Datadog vs New Relic

Datadog and New Relic are the two leading full-stack observability platforms, both offering APM, infrastructure monitoring, logs, and more. They compete intensely for DevOps and SRE teams.

Overview

Datadog is a cloud-scale monitoring and security platform covering infrastructure, APM, logs, real user monitoring, synthetic tests, and security. It is known for deep cloud integrations (700+ integrations) and is particularly strong in infrastructure and container monitoring. New Relic is a full-stack observability platform offering APM, infrastructure, logs, browser monitoring, and synthetic monitoring. It differentiates with a generous free tier, per-seat pricing, and a unified platform that includes all features.

Key Differences

Pricing model: New Relic charges per user (seats) with usage-based data charges. Datadog charges per host plus per-feature SKUs (logs per GB, APM per host, etc.). New Relic's model is simpler; Datadog's can lead to bill surprise. Free tier: New Relic's free tier is significantly more generous — 100 GB/month of data ingest with full platform access for one user. Datadog's free tier is limited to 5 hosts with basic features. Infrastructure monitoring: Datadog has the edge for infrastructure and container monitoring with deeper integrations for Kubernetes, Docker, AWS, GCP, and Azure. Its dashboarding for infrastructure metrics is best-in-class. APM: Both offer excellent APM. New Relic's APM has a longer track record and includes distributed tracing, error tracking, and service maps. Datadog's APM is equally capable with strong trace analytics. Log management: Datadog's log management is powerful with log pipelines, pattern detection, and correlation with traces. New Relic's log management is functional but less feature-rich. Dashboards: Datadog's dashboard builder is more flexible with a wider variety of widgets and visualization options. New Relic's dashboards are good but less customizable. Cloud integrations: Datadog has 700+ integrations. New Relic has 500+ integrations. Both cover major cloud providers comprehensively. Security: Datadog has expanded into cloud security (CSPM, workload protection, SIEM). New Relic does not have a security product.

Pricing

Datadog pricing starts at $15/host/month for infrastructure. APM is $31/host/month additional. New Relic is free for one user with 100 GB/month; paid plans start at $49/user/month for full platform access.

Verdict

Choose Datadog if you need deep infrastructure monitoring, cloud security, and are willing to manage per-feature pricing. Choose New Relic if you want a simpler pricing model, a generous free tier, and a unified platform that includes all observability features.