Datadog vs Vanta — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Datadog starts at $18/mo. Vanta uses custom pricing — request a quote to compare.
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.
- Vanta (Unknown model) — Vanta bills on a fixed plan, so the listed price is what you pay regardless of volume.
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.
Compliance automation platform that made SOC 2 attestation possible for early-stage startups in weeks instead of quarters. Positioned as the AI-native alternative to hiring a $150K compliance manager or paying $50K+ to a Big 4 firm for manual audit prep. Distinctive for its 200+ automated evidence collectors + trust-center product (public compliance page for enterprise buyers) + AI questionnaire responses. Priced quote-based with reference $8K-$30K+/year across Core/Growth/Scale tiers plus custom Enterprise. Series C at $2.45B valuation (2024). Serves 10,000+ customers including Autodesk, Ramp, Notion, Chili Piper. Category-defining product in the security-compliance-automation space.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Datadog monthly | Datadog annual | Vanta monthly | Vanta annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Free / — | Free | Free | — | — |
| Entry paid | Infrastructure Pro / Core | $18 | $15 | $667 | $667 |
| Mid tier | — / Growth | — | — | $1250 | $1250 |
| Pro / power | — / Scale | — | — | $2500 | $2500 |
| 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.
Vanta is worth it if… early-to-mid-stage SaaS companies pursuing SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / HIPAA / GDPR compliance who want to automate 80% of the evidence-collection busywork — particularly if you're facing an enterprise deal that requires attestation. Core covers small startups on one framework (typically $8K/year); Growth adds multiple frameworks; Scale adds AI questionnaire + trust center + vendor risk; Enterprise custom.
Bottom line: Similar positioning, closer to a preference call than a strategic one.
Choose Datadog over Vanta 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 Vanta if…
- You're comfortable with Vanta's a free entry tier entry point.
- You match the profile Vanta is built for: early-to-mid-stage SaaS companies pursuing SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / HIPAA / GDPR compliance who want to automate 80% of the evidence-collection busywork — particularly if you're facing an enterprise deal that requires attestation.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Datadog | Vanta | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Entry price | $18/mo | Custom pricing |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | 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.