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Compare Datadog and IBM Instana 
Featured Products
At a Glance
Market Segments
Mid-Market (47.3% of reviews)
Mid-Market (41.1% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
$0 Per host, per month
Starting at $18.00
Datadog
Star Rating
(690)4.4 out of 5
Market Segments
Mid-Market (47.3% of reviews)
Pros & Cons
Entry-Level Pricing
$0 Per host, per month
Free Trial is available
Browse all 3 pricing plansIBM Instana
Star Rating
(459)4.4 out of 5
Market Segments
Mid-Market (41.1% of reviews)
Pros & Cons
Entry-Level Pricing
Starting at $18.00
Free Trial is available
Browse all 2 pricing plansDatadog vs IBM Instana
When assessing the two solutions, reviewers found IBM Instana easier to use, set up, and administer. However, reviewers felt that both vendors make it equally easy to do business overall.
- Reviewers felt that Datadog meets the needs of their business better than IBM Instana.
- When comparing quality of ongoing product support, reviewers felt that IBM Instana is the preferred option.
- For feature updates and roadmaps, our reviewers preferred the direction of Datadog over IBM Instana.
Pricing
Entry-Level Pricing
Datadog
Free
$0
Per host, per month
Core collection and visualization features
- Discussion Group Supported
- 1-Day Metric Retention
- Up to 5 Hosts
IBM Instana
Essentials
Starting at $18.00
Automatic discovery, mapping and monitoring of Infrastructure
- Includes All Infrastructure Monitoring Features
- Includes End User Monitoring
- Includes Unbounded Analytics
Free Trial
Datadog
Free Trial is available
IBM Instana
Free Trial is available
Ratings
Meets Requirements
8.8
513
8.6
349
Ease of Use
8.2
614
8.6
362
Ease of Setup
8.3
380
8.9
200
Ease of Admin
8.3
231
8.4
129
Quality of Support
8.3
457
8.6
314
Has the product been a good partner in doing business?
8.5
218
8.5
129
Product Direction (% positive)
9.0
498
8.5
335
Features by Category
Operations
7.8
6
Not enough data
8.1
6
Not enough data
7.1
8
Not enough data
8.0
5
Not enough data
Cost Optimization
7.7
8
Not enough data
7.5
6
Not enough data
7.7
5
Not enough data
Administration
8.3
6
Not enough data
8.1
7
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Cloud Cost Management
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Functionality
8.7
55
9.2
20
9.3
71
9.4
20
9.1
63
9.3
20
8.8
57
9.2
19
8.9
57
9.3
19
9.0
50
8.8
18
Agentic AI - Website Monitoring
7.3
5
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
8.3
5
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
Experience
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Management
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Performance
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Functionality
9.2
104
9.4
13
9.1
105
8.8
13
9.3
89
8.7
13
8.9
104
8.6
13
8.8
88
8.8
12
8.9
93
8.5
13
Agentic AI - Database Monitoring
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Functionality
9.2
52
Not enough data
9.3
57
Not enough data
8.2
43
Not enough data
8.5
45
Not enough data
Monitoring - Network Monitoring
9.3
5
Not enough data
9.0
5
Not enough data
9.3
5
Not enough data
Management
8.7
49
Not enough data
9.0
50
Not enough data
8.8
47
Not enough data
Analytics - Network Monitoring
9.0
5
Not enough data
9.0
5
Not enough data
Security - Network Monitoring
9.0
5
Not enough data
9.0
5
Not enough data
9.0
5
Not enough data
Network Performance - Network Monitoring
9.0
5
Not enough data
9.0
5
Not enough data
AI Automation - Network Monitoring
8.3
5
Not enough data
8.7
5
Not enough data
8.7
5
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Network Monitoring
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Monitoring
8.9
120
8.9
131
8.6
116
8.4
121
8.8
110
8.9
129
8.8
130
8.7
133
8.3
7
9.7
6
Administration
8.5
114
8.6
126
8.5
96
8.7
104
8.3
93
8.5
100
8.6
7
9.4
6
Analysis
8.5
112
8.5
114
8.9
121
8.5
131
Feature Not Available
8.3
99
Agentic AI - Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring
7.9
8
Not enough data
8.8
8
Not enough data
7.3
8
Not enough data
7.5
8
Not enough data
7.9
8
Not enough data
7.9
7
Not enough data
AI Automation - Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring
