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Instana Dynamic APM vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications comparison

Instana and Broadcom are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Instana is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.0, while Broadcom is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.8. Instana holds a 1.0% mindshare in APM, compared to Broadcom’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of Instana users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.
Instana Dynamic APM
Read 14 Instana Dynamic APM reviews
  • 1,942 Views
  • 1,884 Comparison Views
84% willing to recommend
VMware Aria Operations for ...
Read 14 VMware Aria Operations for Applications reviews
  • 3,211 Views
  • 1,702 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

VMware Aria Operations for Applications and Instana Dynamic APM are two competitive APM solutions. Based on user reviews, Instana Dynamic APM seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and ease of use.

Features: VMware Aria Operations for Applications offers robust monitoring and analytics tools, fast issue resolution, and valuable performance insights. Instana Dynamic APM provides automatic discovery, continuous monitoring, and real-time performance visualization, with users finding its features more comprehensive and user-friendly.

Room for Improvement: VMware Aria Operations for Applications needs better scalability, integration with third-party tools, and more intuitive configuration. Instana Dynamic APM could improve its documentation, troubleshooting guides, and provide more detailed control over monitoring settings.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Aria Operations for Applications has a straightforward deployment process but faces initial configuration challenges, with responsive and helpful customer service. Instana Dynamic APM offers seamless deployment with minimal disruption and proactive, effective customer service.

Pricing and ROI: VMware Aria Operations for Applications is competitively priced, leading to a favorable ROI. Instana Dynamic APM has a higher cost, but users find its extensive features and effective performance monitoring justify the investment, resulting in satisfactory ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed Instana Dynamic APM vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications Report (Updated: December 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Instana Dynamic APM vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications
December 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

Instana Dynamic APM
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
30th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Aria Operations for ...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (16th), Container Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Instana Dynamic APM is 1.0%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Applications is 1.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware Aria Operations for Applications1.2%
Instana Dynamic APM1.0%
Other97.8%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Jawwad Hassan - PeerSpot reviewer
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
AS
Ajay Shukla
Consultant at HCLTech
Automation and insightful diagnostics elevate operations while improvements are welcome
The new version 8.18 has brought significant improvements. The main purpose of using this tool is having a single console to manage all entities. The cloud integration capabilities, including private, public, and hybrid, are already well-implemented. The ability to manage multiple vCenters across different geographical locations is very effective. The new Skyline health feature and certificate and licensing management are particularly useful improvements. The dashboard's overview tab provides comprehensive information about current vCenter status, resizable amounts, reclamation opportunities, anomalies, diagnostics, licensing, and certificates. However, there is room for improvement in application analysis. The current functionality lacks detailed monitoring at the kernel level, focusing mainly on CPU, memory, and storage matrices. Enhanced application monitoring capabilities, including tracking downtime for specific types of applications such as transactional or e-commerce applications, would be beneficial.
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

"Visually, it's very good. It provides everything needed for dynamic detection, which is very useful."
"The most valuable feature of Instana Dynamic APM is auto-instrumentation."
"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."
"It is user-friendly, but we encounter issues processing input and understanding the graphics, such as seeing a flatline without knowing the cause. When these problems occur, I have to contact my support team to address and fix them. Also, monitoring processing is good."
"The primary selling point of this product is its unparalleled transparency into the infrastructure."
"The platform’s most valuable feature is the ability to monitor the performance of containers for request and response analysis."
"Instana is very fast to implement and deploy because the dashboards are automated and don't need configuration."
"The overall capabilities are the most valuable."
More Instana Dynamic APM pros
"The solution is great for virtualization and preparing the infrastructure in Tanzu to test products. It's very fast and has good visibility."
"Scalability for VMware Aria Operations for Applications is easy to implement and manage."
"The stability of Aria Operations for Applications has improved significantly over the years."
"This solution allows me to have true visibility for any metrics when it comes to my cloud, and private."
"VMware Aria Operations for Applications offers significant features such as real-time statistics, the ability to identify possible issues within the VM environment, and helpful heat maps."
"It has a familiar interface, which makes it easy to get started."
"I gladly recommend VMware Aria Operations for Applications because it is cost effective and has commendable AI response capabilities."
"People are very pleased with the implementation."
More VMware Aria Operations for Applications pros
 

