Datadog is a comprehensive monitoring and analytics platform that provides businesses with real-time visibility into their infrastructure, applications, and user experience. Many people love it, but there are many people who question the Datadog pricing model!
Datadog provides a wide range of products, including infrastructure monitoring, log monitoring, application monitoring, security, and more, with varied pricing.
In this article, we will cover Datadog’s pricing with Middleware for all of its major services to help you take an informed decision:
Billing overview
The Datadog pricing model is based on a tiered structure that offers different levels of features and resources based on the selected plan. As you move up the tiers, the pricing increases, allowing for more extensive functionality and higher data volumes.
For a limited time, Middleware provides all of its services, logs, metrics, traces, database monitoring, serverless and more completely free of charge.
This allows you to experience the benefits of a cloud-based unified observability solution and effortlessly scale your infrastructure.
1. Datadog billing model
The billing cycle for Datadog starts on the first of the month (UTC), regardless of your sign-up date, with the first month prorated accordingly.
Hosts and custom metrics are metered hourly, and the billable count of hosts is calculated at the end of the month using the maximum count (high-water mark) of the lower 99% of usage, excluding spikes.
Similarly, the billable count of custom metrics is based on the average number of custom metric hours for the month. Access to the billing pages is limited to users with the Datadog Admin Role.
2. Middleware billing model
When it comes to pricing tiers, Middleware takes a different approach. There are no traditional pricing tiers. Instead, the cost is calculated based on the amount of data you want to send and how you allocate it. Each use case has its own associated cost, ensuring that you only pay for what you use.
Regardless of how you choose to utilize or prioritize your data, you gain full access to all Middleware features without any restrictions.
For APM and Infrastructure monitoring, you are charged per host. For Logs, you are charged according to the data to logs you processed; similarly, for database, Middleware charges per database fee.
To put it up simply, Middleware follows a pay-as-you-go plan where you are billed based on your actual usage rather than the peak usage. This pricing approach allows you to save up to 5 times the cost compared to Datadog pricing.
Log pricing
Both Datadog and Middleware offer robust features for log monitoring, including seamless correlation with the full context in an integrated platform and AI-based alerts on logs, among others. Let’s compare the Log monitoring pricing:
1. Datadog log pricing
Datadog’s Ingest plan allows you to enrich and structure your log data, as well as parse it upon ingestion and generate log-based metrics.
Dynamic index routing ensures efficient data routing. The pricing for this plan is based on the amount of uncompressed data ingested for processing or compressed data scanned for rehydrating, charged per GB.
On the other hand, Datadog’s Retain plan offers simplified pricing based on retention, providing better cost control.
It also includes log patterns and analytics for easy analysis and identification of trends. With the Log Rehydration™ feature, you can conduct audits and historical analyses of your logs. The pricing for the Retain plan is either billed annually or available on-demand for a fixed rate of $2.55.
2. Middleware log pricing
Middleware offers a range of log monitoring features to meet your needs. With their free plan, you can log up to 1 million log events. For the paid plan, Middleware provides the ability to monitor your logs more comprehensively and from any source.
With just a single script installation, you can effortlessly acquire 100% of your environment’s logs. Additionally, by storing your log data on the cloud, you can enjoy a cost reduction of 10 times.
In terms of cost-effectiveness, Middleware’s log monitoring pricing provides an advantage by offering a free plan for basic needs and significant cost reduction through cloud storage.
This can be particularly beneficial for teams or organizations with large volumes of log data or those looking to optimize their log monitoring expenses.
Another key thing to note is that Middleware doesn’t charge you for data ingestion, data query, and data retention, while Datadog does!
APM Pricing
Datadog and Middleware provide various APM features, including end-to-end visibility for monitoring application performance. APM enables the rapid identification and resolution of root-cause issues by using correlated traces. It also allows for pinpointing the source of issues through code-level distributed tracing.
1. Datadog APM Pricing
Datadog offers three pricing models for their APM (Application Performance Monitoring) solution.
- APM: Starting at $31 per host per month, it offers end-to-end distributed traces, service health metrics, and automatic service discovery.
- APM Pro: Starting at $35 per host per month, it includes everything in APM plus Data Streams Monitoring for tracking and improving streaming data pipelines.
- APM Enterprise: Starting at $40 per host per month, it adds Continuous Profiler for optimizing code performance in production with code-level tracing and actionable insights.
2. Middleware APM Pricing
Middleware offers two plans for its APM feature:
- Free: With the free plan, you can monitor your applications and access traces for up to two hosts at no cost. This plan is suitable for basic monitoring needs.
- Paid: The paid plan is priced at $20 per host per month. It offers additional features and capabilities for more comprehensive application monitoring. For instance, real-time traces, service listing, error traces, and live and historical data.
