Datadog vs Make — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Datadog starts at $18/mo. Make starts at $12/mo. Make is $6/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Datadog.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Datadog (Per Usage) — Datadog bills on usage — host on top of a paid plan starting at $18/mo. The plan includes an allowance; anything beyond it is metered.
- Make (Per Usage) — Make bills on usage — Operations/credits per month on top of a paid plan starting at $12/mo. The plan includes an allowance; anything beyond it is metered.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
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.
Visual workflow automation (formerly Integromat), positioned as the power-user alternative to Zapier. Distinctive for its visual scenario builder that handles complex multi-branch logic Zapier can't. Priced per operation with 1,000 free ops/month. Popular with developers, ops teams, and agencies who hit Zapier's complexity ceiling. Growing share from Zapier and losing some to n8n (self-hostable) as low-code automation splinters into three tiers by user sophistication.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Datadog monthly | Datadog annual | Make monthly | Make annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Infrastructure Pro / Core | $18 | $15 | $12 | $9 |
| Pro / power | — / Pro | — | — | $21 | $16 |
| Teams | — / Teams | — | — | $38 | $29 |
| Enterprise | Infrastructure Enterprise / Enterprise | $27 | $23 | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Datadog is worth it if… 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.
Make is worth it if… ops-savvy solopreneurs and small teams that need visual automation across hundreds of apps — particularly if you value flexibility over Zapier's simplicity. Free tier covers 1,000 ops/month; Core adds more ops and premium apps; Pro adds priority execution; Teams adds team collaboration.
Bottom line: Similar positioning, closer to a preference call than a strategic one.
Choose Datadog over Make if…
Choose Datadog if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, from $18/mo).
- You match the profile Datadog is built for: infrastructure teams (10+ engineers) that need APM + logs + metrics + synthetics + RUM in one platform — the observability default at mid-market and enterprise scale.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose Make if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, from $12/mo).
- You match the profile Make is built for: ops-savvy solopreneurs and small teams that need visual automation across hundreds of apps — particularly if you value flexibility over Zapier's simplicity.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Datadog | Make | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $18/mo | $12/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Usage | Per Usage |
| Verification | Pricing under review | Pricing under review |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 26, 2026. Tracked daily.