8.1
7
Not enough data
7.4
7
Not enough data
Automation
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
8.1
7
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
8.5
9
Not enough data
Functionality
8.7
10
Not enough data
8.0
10
Not enough data
8.0
9
Not enough data
9.2
10
Not enough data
Incident Management
8.6
12
Not enough data
9.2
12
Not enough data
9.0
12
Not enough data
Functionality
9.1
16
8.7
27
8.5
17
8.4
25
9.4
21
9.0
34
Issue Resolution
9.0
19
9.1
34
9.1
16
8.9
32
Feature Not Available
8.7
33
Management
8.7
19
9.0
33
9.6
19
8.9
33
8.9
19
8.7
30
Generative AI
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Agentic AI - AIOps Platforms
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Visibility
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
8.0
5
Not enough data
7.7
5
Monitoring and Management
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Hardware Monitoring
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Visibility
8.9
93
9.7
6
8.9
91
9.2
6
8.8
81
8.6
6
Monitoring and Management
8.2
83
7.8
6
8.6
85
7.2
6
9.0
91
8.1
6
Agentic AI - Log Monitoring
7.3
8
Not enough data
7.1
8
Not enough data
8.1
8
Not enough data
7.3
8
Not enough data
7.9
8
Not enough data
7.3
8
Not enough data
7.5
8
Not enough data
Visibility
8.9
77
Not enough data
8.6
72
Not enough data
8.2
70
Not enough data
Monitoring and Management
8.4
70
Not enough data
7.6
65
Not enough data
8.4
67
Not enough data
9.0
71
Not enough data
8.8
66
Not enough data
8.3
71
Not enough data
Cloud environment support
8.1
62
Not enough data
8.0
59
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Server Monitoring
7.7
5
Not enough data
8.0
5
Not enough data
9.0
5
Not enough data
7.0
5
Not enough data
7.3
5
Not enough data
7.0
5
Not enough data
7.7
5
Not enough data
Functionality
8.7
47
10.0
6
8.8
49
10.0
6
9.0
54
10.0
6
7.9
42
9.7
6
Management
8.6
48
10.0
6
8.6
52
10.0
6
8.2
44
10.0
6
9.0
52
10.0
6
Agentic AI - Enterprise Monitoring
7.8
9
Not enough data
8.3
9
Not enough data
7.8
9
Not enough data
8.1
9
Not enough data
7.5
10
Not enough data
8.1
9
Not enough data
8.1
9
Not enough data
Data Sources
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Analytics
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Metrics
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Device Recognition
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Monitoring
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Provisioning
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
Feature Not Available
Not enough data
Data Preparation
8.6
65
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.4
63
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.0
61
|
Verified
Not enough data
7.9
62
|
Verified
Not enough data
Analysis
8.6
60
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.4
67
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.8
68
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.5
71
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.6
62
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.7
59
|
Verified
Not enough data
Visualization
8.9
75
|
Verified
Not enough data
8.7
63
|
Verified
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Log Analysis
7.8
6
Not enough data
7.8
6
Not enough data
8.9
6
Not enough data
7.8
6
Not enough data
8.1
6
Not enough data
7.5
6
Not enough data
7.8
6
Not enough data
Monitoring
8.6
113
8.5
165
8.9
106
8.6
176
8.9
118
8.9
178
7.3
99
7.6
124
8.4
105
8.5
159
Response
8.9
123
8.6
172
8.8
110
8.4
167
8.0
107
8.2
157
Agentic AI - Application Performance Monitoring (APM)
7.4
13
7.0
10
8.1
13
8.0
10
7.9
13
7.3
10
8.1
13
7.3
10
7.8
13
7.4
11
Performance
8.5
118
8.3
140
8.3
103
8.4
154
Functionality
8.5
106
8.1
133
8.1
96
8.4
130
Feature Not Available
8.2
130
8.5
112
8.5
151
Alerts management
8.7
43
8.1
40
8.0
45
8.1
44
8.6
47
8.4
56
Monitoring
8.6
39
8.3
56
9.1
41
8.8
61
8.7
43
8.2
56
9.0
38
8.9
55
Automation
8.2
38
7.9
35
8.4
36
7.9
37
Analysis
8.2
41
8.2
54
8.3
44
8.1
45
9.1
43
8.6
60
8.5
42
8.5
41
Issue Resolution
8.3
37
8.5
52
7.6
39
7.6
44
8.4
35
8.2
46
Generative AI
7.5
17
8.7
10
Agentic AI - IT Alerting
7.4
7
8.3
