Datadog vs. Instana Comparison

Who should you choose and why?

✋ Most important consideration

• If you want fully dynamic instrumentation where you barely have to worry much about the frameworks and other tools that developers are using (i.e., language independent), Instana has an outsized advantage.

🤔 Strongly consider Datadog over Instana if

• DataDog is the clearcut leader in cloud infrastructure monitoring, so if it's important to have consolidated vendors for monitoring and APM, they should be a better fit.
• If you want a cheaper solution.

🤔 Strongly consider Instana over Datadog if

• If you want real-time metrics. Instana is the only APM vendor that offers visible metrics in the user interface in under 1 second, or practically real-time.
• If you want better dependency mapping. Instana has a relationship engine that automatically calculates the relationships and dependencies for each unit of work.
• If you have purely microservices-based architecture.

Pricing Pages

• Datadog APM and Continuous Profiler Pricing Page
• Instana Pricing Page

Other

• Top 8 APM Vendors
• APM vs. Observability
• Open Source/Free APM Tools
• Open Source/Free Observability Tools

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Louis-Victor Jadavji (or "LV") is a recognized leader in the cloud services industry. He's helped 50+ digital native companies like ModusBox, Later, and NS1 choose the right cloud stack for their applications. His work has been featured in Forbes (30 Under 30 All-Star), HuffPost, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and Inc. Magazine.