# Datadog APM vs Instana

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Instana

| Attribute | Datadog APM | Instana |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 70.4 (46% (low)) | 82.4 (21% (low)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Application Performance Monitoring that provides end-to-end visibility into your stack's health and performance, integrated with comprehensive observability and security capabilities. | IBM Instana provides automated, AI-powered observability with automatic discovery and instrumentation of applications and infrastructure. It offers real-time, full-stack visibility and uses agentic AI for accelerated incident investigation and resource optimization. |
| features.capabilities | `{"rum":true,"hosting":"cloud","otel_support":"native","slo_tracking":true,"db_monitoring":true,"code_profiling":true,"error_analytics":true,"anomaly_detection":true,"distributed_tracing":true,"auto_instrumentation":true}` | `{"rum":true,"hosting":"both","service_map":true,"otel_support":"ingest","error_analytics":true,"anomaly_detection":true,"distributed_tracing":true,"auto_instrumentation":true}` |
| integrations.count | 1,000 | 300 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud"},{"name":"Oracle Cloud"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Red Hat OpenShift"},{"name":"Pivotal Platform"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"SAP"},{"name":"OpenTelemetry"}]` | `[{"name":"ServiceNow ITSM"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud"},{"name":"Kubernetes"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US","GB"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | - | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"PayPerUse","summary":"Starting at £0.03/MVS hour","features":["Infrastructure-only monitoring or full observability","No time commitment","Cancel anytime"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"MVS hour"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.03,"currency":"GBP"}],"description":"Usage-based pricing with access to Essentials or full observability","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"SaaS","summary":"Starting at £20.25/MVS/month","features":["Essentials (infrastructure) or Standard (full-stack observability)","Unlimited users","No limits on hosts or scale","Flexible billing options"],"components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"MVS","amount":20.25,"period":"month","currency":"GBP"}],"description":"Flexible bundling for Essentials or Standard with unlimited users","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Self-Hosted","summary":"Starting at £368.04/year","features":["Feature parity with SaaS (Essentials and Standard)","Monthly updates","Full control over data and deployment","Logs in context included"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":368.04,"period":"year","currency":"GBP"}],"description":"Annual subscription with feature parity to SaaS","contactSales":false}],"addOns":[{"name":"Instana Managed PoPs","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"execution"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.0003,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Logs in context","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.35,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From £0.03/MVS hour or £20.25/MVS/month. Free 14-day trial.","currency":"GBP","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.ibm.com/products/instana","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T14:10:04.143Z","freeTrialDays":14,"startingPrice":{"amount":0.03,"period":"month","currency":"GBP"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | - | low |
| pricing.starting_gbp | - | 0.03 |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |

## Capabilities (APM Tools)

| Capability | Datadog APM | Instana |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Instrumentation** |  |  |
| Auto-instrumentation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Distributed tracing | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Service map | - | ✓ |
| Code / continuous profiling | ✓ | - |
| Database monitoring | ✓ | - |
| Error analytics | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-user monitoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| SLO / error-budget tracking | ✓ | - |
| **Intelligence** |  |  |
| Anomaly / root-cause AI | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OpenTelemetry support | OTel-native | OTLP ingest |
| **Core** |  |  |
| Language agents | - | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud only | Cloud + self-hosted |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-08-07T00:02:20.323Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*