diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index 98e59dde50d..7f067018c63 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
 - Change output.elasticsearch.proxy_disabled flag to output.elasticsearch.proxy_disable so fleet uses it. {issue}27670[27670] {pull}27671[27671]
 - Add validation for certificate flags to ensure they are absolute paths. {pull}27779[27779]
 - Migrate state on upgrade {pull}27825[27825]
+- Add "_monitoring" suffix to monitoring instance names to remove ambiguity with the status command. {issue}25449[25449]
 
 ==== New features
 
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/status.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/status.go
index e14311f3e8a..d78e64d1e45 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/status.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/status.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
+	"text/tabwriter"
 	"time"
 
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
@@ -96,14 +97,16 @@ func humanOutput(w io.Writer, status *client.AgentStatus) error {
 		fmt.Fprint(w, "Applications: (none)\n")
 	} else {
 		fmt.Fprint(w, "Applications:\n")
+		tw := tabwriter.NewWriter(w, 4, 1, 2, ' ', 0)
 		for _, app := range status.Applications {
-			fmt.Fprintf(w, "  * %s\t(%s)\n", app.Name, app.Status)
+			fmt.Fprintf(tw, "  * %s\t(%s)\n", app.Name, app.Status)
 			if app.Message == "" {
-				fmt.Fprint(w, "    (no message)\n")
+				fmt.Fprint(tw, "\t(no message)\n")
 			} else {
-				fmt.Fprintf(w, "    %s\n", app.Message)
+				fmt.Fprintf(tw, "\t%s\n", app.Message)
 			}
 		}
+		tw.Flush()
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/status_test.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/status_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6c4aebed58b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/status_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+// Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+// or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License;
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/control/client"
+)
+
+var testStatus = &client.AgentStatus{
+	Status:  client.Healthy,
+	Message: "",
+	Applications: []*client.ApplicationStatus{{
+		ID:      "id_1",
+		Name:    "filebeat",
+		Status:  client.Healthy,
+		Message: "Running",
+		Payload: nil,
+	}, {
+		ID:      "id_2",
+		Name:    "metricbeat",
+		Status:  client.Healthy,
+		Message: "Running",
+		Payload: nil,
+	}, {
+		ID:      "id_3",
+		Name:    "filebeat_monitoring",
+		Status:  client.Healthy,
+		Message: "Running",
+		Payload: nil,
+	}, {
+		ID:      "id_4",
+		Name:    "metricbeat_monitoring",
+		Status:  client.Healthy,
+		Message: "Running",
+		Payload: nil,
+	},
+	},
+}
+
+func ExamplehumanOutput() {
+	humanOutput(os.Stdout, testStatus)
+	// Output:
+	// Status: HEALTHY
+	// Message: (no message)
+	// Applications:
+	//   * filebeat               (HEALTHY)
+	//                            Running
+	//   * metricbeat             (HEALTHY)
+	//                            Running
+	//   * filebeat_monitoring    (HEALTHY)
+	//                            Running
+	//   * metricbeat_monitoring  (HEALTHY)
+	//                            Running
+}
+
+func ExamplejsonOutput() {
+	jsonOutput(os.Stdout, testStatus)
+	// Output:
+	// {
+	//     "Status": 2,
+	//     "Message": "",
+	//     "Applications": [
+	//         {
+	//             "ID": "id_1",
+	//             "Name": "filebeat",
+	//             "Status": 2,
+	//             "Message": "Running",
+	//             "Payload": null
+	//         },
+	//         {
+	//             "ID": "id_2",
+	//             "Name": "metricbeat",
+	//             "Status": 2,
+	//             "Message": "Running",
+	//             "Payload": null
+	//         },
+	//         {
+	//             "ID": "id_3",
+	//             "Name": "filebeat_monitoring",
+	//             "Status": 2,
+	//             "Message": "Running",
+	//             "Payload": null
+	//         },
+	//         {
+	//             "ID": "id_4",
+	//             "Name": "metricbeat_monitoring",
+	//             "Status": 2,
+	//             "Message": "Running",
+	//             "Payload": null
+	//         }
+	//     ]
+	// }
+}
+
+func ExampleyamlOutput() {
+	yamlOutput(os.Stdout, testStatus)
+	// Output:
+	// status: 2
+	// message: ""
+	// applications:
+	// - id: id_1
+	//   name: filebeat
+	//   status: 2
+	//   message: Running
+	//   payload: {}
+	// - id: id_2
+	//   name: metricbeat
+	//   status: 2
+	//   message: Running
+	//   payload: {}
+	// - id: id_3
+	//   name: filebeat_monitoring
+	//   status: 2
+	//   message: Running
+	//   payload: {}
+	// - id: id_4
+	//   name: metricbeat_monitoring
+	//   status: 2
+	//   message: Running
+	//   payload: {}
+}
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go
index 922246050dd..2cd68512606 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go
@@ -305,9 +305,11 @@ func (o *Operator) getApp(p Descriptor) (Application, error) {
 	var err error
 
 	monitor := o.monitor
+	appName := p.BinaryName()
 	if app.IsSidecar(p) {
 		// make watchers unmonitorable
 		monitor = noop.NewMonitor()
+		appName += "_monitoring"
 	}
 
 	if p.ServicePort() == 0 {
@@ -315,7 +317,7 @@ func (o *Operator) getApp(p Descriptor) (Application, error) {
 		a, err = process.NewApplication(
 			o.bgContext,
 			p.ID(),
-			p.BinaryName(),
+			appName,
 			o.pipelineID,
 			o.config.LoggingConfig.Level.String(),
 			desc,
@@ -331,7 +333,7 @@ func (o *Operator) getApp(p Descriptor) (Application, error) {
 		a, err = service.NewApplication(
 			o.bgContext,
 			p.ID(),
-			p.BinaryName(),
+			appName,
 			o.pipelineID,
 			o.config.LoggingConfig.Level.String(),
 			p.ServicePort(),