TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    IBM Instana

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/AInstana, an IBM company since the December 2020 acquisition, provides APM services for SOA, microservices, containerized applications and Kubernetes, and cloud native applications, as well as discovery and monitoring for IT assets.

    $75

    per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)

    Splunk Enterprise

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ASplunk is software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated big data, via a web-style interface. It captures, indexes and correlates real-time data in a searchable repository from which it can generate graphs, reports, alerts, dashboards and visualizations.N/A
    Pricing
    IBM InstanaSplunk Enterprise
    Editions & Modules
    Essentials
    $20
    per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)
    Standard
    $75
    per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)
    Self-Hosted
    $93.80
    per month per Managed Virtual Server (MVS)
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    IBM InstanaSplunk Enterprise
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    IBM InstanaSplunk Enterprise
    Considered Both Products
    IBM
    Chose IBM Instana
    Splunk is also a wonderful tool for log analysis and operational troubleshooting however auto discovery and dependency flow creation makes Instana standout. We have to do a lot of preprocessing to ingest and format data in Splunk and then write complex queries for gathering the …
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    Chose Splunk Enterprise
    Splunk Enterprise is a very seasoned software , while other comparable software keep on adding new features and keep evolving, Splunk Enterprise has reached a state where new user onboarded doesnt have to request any basic feature or develop modules to simple tasks. Log parsing …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    61 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    59 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    53 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    49 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    61 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    59 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    40 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    43 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    47 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    50 Answers
    Features
    IBM InstanaSplunk Enterprise
    Monitoring Tasks
    Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of IBM Instana and Splunk Enterprise
    Feature
    IBM Instana
    7.6
    3 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Splunk Enterprise
    -
    Ratings
    Remote monitoring9.14 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network device monitoring5.54 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Server Monitoring8.94 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-device monitoring5.54 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automated alerts and notifications9.14 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management Tasks
    Comparison of Management Tasks features of IBM Instana and Splunk Enterprise
    Feature
    IBM Instana
    5.5
    1 Ratings
    23% below category average
    Splunk Enterprise
    -
    Ratings
    Software and hardware inventory6.42 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based automation4.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting
    Comparison of Reporting features of IBM Instana and Splunk Enterprise
    Feature
    IBM Instana
    6.5
    3 Ratings
    20% below category average
    Splunk Enterprise
    -
    Ratings
    Performance data reports8.34 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable reporting4.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data visualization8.83 Ratings00 Ratings
    Risk analysis4.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of IBM Instana and Splunk Enterprise
    Feature
    IBM Instana
    -
    Ratings
    Splunk Enterprise
    8.2
    91 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings9.085 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings8.487 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings8.488 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings8.081 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.282 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings8.887 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings7.865 Ratings
    Data integration/API management00 Ratings8.334 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings7.732 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings7.933 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings7.529 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings8.634 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.737 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    IBM InstanaSplunk Enterprise
    Small Businesses
    Amazon CloudWatch
    Score7.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    LogicMonitor
    Score8.9 out of 10
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ManageEngine Site24x7
    Score10 out of 10
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    IBM InstanaSplunk Enterprise
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.8
    (60 ratings)
    8.7
    (112 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    8.5
    (25 ratings)
    Usability
    8.3
    (3 ratings)
    8.5
    (45 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    IBM InstanaSplunk Enterprise
    Likelihood to Recommend
    IBM
    Well-suited for an org with a large application base, where many microservices are created and destroyed daily. IBM Instana doesn't require any manual configuration, so deploying the Instana agents takes very little time. Data capture from IBM Instana is highly granular and can detect even short spikes lasting a few seconds. Not suitable for legacy applications where there will be rarely any changes. They can use a simpler monitoring mechanism. Also, highly dense data capturing can sometimes overload the information.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    I'm liking the newer products, and I'm looking forward to how they integrate with the overall product when they come together. Just log in and be able to query a large number of systems for similar issues or a unique one. That is a great fit for Splunk Enterprise, looking for a simple case or a simple String or something of that nature across multiple machines. It's a great fit for that to identify issues or particular software, whatever your scenario is, String, to find it across any particular server or group of servers, so that you can update or do a deployment or whatever it is you're looking to do.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    IBM