Middleware’s pricing provides a clear advantage, offering a more cost-effective solution for monitoring a larger number of hosts. In addition to the pricing comparison, it’s worth noting that Datadog has an additional requirement for their APM solution. Every billable APM, APM Pro, or APM Enterprise host in Datadog necessitates the purchase of Pro or Enterprise Infrastructure Monitoring.
However, it’s important to consider other factors, such as feature sets, scalability, and the team or organization’s specific needs, when deciding which APM solution to choose.
Custom Metrics Pricing
Custom metrics can help you gain deeper insights into your application’s behavior and performance by extracting meaningful information from your log data.
1. Datadog Pricing
Datadog’s custom pricing can be intricate, so understanding how it works is important. A custom metric in Datadog is distinguished by a combination of a metric name and tag values, including the host tag. Whenever you send a metric using DogStatsD or through a custom Agent Check, it is considered a custom metric.
To calculate the monthly billable count for custom metrics, Datadog takes the sum of all distinct custom metrics for each hour in a given month. This sum is then divided by the number of hours in the month to obtain the monthly average value, which is reflected on the Usage page and contributes to your billing.
Confused right? Unlike the complexity of custom pricing with Datadog, Middleware keeps it simple and offers free custom metrics.
2. Middleware Pricing
Middleware doesn’t charge you anything for custom metrics. In fact, you can create a custom dashboard with infrastructure metrics and custom log metrics for free.
RUM pricing
Real user monitoring (RUM) involves monitoring the actual end users of your applications, enabling you to track and address issues that arise during the usage of your mobile or browser applications. This service proves invaluable for conducting UI testing and debugging processes.
1. Datadog RUM pricing
- Mobile RUM starts at $1.50 per 1,000 sessions per month and provides optimization capabilities for iOS, Android, and other platforms. It offers out-of-the-box performance metrics and alerts, error tracking and crash reporting, troubleshooting tools for latency and app freezes, as well as automatic and custom tracking of page views and user actions.
- Browser RUM, also starting at $1.50 per 1,000 sessions per month, focuses on optimizing web applications. It includes built-in performance metrics and alerts, error tracking, troubleshooting tools for latency and app freezes, and automatic and custom tracking of page views and user actions within sessions.
- For more advanced functionality, the Browser RUM & Session Replay plan is available starting at $1.80 per 1,000 sessions per month. It encompasses all the features of Browser RUM and adds the ability to view user problems firsthand through video-like replays. It also provides privacy options to exclude user inputs, allows bug analysis in real-time with DevTools, and offers visualizations of user behavior through click interactions on heatmaps.
2. Middleware RUM Pricing
- Middleware offers a free RUM for up to 500/sessions per month with unlimited session replays.
- For users who exclusively want to use Middleware’s RUM feature, Middleware offers Mobile & Web applications real-time monitoring for $1 per 1000 sessions/month. Post that limit; you will be billed per 1000 sessions.
Infrastructure Monitoring Price
Infrastructure monitoring involves monitoring the health, performance, and availability of your IT infrastructure components, such as servers, networks, databases, and applications.
1. Datadog
Datadog’s infrastructure monitoring offers three plans to choose from: Free, Pro, and Enterprise.
- The Free plan includes core collection and visualization features, with 1-day metric retention and support for up to 5 hosts.
- Upgrading to the Pro plan, starting at $15 per host per month, allows for centralized monitoring of systems, services, and serverless functions. It provides over 600 integrations, out-of-the-box dashboards, and 15-month metric retention.
- For advanced features and administrative controls, the Enterprise plan, starting at $23 per host per month, offers machine learning-based alerts and live process monitoring.
2. Middleware
Middleware offers two plans for infrastructure monitoring:
- The Free plan allows free infrastructure monitoring for up to 2 hosts and offers all features at no cost.
- The Paid plan includes metrics and events monitoring, out-of-the-box dashboards, data retention, alerts, and comprehensive infrastructure monitoring.
- With the Paid plan, you gain visibility into any scale of the stack. The cost for the Paid plan is $10 per host per month.
Middleware proves to be a highly effective choice for infrastructure monitoring with its competitive pricing and feature-rich plans.
Additionally, some users have noted that the learning curve for setting up and configuring Datadog can be steep, requiring dedicated time and effort for proper implementation.
Synthetic monitoring price
Synthetic monitoring involves simulating user interactions with applications or websites to monitor their performance and availability. It helps businesses proactively identify issues, optimize user experiences, and ensure reliable application delivery.
1. Datadog
- API Tests: Starting at $5 per ten thousand test runs per month. Proactively monitor site availability, uptime SLAs, and SLOs. Sophisticated alerting capabilities and globally managed locations.
- Browser Tests: Starting at $12 per thousand test runs per month. Easily monitor critical user journeys with code-free test creation. View screenshots, front-end errors, and waterfall visualization for each step.
