Sold by: IBM SoftwareÂ
Deployed on AWS
Instana Operator is a free, Kubernetes-native observability solution designed to run on Amazon EKS. Available as an Amazon EKS add-on, it provides real-time metrics, distributed traces, and AI-powered alerts - deployable in just a few clicks.
Overview
The Instana Operator delivers full-stack, high-fidelity observability for workloads running on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS). Available as a native Amazon EKS add-on, it simplifies monitoring by automatically discovering Kubernetes services, containers, and infrastructure components - without requiring code changes.
To use the Instana Operator, you must have an active Instana subscription. You can buy or start a free trial at https://ibm.biz/aws_marketplace-instana_paygoÂ
With Instana on Amazon EKS, you gain:
- 1-second resolution metrics and full-fidelity distributed traces for every request
- Dynamic service and dependency mapping across your Kubernetes workloads
- SmartAlerts that detect anomalies and reduce alert fatigue through AI-powered root cause analysis
- Fast deployment and upgrade cycles using the Amazon EKS add-on interface, managed directly through the AWS Management Console -Integration with over 300 technologies, including AWS services such as AWS Lambda, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and AWS Fargate
Whether you are building microservices, operating a service mesh, or running hybrid cloud workloads, Instana provides DevOps, SRE, and platform teams with the visibility and context needed to optimize performance, maintain reliability, and accelerate remediation across the entire application stack.
Please find a detailed guide on how to deploy Instana agents to Amazon EKS clusters at https://ibm.biz/instana-eks_add-on-blog_postÂ
Highlights
- Delivered as a native Amazon EKS add-on and accessible directly through the Amazon EKS console. Supports both managed and self-managed node groups. Provides auto-updates and lifecycle management aligned with your Amazon EKS cluster operations.
- Gain 1-second metrics, full-fidelity distributed traces, and real-time dependency maps. Achieve complete visibility into Kubernetes components, containers, services, workloads, and infrastructure. Includes out-of-the-box support for popular technologies such as Envoy, Istio, Apache Kafka, PostgreSQL, Redis, and AWS services including AWS Lambda, Amazon RDS, and Amazon DynamoDB.
- Automatically discovers containers, services, and dependencies - no manual instrumentation or configuration required.
Details
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Delivery method
Supported services
Delivery option
IBM Instana Observability Operator - Helm chart
Latest version
Operating system
Linux
Deployed on AWS
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Pricing
This product is available free of charge. Free subscriptions have no end date and may be canceled any time.
Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate your infrastructure costs.
Vendor refund policy
All fees are non-cancelable and non-refundable, and Client shall not be entitled to a refund for any amounts already paid except as otherwise provided in the End User License Agreement (EULA).
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Delivery details
IBM Instana Observability Operator - Helm chart
Supported services: Learn moreÂ
- Amazon EKS
EKS add-on
An add-on is software that provides supporting operational capabilities to Kubernetes applications but isn't specific to the application. This includes software like observability agents or Kubernetes drivers that allow the cluster to interact with underlying AWS resources for networking, compute, and storage. Add-on software is typically built and maintained by the Kubernetes community, cloud providers like AWS, or third-party vendors. Amazon EKS add-ons provide installation and management of a curated set of add-ons for Amazon EKS clusters. All Amazon EKS add-ons include the latest security patches and bug fixes, and are validated by AWS to work with Amazon EKS. Amazon EKS add-ons allow you to consistently ensure that your Amazon EKS clusters are secure and stable and reduce the amount of work that you need to do to install, configure, and update add-ons.
Version release notes
Initial release of the EKS add-on for the IBM Instana Observability Operator
Additional details
Usage instructions
Once the add-on is installed into your cluster, it requires final steps to configure IBM Instana Observability for your environment:
Steps to complete the IBM Instana Observability configuration:
-
On the home page of the Instana UI, click "Deploy Agent".
-
On the agent deployment catalog page, click the tile "Kubernetes - Operator".
-
Enter the cluster name and the agent zone (optionally) that you want the cluster to be part of. The cluster name (<your_cluster_name>) is the customized name of the cluster that is monitored by this daemonset. The agent zone (<your_zone_name>) is used to customize the zone grouping, which is displayed on the infrastructure map.
-
Create a custom resource YAML file by copying the YAML template provided in the Instana UI. The YAML template is pre-filled with your agent key, host agent endpoint, cluster name, and agent zone.
Final step
Apply the custom resource YAML file you created in step 4:
"kubectl apply -f instana-agent.customresource.yaml"
Optional
Edit the custom resource YAML file:
The Instana agent custom resource supports the exact same configuration as the Instana Helm chart. For a detailed list of all the configuration parameters and examples, see Instana Helm chart documentation at https://ibm.biz/BdGUdnÂ
Extended information
This product requires an ongoing internet connection. The following ongoing external services are required to properly function:
- Instana SaaS backend and valid Agent key
With default settings, the EKS cluster needs access to the IBM Container registry at icr.io and to the IBM Instana Maven repository at artifact-public.instana.io.
Required configuration options in the Instana Agent CustomResource:
- Instana SaaS endpoint URL and port: You can get your Instana SaaS endpint URL and port from the "Install Agents" page in the Instana UI.
- Cluster name: The cluster name is required to identify your EKS cluster in the Instana Kubernetes view.
- Agent key: The Agent key authorizes IBM Instana Observability to send data to the Instana SaaS platform. You can get your Agent key from the "Install Agents" page in the Instana UI.
The following container images will be deployed during installation:
- ibm-software/instana/agent
- ibm-software/instana/operator
- ibm-software/instana/k8s-sensor
For manual installation of IBM Instana Observability into EKS or Kubernetes, follow the steps as layed out in the official Instana documentation here: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/instana-observability/current?topic=agents-installing-amazon-elastic-kubernetes-service-eksÂ
Resources
Support
Vendor support
Support contact at https://ibm.biz/instana-supportÂ
Pricing FAQ: https://ibm.biz/instana-pricing-faqÂ
We also offer shared Slack Channels during trial and subscription.
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
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Customer reviews
0 ratings
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396 external reviews
Star ratings include only reviews from verified AWS customers. External reviews can also include a star rating, but star ratings from external reviews are not averaged in with the AWS customer star ratings.
E-Learning
High potential, but used in the worst way and resulted in a bad experience
Reviewed on Aug 06, 2025
Review provided by G2
What do you like best about the product?
Somehow simple to use, with a nice tracing mechanism and easy agent installation — although the installation documentation for Kubernetes is quite poor
What do you dislike about the product?
Infrastructure monitoring, alert creation, AI alerting, and automation are available.
There is AI-based recommendation, but it lacks sufficient detail on when to act and why.
Anomaly alerting is poorly implemented and generates a lot of false positives.
Support is very poor.
There’s a lack of transparency regarding storage usage.
You can’t modify or even understand how Instana’s pre-configured alerts are set up.
Overall, it has been a very disappointing experience for me.
There is AI-based recommendation, but it lacks sufficient detail on when to act and why.
Anomaly alerting is poorly implemented and generates a lot of false positives.
Support is very poor.
There’s a lack of transparency regarding storage usage.
You can’t modify or even understand how Instana’s pre-configured alerts are set up.
Overall, it has been a very disappointing experience for me.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Instana gave me the ability to monitor the Kubernetes cluster and application services easily, with out-of-the-box solutions and support for custom metric generation
Piyush T.
Instana Monitoring tool Review
Reviewed on Jul 23, 2025
Review provided by G2
What do you like best about the product?
It's easy to use and implement on our Tomcat server, with a user-friendly UI and rich features that simplify daily monitoring. We use it frequently for real-time, AI-powered root cause analysis, helping us quickly identify issues in complex, distributed environments. Reliable customer support is readily available when needed.
What do you dislike about the product?
It is ease to use, nothing to dislike. One of the best in market.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Instana helps us find the root cause of issues in our web application using its dashboard and alert system. It solves the problem of monitoring our services, helping us keep them efficient and reliable.
Computer Software
Instana review
Reviewed on Jul 22, 2025
Review provided by G2
What do you like best about the product?
Instana is easy to set up and quickly gives clear insights with a simple interface. It's great for debugging, as you can trace calls, check logs, and spot issues fast. During load testing, real-time request tracking helps a lot. It’s reliable, easy to use, integrates well, and the support from IBM is excellent—I use it daily and it always delivers.
What do you dislike about the product?
At first, we had some trouble using Instana, but once we got familiar with it, it became very easy to use. I don't really have any dislikes to mention—it's definitely worth trying, especially for your first project. The high CPU usage used to be a challenge during debugging and load testing, but that has improved a lot recently, making the overall experience much smoother.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The best part about Instana is how it alerts me instantly if any server crosses a threshold or an API fails—even on my phone, anytime, anywhere. It helps me catch issues early, and even if support is sometimes slow, the team resolves them through updates. It’s been a big help in monitoring cloud infrastructure.
Computer & Network Security
Instana is very good software for monitoring.
Reviewed on Jul 14, 2025
Review provided by G2
What do you like best about the product?
The main thing I like in the instana is that it is very easy to use. The implementation of this software is very smooth. We got the excellent customer support from the team, we use it regularly and it has lot of features.
What do you dislike about the product?
I don't think that anything I dislike in IBM instant everything is good in it. The UI part is very smooth, but page reloads every time if I try to click different component of the pages. So everything is good. The UI part should be Check.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is given each and every a lot if the system have some disaster or some effect increases some limit. So every time I get the mail it is the more important thing. If I am busy with some other task I can know by checking the mail the issue with the system or the server.
Ashish T.
IBM Instana useful for monitoring server in monitoring.
Reviewed on Jul 11, 2025
Review provided by G2
What do you like best about the product?
I have liked the thing IBM is providing the quality thing means they never make or feel regret for any customer. I love it because of this reason only. The in summer is very easy to use software. We can implement easily. We get excellent support from the team and I really use it frequently in a day. It has very easy to integrate.
What do you dislike about the product?
I have multiple reason to chose it. So I can't say bad features that I disliked.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It resolves my issue of the taking the server issue on priority by checking the servers UI we can know where it is failing.So it benfits me by recognising the issue in the early face only.