    • Can monitor application(s) and system(s) with very large throughput of transactions by the second ( it gets everything !!!)
    • Provide strong drill down for your applications and will tell you where the points of failure of an application's is ( servers , network , Databases , etc you name it )
    • Very easy to set up and have it up and running when using the SaaS solution. There's an on premise solution which works just as well but requires more effort and preparation from an infrastructure point of view for your teams to implement.
    • Continuously improve their features and their agents auto-update and keep up. All while not interfering with your applications.
    • Let's you create your own dashboards and visualizations that can be tailored for different kind of users with the data collected.
    • Create your own events and smart alerts so you can know on the spot if something is happening or is likely to happen that needs addressing on your applications / systems
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • It is very useful in creating custom rules for analyzing system logs and display relevant information. The query language is very easy to learn.
    • We can create custom UI to visualize the output of our data. The interface is very flexible. It also allows the sharing of rules among users.
    • There is an open online community to help others. Stackoverflow also has a splunk community. These resources make it more convenient to learn.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    IBM
    • It's very difficult to create custom dashboards, only a handful of scenarios can be visualized to dashboards.
    • Extracting information from Instana to further analysis into excel for example is something that can be improved. Using an API to get data is very limiting.
    • Open telemetry features which allow to send application data to Instana is not working as documented.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • Splunk light limits number of users to 5. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add more users.
    • Splunk light does not let you add > few realtime alerts. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add as many realtime alerts as wanted.
    • Better insight into daily ingestion values
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    IBM
    Instana has been able to fulfill our all requirement and provide out of box solution for multiple component like AWS RDS Monitoring and real time alerting setup on basis of that. it is also easy to integrate with other open-source alerting and monitoring tools which makes it easier to incorporate into our solutions
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    We are using Splunk extensively in our projects and we have recently upgraded to Splunk version 6.0 which is quite efficient and giving expected results. We keep track of updates and new features Splunk introduces periodically and try to introduce those features in our day to day activities for improvement in our reporting system and other tasks.
    Read full review
    Usability
    IBM
    IBM Instana totally alters our monitoring approach since it increases the stability of the system and simplifies the process of problem solving. And since it helps to lower the degree of alert exhaustion that we experience, it is a total game changer for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    You can literally throw in a single word into Splunk and it will pull back all instances of that word across all of your logs for the time span you select (provided you have permission to see that data). We have several users who have taken a few of the free courses from Splunk that are able to pull data out of it everyday with little help at all.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    When properly setup and configured, Splunk is extremely reliable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    IBM
    IBM instana support team is good but when we ask them for support, they keep asking same thing again and again and mostly there is no solution
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Splunk maintains a well resourced support system that has been consistent since we purchased the product. They help out in a timely manner and provide expert level information as needed. We typically open cases online and communicate when possible via e-mail and are able to resolve most issues with that method.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    The online course was simple clear and described the main capabilities of the solution. There is also an initial module that can be done for free so anyone can familiarize themselves with the functionality of this solution. On the other hand, however, there could be more free online courses. Maybe even with a certificate, this would broaden the group of people who are familiar with the platform while increasing familiarity with the solution itself.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Smooth without too many major issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    IBM
    Instana is much more robust and modern compared to our previous product which was AppDynamics. We compared Dynatrace and Datadog and they were very similar in many aspects. The licensing simplicity with Instana and our existing relationship with IBM made it a much more enticing option and accelerated the adoption timeline
    Read full review
    Cisco
    A lot of products have natively inside their own dashboards and or their own logging repositories. And each one is difficult to learn or they're too complex or they're not verbose in the sense that they're not easy to mine the data that you're looking for. So that could be anything from the native logging that you find in other Cisco products. It's easier to use Splunk to draw the data that you're looking for as opposed to going to the individual's products themselves to get the logs that you're looking for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Splunk can scale in to the petabyte per day range which of course is awesome
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    IBM
    • Increase up time by early failure identification and performance optimization based on findings in Instana.
    • Enhance user experience by mapping user issues with backend failures
    • Automated actions help fixing known issues without human intervention
    • increase support team efficiency by root cause analysis which decrease the incident solving time
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • Splunk has allowed developers to diagnose production issues when access of control was taken away from them to be allowed to view items in production environments and I believe that is invaluable.
    • At times some developers weren't super happy about using it, but it was more of the fact that they were used to having production access and not creating their splunk queries to get information.
    • Going one place to view logs was very beneficial to have.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots