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Datadog covers broad monitoring and security; its listed starting price is $500, but that figure does not explain the full bill. If you are leaving over cost, a lower entry price does not automatically mean lower spend: these alternatives vary in usage charges, annual commitments and responder-based costs. We’d shortlist Grafana or New Relic for broad observability, and Prometheus or Zabbix if avoiding license fees matters more than choosing a consolidated tool.
01Why people leave Datadog
Unclear total cost
Datadog is listed from $500, but the published price does not show what your full bill will be.
Unwanted sales follow-up
One Reddit thread describes repeated Datadog sales calls to multiple people at an organization after an initial conversation.
More breadth than you need
Datadog covers a lot. If your priority is incident response or a focused monitoring stack, a narrower tool may fit better.
02The alternatives, ranked by fit
- Configurable observability
GrafanaGrafanaGrafana is a fit if you want to bring multiple telemetry signals into configurable dashboards rather than buy into Datadog’s broad coverage. It has a free plan and starts at $19, but the published summary warns that Pro’s fee is only the start of the bill. Check usage charges before treating it as a cheaper switch.
Trade-off: You’ll need to watch usage charges, and it is not positioned as a security suite.
7.0/10from
$19/mofree plan - All-in-one observability
New RelicNew RelicNew Relic is the closest listed alternative for teams trying to consolidate observability tools. It has a free plan and starts at $10, making its entry price lower than Datadog’s listed $500. The tradeoff is cost growth: the published summary flags rising user and ingest costs, so check how those fit your use.
Trade-off: User and ingest costs can rise; check the pricing details for your usage.
7.5/10from
$10/mofree plan - Broad observability
DynatraceDynatraceDynatrace is worth comparing if you need broad observability coverage, especially in Kubernetes and cloud-native environments. Its listed starting price is $7, but the published summary cautions that an annual commitment matters. Treat that low entry figure as a starting point, not a complete comparison with Datadog’s bill.
Trade-off: The annual commitment makes the $7 starting price less straightforward.
6.8/10from
$7/mo - Open-source monitoring
PrometheusPrometheusPrometheus suits teams that want open-source monitoring and PromQL-based queries and alerts, rather than another paid starting price. It has a free plan. The published summary notes a concrete limitation: independent servers use local storage, so check whether that storage model suits your setup before moving away from Datadog.
Trade-off: Independent servers use local storage.
7.6/10from
Freefree plan - No license fees
ZabbixZabbixZabbix is an option if avoiding per-host license fees is a priority and your team can manage its own monitoring stack. It has a free plan and no listed starting price. The published summary describes broad IT and OT infrastructure monitoring, but cautions that configuring it well takes work.
Trade-off: The team takes on configuration work.
7.6/10from
Freefree plan - Traces and logs
Scout APMScout APMScout APM is a more focused option for teams wanting traces and logs together, rather than Datadog’s broad monitoring coverage. It has a free plan and starts at $19. The published summary also flags plan limits, so check whether your workload fits before assuming the lower entry price will hold.
Trade-off: Plan limits may constrain the workloads that fit.
6.5/10from
$19/mofree plan - Incident response
PagerDutyPagerDutyPagerDuty is a fit if the reason you are leaving is incident-response workflow, not a need for another broad monitoring suite. It has a free plan and starts at $21. The published summary says to check annual fees, caps and add-ons before switching, so compare the full cost rather than the entry price.
Trade-off: It is focused on incident response, not broad monitoring coverage.
6.3/10from
$21/mofree plan - Incident management
FireHydrantFireHydrantFireHydrant fits teams formalizing incident response that need retrospectives and analytics. It has a free plan and starts at $25. That makes it a more targeted alternative than Datadog’s broad coverage, not a like-for-like replacement for every monitoring need. The published summary says to budget by responder and check paging costs.
Trade-off: Budget by responder and check paging costs.
7.0/10from
$25/mofree plan
03Side by side
| Tool | Score | From | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Datadog Datadog (current) | 6.7 | $500/mo | No | Teams seeking broad monitoring coverage |
| Grafana Grafana | 7.0 | $19/mo | Yes | Teams combining multiple telemetry signals |
| New Relic New Relic | 7.5 | $10/mo | Yes | Teams consolidating observability tools |
| Dynatrace Dynatrace | 6.8 | $7/mo | No | Teams needing broad observability coverage |
| Prometheus Prometheus | 7.6 | Free | Yes | Teams wanting open-source monitoring |
| Zabbix Zabbix | 7.6 | Free | Yes | Teams avoiding per-host license fees |
| Scout APM Scout APM | 6.5 | $19/mo | Yes | Teams wanting traces and logs together |
| PagerDuty PagerDuty | 6.3 | $21/mo | Yes | Teams standardizing incident response |
| FireHydrant FireHydrant | 7.0 | $25/mo | Yes | Teams formalizing incident response |
Questions people ask
Which Datadog alternative has the lowest starting price?
Among the listed paid starting prices, Dynatrace is lowest at $7, followed by New Relic at $10. Prometheus and Zabbix have free plans and no listed starting price. These figures are not full-cost comparisons: the published summaries flag annual commitments, usage charges, plan limits or configuration work for several options.
Which Datadog alternative is best for broad observability?
Grafana, New Relic and Dynatrace are the strongest matches in this list for teams seeking broad observability or multiple telemetry signals. New Relic is described as an all-in-one observability option, while Grafana emphasizes configurable dashboards. Compare their pricing tradeoffs before treating any listed starting price as your likely bill.
Can PagerDuty replace Datadog?
Not as a like-for-like swap based on the published descriptions. Datadog is positioned for broad monitoring and security coverage, while PagerDuty is for standardizing incident response and escalation workflows. If incident response is the part you need to replace, compare PagerDuty; if you need broad monitoring too, assess that separately.