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20 Best Datadog Alternatives for Application Monitoring

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) is essential for ensuring the smooth operation of your digital services. Finding the right tools to monitor your applications can be challenging, especially when considering Datadog alternatives. Whether you're a developer, engineer, or tech enthusiast, ensuring your applications run efficiently and with minimal glitches is vital.

For a reliable alternative, use Alerty's free APM tool. It is designed to help you study the options available and decide. With Alerty, you can compare Datadog alternatives quickly and effortlessly.

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Table of Contents

What Is Datadog?

Datadog is a monitoring and security service that offers real-time visibility into an organization’s entire technology stack, including:

  • SaaS and cloud providers
  • Automation tools
  • Source control platforms
  • Databases

It can automate tasks across business units, such as monitoring the following:

  • Infrastructure
  • Application performance
  • Logs
  • Users

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What Does Datadog Do?

The setup of each Datadog instance differs based on an organization’s specific needs and industry. It is mainly known for its outstanding user experience and versatility for various use cases.

Datadog services can offer the following functionality, as needed by each customer’s use case:

  • Infrastructure Monitoring
  • Log Management and Analytics
  • Application Performance Monitoring (APM)
  • Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
  • Real-user Monitoring and other digital experience functions
  • Software delivery features such as continuous testing
  • Incident and Case Management
  • Event Management

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Why People Look for Datadog Alternatives?

You might choose to opt for a top alternative to Datadog for several reasons. Datadog’s unpredictable and complex billing can lead to surprisingly high monitoring costs, the most common complaint about Datadog pricing.

Cost Predictability Challenges With High SKU and Custom Metric Pricing

High SKU-based pricing makes predicting costs challenging, and high custom metrics pricing (starting at $0.05 per custom metric per month) can add up quickly.

Challenges in Log Management

  • Complex log ingestion
  • Indexing processes
  • Retention policies
  • Pricing structures

These factors can make understanding costs problematic.

Datadog's Areas for Improvement

Datadog documentation could also be improved, and some users feel that customer support could be improved. Complaints of vendor lock-in can make users feel stuck with the service, and Datadog’s high-pressure sales tactics may not be the best way to sign up or keep customers. 

Datadog Limitations and Alternative Options

Log analyses can be slow, and Datadog also needs a query language, limiting exploratory analysis. Scaling usage with Datadog can be both challenging and costly. If these and other Datadog limitations are a big concern for you, there are top monitoring tools similar to Datadog that you can consider switching to.

Accelerate Development With Alerty's All-in-One Monitoring Solution

Alerty is a cloud monitoring service for developers and early-stage startups, offering:

  • Application performance monitoring
  • Database monitoring
  • Incident management

Designed to support technologies like NextJS, React, Vue, and Node.js, Alerty helps developers efficiently identify and fix issues.

Alerty monitors databases such as:

  • Supabase
  • PostgreSQL
  • RDS

Key Features

  • Tracking CPU and memory usage
  • Quick incident management
  • Real User Monitoring (RUM) to optimize user experience

Universal Service Monitoring

  • Dependencies like Stripe API
  • OpenAI
  • Vercel

Key Benefits

  • AI-driven setup simplification
  • Cost-effective compared to competitors
  • Easy-to-use platform with quick setup
  • Integration with tools like Sentry

Alerty is ideal for developers and small teams seeking efficient and affordable monitoring solutions.

Catch issues before they affect your users with Alerty's free APM solution today!

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20 Best Datadog Alternatives For Application Monitoring

1. Alerty

Alerty is a cloud monitoring service for developers and early-stage startups, helping them with application performance monitoring, database monitoring, and incident management. 

Supporting technologies like NextJS, React, Vue, and Node.js, Alerty:

  • Tracks essential metrics, including CPU usage and memory consumption
  • Monitors databases such as Supabase, PostgreSQL, and RDS
  • Features quick incident management
  • Includes Real User Monitoring (RUM) to optimize user experience

Alerty's Universal Service Monitoring includes:

  • Dependencies like Stripe API, OpenAI, and Vercel
  • AI-driven setup for simplicity
  • Cost-effective solution compared to competitors
  • Easy-to-use platform with quick setup
  • Integration with tools like Sentry

Ideal for developers and small teams needing efficient and affordable monitoring.

2. Splunk

Splunk provides powerful capabilities for processing and analyzing machine-generated data, huge volumes of logs. 

Splunk provides real-time visibility into:

  • System performance
  • Security threats
  • Operational health

Featuring a flexible search language for complex queries, Splunk is versatile and can be used in various cases, from IT operations to security analytics. Extensive data visualization options include:

  • Dashboards
  • Reports

Splunk offers an extensive ecosystem of apps and integrations, enhancing its functionality for diverse IT environments.

