IBM Instana Pricing
The IBM Instana pricing model is quite unique. It is a mixture of three elements:
The principle unit of Instana pricing is the MVS (Managed Virtual Server) - which is probably best conceived of as a license. However, it is a usage rather than user based licence. MVA's are available in two tiers, Essentials and Standard, with Standard boasting a much more extensive feature list.
Any installation of Instana requires subscribing to at least 10 Essentials and 10 Standard MVS licences. Thereafter, you can purchase any number of additional MVS licences of either type. Another dimension to Instana pricing is the hosting Model. You can either choose a SaaS or a Self-hosted option. You may, or may not, be surprised to learn that the Self-hosted option is more expensive than the SaaS option.
The obvious question is "How many MVS licences do I need?" The best way to calculate this is by ingestion volume. On average, each Standard MVS can ingest 325GB per month, whilst an Essentials MVS ingests 50GB per month.
