud. Monitor devices, wireless controllers, servers, virtual machines, applications, and traffic flows across various environments. Real-time alerts ensure optimal performance, allowing you to meet or exceed SLAs. The platform offers customizable maps, dashboards, and alerts for easy network management. Quickly resolve issues with intuitive workflows, reducing Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). WhatsUp Gold's integrated log management provides easy visibility and control of device log data, allowing monitoring, filtering, searching, and alerting on syslogs or Windows logs. Archive logs to comply with regulatory requirements and preserve historical data, all through a user-friendly interface. Streamline network monitoring and issue resolution with WhatsUp Gold, making network management efficient and hassle-free.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

IBM Instana Observability vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2025

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