Instana Infrastructure Monitoring vs Microsoft System Center comparison

Instana and Microsoft are both solutions in the Cloud Monitoring Software category. Instana is ranked #25 with an average rating of 9.5, while Microsoft is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.4. Instana holds a 0.8% mindshare in CMS, compared to Microsoft’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Instana users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Instana Infrastructure Moni...

Read 2 Instana Infrastructure Monitoring reviews

739 Views
576 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft System Center

Read 19 Microsoft System Center reviews

469 Views
272 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Instana Infrastructure Moni...

Microsoft System Center

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Microsoft System Center and Instana Infrastructure Monitoring are products that compete in IT infrastructure management and monitoring. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring appears to have the upper hand with its advanced analytics and automation capabilities.

Features: Microsoft System Center provides an integrated suite for operations management, configuration management, and data protection. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring offers real-time monitoring, automated anomaly detection, and AI-powered insights.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft System Center requires more extensive setup time but integrates seamlessly within Microsoft environments. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring deploys faster and offers agile customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft System Center's competitive pricing provides solid ROI for Microsoft-based workflows. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring, with higher initial costs, offers long-term returns through performance optimization and downtime reduction.

To learn more, read our detailed Instana Infrastructure Monitoring vs. Microsoft System Center Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Instana Infrastructure Monitoring vs. Microsoft System Center

July 2025

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Helped 865,384 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

Instana Infrastructure Moni...

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

25th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (37th)

Microsoft System Center

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

19th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Cloud Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Instana Infrastructure Monitoring is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft System Center is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Hakimuddin Ronaque

Assistant Manager at Lauren Information Technologies Pvt Ltd

Has the capability to automatically integrate with a large number of products

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. I have not worked much on other technologies, like SAP or VMware's virtualization part, on-prem infrastructure, or cloud infrastructure. Instana Infrastructure Monitoring is so fast and easy to adapt that it works fine. I have not explored other operating systems or infrastructure solutions because my company doesn't have that customer scale. Most of our customers are on-prem or on AWS or Azure, but Instana Infrastructure Monitoring adapts to their infrastructure very well. My company came to know how well Instana Infrastructure Monitoring adapts to our customers' infrastructures when we take care of the PoC phase. Around 12 to 15 people in my company use the product.

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Ajinkya Mohod

System Security Engineer at Punch Powertrain nv

Makes user management and application management easy for users

Speaking about the impact of the automation feature that impacted our company's operational efficiency, I can say that the complete tool works on automation. You just have to configure it, and it works, especially in areas like auto-patching updates. I suggest that others can definitely go ahead with Microsoft System Center, especially beginners who choose it, can get hands-on experience with it, and acquire a good understanding of how things work. In terms of the value and benefits derived from the use of the solution, I can say that my company's operations have been made simpler because of the product, especially in areas like user management and application management where we have been benefited a lot. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

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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 product is easy to deploy."

"The product's initial setup is easy."

"The features that I have found most valuable are the ease of configuration and the easy discovery of the environment."

"System Center helps to create the basis for ITIL alignment."

"We like Microsoft System Center's Operations Manager. That is primarily why we use it."

"I like the automated features of it that let you schedule those updates and the ability of the product to focus on the specific updates, specific platforms, and products that we're interested in keeping up to date."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it helps us manage our company's application pool, license pool, application update pool, and OS updates."

"The solution is easily available. That's its most valuable aspect."

"It can generate KPIs and management reports with monthly presentations on activities and updating the environment (success and failure)."

"The deployment and asset management features are the most valuable. These are the product's main features."

More Microsoft System Center pros

Cons

"Instana Infrastructure Monitoring needs to support monitoring of the .NET framework since it is one of the areas where the solution currently has shortcomings."

"The product’s scalability is an area with certain limitations, making it an area where improvements are required."

"Implementation and integration in the case of multi-tenant environments needs improvement."

"Less server consumption would help, as would better, more flexible reports."

"Could be more user friendly."

"Something super important that we need is this integration via Intune Configuration Manager."

"For me, the tool's UI seems to be too old."

"The platform's performance could be improved. Additionally, its UI needs to be well-upgraded and work faster."

"The multi-tenancy support needs to be improved. We need to have the ability to manage several different environments from one central point of administration."

"Microsoft System Center should be easier to manage. However, it is complex to deploy, so people hesitate to use it. Though it has many features, such as licensing, asset tracking, and software deployment, we mainly use it for Windows updates. It protects many screens and integrates with databases, but it's complex compared to other solutions. Many now use cloud-based products or other tools like Automox to deploy updates and manage vulnerabilities."

More Microsoft System Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of the tool is around 130 USD per month."

"I rate the product price as five to six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is cheap and ten means it is expensive."

"We maximized our license investment."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"I know that sometimes there is some reduction in the prices of Microsoft System Center because of the costs of Microsoft SQL Server, which can be advantageous."

"It's rolled into our enterprise subscription. The entire subscription is around $25,000 a year, however, that covers all the products that we use."

"Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly."

"Microsoft System Center is quite expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Instana Infrastructure Monitoring?

The product is easy to deploy.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Instana Infrastructure Monitoring?

The product’s scalability is an area with certain limitations, making it an area where improvements are required.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Instana Infrastructure Monitoring?

I use the solution in my company, especially if an application is down and it is considered to be a P1 issue or a critical issue. The network team will blame the application team, while the applica...

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What do you like most about Microsoft System Center?

The product's initial setup phase was easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center should be easier to manage. However, it is complex to deploy, so people hesitate to use it. Though it has many features, such as licensing, asset tracking, and software depl...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 27% of the time

Zabbix vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 14% of the time

Splunk Observability Cloud vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 14% of the time

Amazon CloudWatch vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 12% of the time

OpsRamp vs Instana Infrastructure Monitoring

Compared 10% of the time

More Instana Infrastructure Monitoring Competitors

VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 38% of the time

JBoss Enterprise Application Platform vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 27% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 19% of the time

IBM BPM vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 15% of the time

More Microsoft System Center Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

July 2025

Instana Infrastructure Monitoring report

Download Instana Infrastructure Monitoring product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft System Center

August 2025

Download Microsoft System Center product report

Also Known As

No data available

MS System Center

Overview

Instana ensures that your application delivery organization has the data, visibility and information they need to manage the performance of critical business applications across the DevOps lifecycle. Built to handle the dynamic nature of containerized, microservice architectures, Instana automates infrastructure and application monitoring helping you to ensure the performance and quality of custom applications and accelerate your CI/CD cycle.

Instana

System Center helps customers realize the benefits of the Microsoft Cloud Platform by delivering unified management. Experience fast time-to-value with out-of-the-box monitoring, provisioning, configuration, automation, protection and self-service.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

booxware, drivenow, scopevisio, enevo, TimoCom, mobitech

Kassen_rztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Adeka, QualCare, Aeriandi, UniCredit Bank d.d., Mostar, Allianz Australia Ltd., Grupo Familia

Buyer's Guide

Instana Infrastructure Monitoring vs. Microsoft System Center

July 2025

Free Report: Instana Infrastructure Monitoring vs. Microsoft System Center

Find out what your peers are saying about Instana Infrastructure Monitoring vs. Microsoft System Center and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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