3. New Relic

New Relic is a cloud-based observability platform offering tools for monitoring and optimizing application performance. 

Key capabilities include:

  • Application Performance Monitoring (APM) for in-depth insights
  • Transaction tracing
  • Error tracking

Infrastructure monitoring provides visibility into server and host health and performance. Accurate user monitoring (RUM) captures end-user experiences, helping understand performance from the user's perspective. Intuitive interface and robust analytics tools facilitate quick identification of performance bottlenecks and issues.

4. AppDynamics

AppDynamics focuses on application performance and business performance monitoring, providing visibility into application code to quickly identify and resolve performance issues. It links application performance to business outcomes, providing insights into how performance impacts business metrics.

End-to-end Transaction Tracing

  • Tracks request across services and components

User experience monitoring:

  • Provides insights into user interactions with applications

5. Dynatrace

Dynatrace provides a full-stack monitoring solution for:

  • Automated observability across applications
  • Cloud environments
  • Infrastructure

It automates the discovery and mapping of all components within an IT environment, creating real-time topology maps of applications and services. 

Accelerated Problem Solving with AI and Digital Experience Monitoring

AI engine Davis detects performance anomalies and provides root cause analysis, reducing problem resolution time. Digital experience monitoring helps understand user interactions with applications and integrates with cloud platforms to support hybrid or multi-cloud environments.

6. Instana

Instana is an APM and observability tool designed for microservices and cloud-native applications. It offers real-time insights and automated root-cause analysis. It automatically maps relationships between services and infrastructure components, clearly visualizing system architecture. Capable of tracing and monitoring every request in a distributed system, Instana supports containerized environments, including Kubernetes monitoring.

7. Prometheus

Prometheus is an open-source solution ideal for monitoring time-series data, widely used in the Kubernetes ecosystem to monitor containerized applications.

Key Features

  • A powerful query language, PromQL, for detailed data analysis
  • Reliability and high-volume metric handling
  • Flexible and dynamic service discovery, ideal for containerized environments
  • An active community with a broad range of exporters and integrations

8. Coralogix

Coralogix offers a full-stack observability platform with:

  • Log analysis
  • Metrics analysis
  • Tracing
  • Security data analysis

It operates without indexing or costly hot storage. With built-in cost optimization, Coralogix offers modern observability at a fraction of Datadog's cost. Its Streama architecture provides real-time insights into data, with significant cost savings through the TCO optimizer. 

Benefits

  • Straightforward pricing
  • Comprehensive APM
  • Exceptional support
  • Robust security features

These make it a leading choice for operational efficiency and security.

9. Chronosphere

Observability Platform

  • Ingests metrics, events, logs, and traces in various formats
  • Optimizes for containerized and microservices architectures

The control plane enables observability data optimization, aligning data value with its cost. A unique pricing model charges only for valid data retained, with pre-computed data to deliver insights efficiently. 

Unlike other solutions, Chronosphere will do the following:

  • Avoids storing, querying, and charging for all data
  • Enhances operational efficiency

10. Sematext

Sematext is an observability platform that provides the following:

  • Tools for monitoring
  • Logging services
  • Analysis of application and infrastructure performance

Offering insights into system behavior, Sematext consolidates monitoring tools for faster issue troubleshooting and better visibility for DevOps, SysAdmins, and SREs. The platform aims to streamline performance monitoring and enhance system reliability.

11. Sentry

Sentry is an open-source error tracking and APM platform that is easier to install and set up compared to Datadog. It detects code-level errors in real time for proactive issue resolution. 

Key features include:

  • Performance monitoring
  • Alerting
  • Event tracing
  • Dashboard customization

Sentry offers a free plan with limited error and performance monitoring capabilities, and paid plans start at $26 per month.

12. SolarWinds

SolarWinds is a Datadog alternative with similar functionalities. It is quick and easy to set up for monitoring diverse APIs and creating charts and dashboards. SolarWinds offers different APIs for gathering data from various sources, and it has a complex pricing plan with free trial options for testing.

13. ManageEngine

The ManageEngine platform is an IT operations and management tool offering features like:  

  • User management
  • Monitoring
  • Log management
  • Security

With various payment plans for teams of different sizes, ManageEngine provides a perpetual plan for long-term cost-effectiveness.

14. Zabbix

Zabbix is an open-source IT infrastructure monitoring tool with distributed host/agent architecture and enterprise-ready functionalities like:

  • Full-stack monitoring
  • Data visualization
  • Dashboards
  • Alerting
  • Team management

Zabbix provides free installation and usage, with optional technical support plans available.

15. Better Stack

Better Stack offers Logtail for log management and Better Uptime for monitoring and incident management. Logtail collects logs from various sources in real-time for filtering and analysis. Its SQL compatibility allows custom reports to be created and offers built-in alerting based on log records for efficient monitoring.

16. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloudwatch

AWS Cloudwatch is an APM service that enables data collection from over 70 AWS resources for more accessible analysis and resolution of performance issues. With visualization tools, Auto Scaling, and generative AI for log queries, AWS Cloudwatch is suitable for enterprises, with a generally more affordable pricing than Datadog.

17. BrowserStack Low Code Automation

BrowserStack Low Code Automation is a testing solution using AI technologies for test automation, capturing a wide range of user actions for scalable release schedules and real-time reporting. With simplified testing and real-time reports, BrowserStack is a user-friendly alternative to Datadog for efficient testing.

18. Testim

Testim is a testing solution leveraging AI technology for stable and efficient testing processes, ensuring high-quality applications with ease of management and maintenance for testing operations.

19. Reflect

Reflect offers a no-code/low-code testing solution using AI technology for accurate test results, easier testing, and greater test coverage, providing accessible and quick testing services for developers.

20. Grafana

Grafana is an open-source analytics and monitoring platform that:

  • Supports multiple data sources
  • Offers various visualization options
  • Provides plugins for extended functionality

It allows users to consolidate and visualize data from different sources in a single dashboard.

With basic alerting capabilities, Grafana offers high customization but may require a learning curve for optimal utilization.

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Criteria To Consider When Choosing a Datadog Alternative

Ease of Use

Choosing a user-friendly monitoring tool is crucial to avoid confusion and ensure smooth operations. Look for a tool that is easy to onboard new users. You don’t want to fumble around the dashboard, especially during a critical incident.

Integration Capabilities

Choosing a tool that seamlessly integrates with your existing toolset is important. Ensure that the alternative supports all your team's tools for a smooth transition.

Reliability

Monitor the historical uptime of the tool you are considering by checking its status page. The tool you choose should have minimal downtime, and its vendor should communicate clearly and effectively during outages.

Scalability

Consider the tool's scalability—whether it can grow with your organization in terms of features and pricing. Ensuring that the tool can accommodate your organization's future growth is essential.

Support and Training

Good support and training documentation are essential when choosing a tool. Make sure the alternative you are considering offers reliable support and easily accessible training resources.

Choosing a Datadog Alternative

If you are looking for a Datadog alternative due to high costs or poor support, look for a tool that offers transparent pricing and excellent support. On-call and incident management are critical functions for maintaining infrastructure reliability, so choosing a tool that caters to these needs effectively is essential. If you want a more cost-effective solution with excellent support and an easy setup, Alerty is a good option. 

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Catch Issues Before They Affect Your Users with Alerty's Free APM Solution

Alerty is your go-to cloud monitoring service if you're a developer or part of an early-stage startup looking for a reliable Datadog alternative. This service offers a comprehensive suite of monitoring tools, including application performance monitoring, database monitoring, and incident management. 

Alerty supports various technologies, making it versatile and adaptable to multiple development environments, such as:

  • NextJS
  • React
  • Vue
  • Node.js

Database Monitoring Made Easy

Alerty is a standout performer when it comes to monitoring databases. It supports popular databases like:

  • Supabase
  • PostgreSQL
  • RDS

It can efficiently track key metrics like CPU usage and memory consumption. This feature allows you to keep a close eye on the health of your databases and ensure they're running smoothly and efficiently.

Incident Management at Your Fingertips

Alerty streamlines incident management processes, ensuring issues with your applications or databases are quickly identified and resolved. You can address incidents promptly, minimizing downtime and ensuring your users have a seamless experience when interacting with your applications.

Real User Monitoring (RUM) for Enhanced User Experience

Alerty offers Real User Monitoring (RUM) capabilities, enabling you to gain insights into how users interact with your applications. By leveraging RUM data, you can optimize the user experience and make informed decisions to enhance user satisfaction and engagement.

Universal Service Monitoring for Comprehensive Visibility

Alerty's Universal Service Monitoring feature covers many dependencies, including popular services like the Stripe API, OpenAI, and Vercel. By monitoring these dependencies, you can ensure the smooth operation of your applications and take proactive measures to prevent disruptions.

AI-Driven Setup for Seamless Monitoring

Alerty leverages AI to:

  • Simplify the monitoring setup process
  • Enable quick start for developers

This approach:

  • Saves time
  • Offers a cost-effective solution compared to competitors

With a user-friendly design and seamless integration with tools like Sentry, Alerty is ideal for developers and small teams seeking efficient and affordable monitoring solutions.

Try Alerty’s free APM today and experience top-notch monitoring tools designed for developers and startups. Our user-friendly, cost-effective solution will enhance your application’s performance and reliability.

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