Instana Dynamic APM vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Instana and Progress Software are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Instana is ranked #20 with an average rating of 7.8, while Progress Software is ranked #26 with an average rating of 9.5. Instana holds a 1.0% mindshare in APM, compared to Progress Software’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of Instana users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

Instana Dynamic APM

Read 14 Instana Dynamic APM reviews

2,223 Views
2,201 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 24 WhatsUp Gold reviews

2,676 Views
883 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Instana Dynamic APM

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

WhatsUp Gold and Instana Dynamic APM are robust network monitoring tools. Users feel WhatsUp Gold excels in ease of deployment and customer service, while Instana Dynamic APM is praised for deeper features and analytics. However, both have areas for improvement that distinctively set them apart.

Features: WhatsUp Gold offers usability, comprehensive monitoring across networks and systems, and easy deployment. Instana Dynamic APM provides advanced analytics, real-time visibility, and automation capabilities, making it ideal for critical environments needing detailed insights.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold users suggest enhancements in scalability, more sophisticated alerting options, and integration capabilities. Instana Dynamic APM users desire better integration with more third-party tools, improved documentation, and refined user interface features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold is noted for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service, making it favorable for those needing quick setup and support. Instana Dynamic APM, while more complex to deploy, offers extensive documentation and strong support, appealing to those who prioritize detailed guidance and comprehensive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold offers a more budget-friendly option with a quicker ROI, according to user reviews. Instana Dynamic APM is perceived as a premium product with a higher initial setup cost, but users feel the investment is justified by its advanced capabilities and long-term benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Instana Dynamic APM vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Instana Dynamic APM vs. WhatsUp Gold

July 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

20th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

26th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (27th), Server Monitoring (15th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (29th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Instana Dynamic APM is 1.0%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

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…

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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 platform’s most valuable feature is the ability to monitor the performance of containers for request and response analysis."

"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."

"With Instana, the interface and the UI are very simple to use."

"Sometimes it's able to provide a proper RCA on its own. It's able to correlate different events that occurred and that becomes like an RCA in itself."

"The overall capabilities are the most valuable."

"Instana is very fast to implement and deploy because the dashboards are automated and don't need configuration."

"Its GUI is really good and it easy to understand for non-technical users."

"The detailing of our application behavior and user experience is most valuable. In case there is an issue, we typically use Instana to figure it out. We can drill down to the application and figure out what's going on and where the issue is."

More Instana Dynamic APM pros

"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."

"The product is reasonably priced."

"Auto scanning is most valuable. It looks for rogue devices on your network."

"I use it on premises to monitor my network database. We monitor the link up/down and use the SNMP traps as well."

"It handles the basics of monitoring."

"The user interface is good enough."

"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."

"Our local support team provides excellent service."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"The integration could be improved with more plugins or open API."

"They could improve the product’s dashboards and provide more dashboard options."

"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."

"The App Connect middleware does not integrate with or show corresponding sub nodes."

"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."

"While it is already quite good, there is room for improvement in terms of providing better functionality"

"The configuration of Instana Dynamic APM needs improvement because it requires quite a bit of work."

"Maybe log monitoring could be better."

More Instana Dynamic APM cons

"Adding on services increases the cost and on the version we have there is no option for ATM monitoring."

"The product is old and not updated."

"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."

"Regional product team support is not very good."

"We can never achieve or get a good picture of the network topology."

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

"Pricing is too high relative to how many devices we use. The price list is not linear to number of devices."

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

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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 solution is less expensive than one of its competitors."

"The solution's pricing is comparable to other products."

"Instana Dynamic APM is more affordable for small and medium-sized companies compared to other vendors."

"The pricing is $1,200 per year which is a bit high compared to other vendors."

"It's reasonably priced and manageable, especially for individuals who grasp the significance of application monitoring."

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

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

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

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

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

"This is a well priced solution."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

30%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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 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...

See all answers

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?

Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be benefici...

See all answers

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 8% of the time

Zabbix vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 7% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Instana Dynamic APM

July 2025

Download Instana Dynamic APM product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

June 2025

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

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

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

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

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

Instana Dynamic APM vs. WhatsUp Gold

July 2025

Free Report: Instana Dynamic APM vs. WhatsUp Gold

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