Cons

"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."
"We'd always like to see additional functionalities."
"While it is already quite good, there is room for improvement in terms of providing better functionality"
"I think that Instana should improve the university and the certification process, so the users can find experts in Instana with their certification module process."
"Many managers, as well as our customers, used to ask for reports, such as "top X number of queries that are slow," or "top pages that have the highest number of issues." This is something that can be improved by Instana. Currently, they don't have that kind of reporting available out-of-the-box."
"The configuration of Instana Dynamic APM needs improvement because it requires quite a bit of work."
"The integration could be improved with more plugins or open API."
"The auto-remediation features must be improved."
More Instana Dynamic APM cons
"Its billing model is consumption-based. I understand the consumption-based model, but it is not necessarily easy to estimate and guess how many points or how much we are going to consume on a specific application up until we get to that point. So, for us, it would be helpful to have more insights or predictability into what we can expect from a cost perspective if we are starting to use specific features. This can potentially also drive our consumption a bit more."
"The initial setup should be easier and more seamless."
"VMware technical support has declined since the Broadcom acquisition. Previously, they were more focused on issue resolution, but now they prioritize licensing verification before providing support."
"The main problem I have is that the license cost is very high."
"The return on investment is best suited for organizations that do not have the resources for a dedicated VM environment team. However, the cost of the product doesn't show significant benefits."
"The documentation and integration with Kubernetes could be improved."
"I would like to see integration with Kubernetes cluster and APIs so that you can manage the entire stack."
"They could make it more easy to plug-in data so that a nontechnical person will be able to use it, like accountants or finance people. That way they don't have to ask us."
More VMware Aria Operations for Applications cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 pricing is $1,200 per year which is a bit high compared to other vendors."
"Instana Dynamic APM is more affordable for small and medium-sized companies compared to other vendors."
"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."
"The solution's pricing is comparable to other products."
"The solution is less expensive than one of its competitors."
"Different locations require different setups. In your terms, around 300 to around 400K USD."
"I would rate the pricing as three out of five."
"I don't have the details. In our case, there is a mixture in place. We have production usage, and we are also doing training for VMware. So, we also have a training instance. It is worth the money you would spend on it. That's because if you were to build all of this yourself by using some of the open source tools, then you would need a lot of time."
"The licensing costs are very high, particularly when you consider that we have to purchase a level 1 license for every integration, such as the load balancer, HAProxy, and the MSSP. And if you want to use vSAN, that's another license. Then, of course, Tanzu Observability has its own separate license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
6%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

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
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?
The solution includes cost drivers that can be configured according to your environment. You can input server-wise, CPU-wise, storage, and memory costs per hour or day. Once cost drivers are provid...
See all answers
What needs improvement with VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?
The new version 8.18 has brought significant improvements. The main purpose of using this tool is having a single console to manage all entities. The cloud integration capabilities, including priva...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?
I have been involved in several projects where I had to implement automation and monitoring alerting. I performed automation using VMware Aria Operations for Applications. There is an automation ta...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs Instana Dynamic APM Logo
Dynatrace vs Instana Dynamic APM
Compared 29% of the time
Splunk AppDynamics vs Instana Dynamic APM Logo
Splunk AppDynamics vs Instana Dynamic APM
Compared 12% of the time
New Relic vs Instana Dynamic APM Logo
New Relic vs Instana Dynamic APM
Compared 7% of the time
Broadcom DX Application Performance Management vs Instana Dynamic APM Logo
Broadcom DX Application Performance Management vs Instana Dynamic APM
Compared 6% of the time
IBM Application Performance Management vs Instana Dynamic APM Logo
IBM Application Performance Management vs Instana Dynamic APM
Compared 6% of the time
More Instana Dynamic APM Competitors
Grafana vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications Logo
Grafana vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications
Compared 7% of the time
Dynatrace vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications Logo
Dynatrace vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications
Compared 6% of the time
Zabbix vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications Logo
Zabbix vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications
Compared 6% of the time
Datadog vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications Logo
Datadog vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications
Compared 5% of the time
PRTG Network Monitor vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications Logo
PRTG Network Monitor vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications
Compared 4% of the time
More VMware Aria Operations for Applications Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Instana Dynamic APM
January 2026
Instana Dynamic APM reportDownload Instana Dynamic APM product report
Buyer's Guide
VMware Aria Operations for Applications
January 2026
VMware Aria Operations for Applications reportDownload VMware Aria Operations for Applications product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
Tanzu Observability, Wavefront, Wavefront by VMware, VMware Tanzu Observability
 

Overview

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

VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront is a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing the performance and availability of applications and infrastructure in real-time. 

With its comprehensive monitoring capabilities, visualizing and analyzing data becomes effortless. The real-time alerting system ensures timely issue resolution, while scalability and a user-friendly interface provide a seamless experience for smooth operations.

Broadcom
 

Sample Customers

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
1. Atlassian 2. Cisco 3. Databricks 4. DigitalOcean 5. Equinix 6. Fidelity Investments 7. Google 8. Hewlett Packard Enterprise 9. Honeywell 10. IBM 11. Intel 12. JetBlue Airways 13. LinkedIn 14. Lyft 15. Mastercard 16. Microsoft 17. MongoDB 18. Netflix 19. Nvidia 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Pinterest 23. Qualcomm 24. Red Hat 25. Salesforce 26. SAP 27. Spotify 28. Square 29. TMobile 30. Twitter 31. Uber 32. VMware
Buyer's Guide
Instana Dynamic APM vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications
December 2025
Free Report: Instana Dynamic APM vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications
Find out what your peers are saying about Instana Dynamic APM vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
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