Browser test runs are counted based on the simulation of full transactions, with subtests included as part of the overall test execution. Pricing is available for annual billing and on-demand usage, with different rates for each billing option.
2. Middleware
- Free Plan: Synthetic monitoring to proactively test and improve APIs and web pages. Includes 20,000 synthetic checks to monitor performance and availability.
- Middleware’s Paid Plan is an excellent choice for synthetic monitoring, priced at just $2 for 10,000 synthetic checks. With unlimited test creation capabilities, end-point monitoring, and global coverage, you can track the uptime, latency, and overall performance of your APIs and web pages.
Real-time alerting ensures that you are promptly notified of any issues, allowing you to take immediate action and maintain the reliability of your systems.
Database monitoring
Database monitoring involves tracking and analyzing databases’ performance, availability, and health to ensure optimal functionality and identify potential issues.
1. Datadog
The cost is $70 per database host per month (billed annually or $84 on-demand). Datadog allows you to track normalized query performance trends using database-generated metrics and correlate them with infrastructure metrics. The Database Monitoring service requires no code instrumentation and supports unlimited user accounts.
2. Middleware
Middleware Database Monitoring offers two options for tracking and optimizing your database performance:
- Free (in trial period): Experience the benefits of Middleware’s Database Monitoring without any cost during the trial period. Gain insights into query performance using database-generated metrics and traces.
- Paid ($49 per database host/month): Unlock the full potential of Middleware’s Database Monitoring with the paid plan. Enjoy features like integration with any database, slow query detection, no code instrumentation, and complete visibility into self-hosted or managed server databases.
When comparing the pricing between Datadog and Middleware for database monitoring, there are differences to consider. Datadog costs $70 per database host per month, whereas Middleware offers a paid plan at $49 per database host.
Other Products
Datadog
1. Serverless Monitoring
- Starting at – $ 5 / Per active* function, per month**
- Starting at – $ 10 / Per million traced invocations*, per month**
2. Network Monitoring
- Starting at – $ 5 / Per host per month*
- Starting at – $ 7 / Per device per month*
- 30-day retention – $ 0.65 / per million records per month*
3. Incident Management
- Starting at – $ 20 / Per user per month*
Middleware
1. Serverless Monitoring
- Free – 5 function & 1M traces
- $2 – per function/month
- $5 – per 1M traces/month
2. Container Monitoring
- Free upto 2 hosts
- $10 per host/month
3. Distributed Tracing
- Free upto 2 hosts
- $20 per host/month
4. Network Monitoring – Coming Soon
5. Incident Management – Coming Soon
Datadog vs Middleware
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Datadog vs Middleware based on key factors:
Features:
- Datadog: Offers a wide range of monitoring and observability features, including infrastructure monitoring, APM, log management, synthetic monitoring, and more. Provides integrations with various technologies and platforms.
- Middleware: Provides infrastructure monitoring, synthetic monitoring, and database monitoring. Offers features such as slow query detection, full visibility into self-hosted or managed server databases, and integration with different databases.
Pricing models:
- Datadog: As mentioned earlier, Datadog pricing is based on a per-host or per-resource model, with various plans and pricing tiers available depending on the features and usage requirements.
- Middleware: Pricing is generally based on a per-host or per-database host model, with different plans available for different levels of monitoring and features.
Other factors:
- Datadog: Known for its extensive integrations, large number of features, and scalability. Offers a wide range of monitoring capabilities that can be customized to suit specific needs.
- Middleware: Offers specialized monitoring solutions for infrastructure and databases, with a focus on providing deep insights into query performance and resource constraints.
What people are saying:
We analyzed user reviews on G2, a leading software buying marketplace, to see what users are saying about both of the tools:
Datadog’s review on G2:
Datadog has a rating of 4.3 stars out of 5 on G2, with a majority of reviews mentioning their steep learning curve:
Middleware’s review on G2:
Middleware holds a rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 on G2. We analyzed our reviews, and some users referred us to a leading cost-effective Datadog alternative:
Is Datadog price worth it in 2024?
As of 2024, evaluating the worthiness of Datadog’s pricing requires considering various factors. One aspect that is not well-received about Datadog is its billing and support system. Users have reported difficulties in resolving deployment mistakes and billing issues.
The lack of support and the inability to drop metrics from agents or adjust billing accordingly has left some users feeling frustrated. This highlights the need for better flexibility and responsiveness in addressing customer concerns.
In comparison, Middleware emerges as a potential alternative that offers a more favorable solution. With Middleware’s straightforward pricing models and user-friendly billing system, users can avoid the complications and frustrations associated with unexpected charges or difficulties in adjusting usage.
Additionally, Middleware’s specialized focus on infrastructure monitoring, synthetic monitoring, and database monitoring ensures a targeted and efficient approach to meeting monitoring needs.