5
7.9
7
8.3
5
8.8
7
8.3
5
7.9
7
8.0
5
8.1
6
8.3
5
7.9
7
8.0
5
8.3
7
8.3
5
Data Management - Observability Pipeline
7.8
6
Not enough data
8.0
9
Not enough data
7.4
7
Not enough data
7.5
6
Not enough data
7.0
9
Not enough data
Performance - Observability Pipeline
6.7
8
Not enough data
8.1
9
Not enough data
7.0
9
Not enough data
AI - Observability Pipeline
6.4
7
Not enough data
6.1
6
Not enough data
6.7
6
Not enough data
Compliance - Observability Pipeline
6.9
6
Not enough data
6.1
6
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Observability Pipeline
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Telemetry Collection & Ingestion - Observability
8.3
10
Not enough data
8.8
8
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Observability Software
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Visualization & Dashboards - Observability
8.7
9
Not enough data
9.0
10
Not enough data
8.8
8
Not enough data
Correlation & Root Cause Analysis - Observability
9.2
10
Not enough data
8.3
9
Not enough data
8.7
10
Not enough data
Scalability & Ecosystem Integration - Observability
9.3
9
Not enough data
8.5
8
Not enough data
AI Features - Observability
7.9
8
Not enough data
8.8
8
Not enough data
8.3
8
Not enough data
Response
Feature Not Available
9.0
8
Feature Not Available
8.6
7
Feature Not Available
7.9
8
7.9
47
8.6
7
Records
9.2
55
9.0
7
8.9
53
9.0
7
8.5
60
8.3
6
Management
9.3
58
9.4
6
8.4
52
8.6
6
Feature Not Available
8.6
6
Generative AI
7.1
13
8.3
5
7.9
13
8.3
5
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)Hide 14 FeaturesShow 14 Features
8.8
14
Not enough data
Network Management
8.8
11
Not enough data
8.3
11
Not enough data
9.4
12
Not enough data
Incident Management
9.3
12
Not enough data
9.2
11
Not enough data
9.2
12
Not enough data
Security Intelligence
7.9
12
Not enough data
8.0
10
Not enough data
8.8
11
Not enough data
8.6
13
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Categories
Categories
Shared Categories
Datadog and IBM Instana are categorized as Observability Software, Enterprise Monitoring, Server Monitoring, Log Monitoring, AIOps Platforms, Database Monitoring, Website Monitoring, Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring, IT Alerting, Container Monitoring, Incident Response, Application Performance Monitoring (APM), and Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)
Reviews
Reviewers' Company Size
Datadog
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
IBM Instana
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
Small-Business
(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market
(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise
(> 1000 emp.)
Reviewers' Industry
Information Technology and Services
18.8%
Computer Software
17.6%
Financial Services
8.6%
Internet
4.1%
Computer & Network Security
3.1%
Other
47.7%
Information Technology and Services
19.8%
Computer Software
10.7%
Telecommunications
6.2%
Financial Services
6.2%
Retail
5.5%
Other
51.6%
Discussions
What is the use of Datadog?
3 Comments
CJ
Datadog is a software platform that facilitates data sharing across various teams within an organization, thereby breaking down silos between development,...Read more
Does Datadog use AWS?
2 Comments
IG
Yes, the backbone of Datadog infrastructure is sitting within AWS.Read more
Does it preserves history of logs?
1 Comment
AN
Depends on your plan, log retention can be 7,15, 30 days etc, for long term you need to setup s3 archivingRead more
why use instana over another platform?
2 Comments
OG
If you compare those 2 only the price matters. Instana does not have the feature set of DataDog in any category.Read more
Is there a chatbot available?
2 Comments
OG
Best join a webinar or customer demo to learn more about it. It took me also a while to understand all the bits and pieces. Since IBM was acquired by IBM,...Read more
What is Application Performance Monitoring (APM)?
2 Comments
TS
Application performance monitoring (APM) is the practice of tracking key software application performance metrics using monitoring software and telemetry...Read more
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