Datadog
Datadog · Developer & Infrastructure
The dominant cloud observability platform (metrics, logs, traces, APM), publicly traded (DDOG), ~$45B market cap. Positioned as the alternative to New Relic + Splunk + PagerDuty stitched together. Distinctive for its notorious usage-based pricing that has surprised engineering teams with 6-figure monthly bills (Coinbase's leaked contract was ~$65M/year in 2022). Priced by seat + host + volume across 20+ meters. Popular with engineering teams; feared by finance teams.
In other words, Datadog is worth it for infrastructure teams (10+ engineers) that need APM + logs + metrics + synthetics + RUM in one platform — the observability default at mid-market and enterprise scale. Infrastructure covers hosts; APM, Logs, RUM, Synthetics, Database Monitoring each priced separately per module. Steep learning curve; dedicated observability engineer typical. Native integrations with AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, and 700+ tools. Downside: famous for bill shock — total cost runs 3-5x the entry Infrastructure headline at scale, and product proliferation makes cost modeling hard.
Pricing summary
No monthly fees
Pay as you go
Main metered limit
Pricing is the headline Infrastructure tier; real-world Datadog bills add APM ($31/host), Log Management (per GB ingested), RUM, Synthetics, Security, and Database Monitoring. Total cost typically runs 3-5x the entry headline at scale. Famous for invoice shock at scale — set usage caps and enforce per-product limits aggressively.
Small team wanting cheaper metrics + logs? Pick New Relic (simpler pricing) or Grafana Cloud (free tier). Open-source preference? Prometheus + Grafana + Loki self-hosted.
All plans
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Key limit |
|---|---|---|---|
Free | Free | Free | up to 5 hosts, basic metrics |
Infrastructure ProEntry tier | $18 | $15Save 17% | per host, 15-month retention |
Infrastructure Enterprise | $27 | $23Save 15% | per host, custom retention |
All tier prices verified July 31, 2026 · View source →
Price history
Price tracking is just getting started for Datadog. Full history will build as we log changes. See what we have so far →
Common questions about Datadog
Frequently asked questions
About Datadog pricing.
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At a glance
- Key limit metric
- host
- Pricing transparency
- Public
Integrates and connects
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