Is Checkmk or Datadog Logs better?

Neither clearly leads. Checkmk starts at Free and Datadog Logs at $0.1/per GB ingested per month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Checkmk or Datadog Logs?

Checkmk has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Checkmk and $0.1/per GB ingested per month for Datadog Logs.

Does Checkmk or Datadog Logs run on more platforms?

Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Checkmk for free?

Yes. Checkmk has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Datadog Logs starts at $0.1/per GB ingested per month.

What is Checkmk best used for?

Checkmk is most often used for infrastructure monitoring, system observability, enterprise compliance monitoring. Of those, infrastructure monitoring and system observability are not what Datadog Logs is typically brought in for.

What can Checkmk do that Datadog Logs cannot?

Datadog Logs covers Log ingestion, Full-text search, Custom dashboards, Log-based metrics.

Logging · head to head

Checkmk vs Datadog Logs

Checkmk

Logging

Comprehensive IT monitoring, open and flexible

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Visit Checkmk Full review

Datadog Logs

Logging

Log Management and Analytics

From: $0.1/per GB ingested per month
Free plan: No

Visit Datadog Logs Full review

The short version

Checkmk has a free plan, then €190/mo; Datadog Logs starts at $0.1/mo.
Where Checkmk falls short: pricing calculated by service count, not hosts (approximately 30 services per host on average).
Where Datadog Logs falls short: complex, multi-tiered pricing model based on ingestion, indexing, and storage; can become expensive at scale.
Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Checkmk and Datadog Logs actually diverge.

Attributes where Checkmk and Datadog Logs differ
Attribute	Checkmk	Datadog Logs
Starting price	Free	$0.1/per GB ingested per month
Pricing model	Subscription	Usage-based
Free tier	Yes	No

Identical on both: platforms (Web), category (Logging).

Not yet recorded: founded for Checkmk.

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Checkmk

Nothing recorded that Datadog Logs does not also cover.

Only in Datadog Logs

Log ingestion
Full-text search
Custom dashboards
Log-based metrics
API
Webhooks
REST
Web support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Checkmk

Infrastructure monitoringnot Datadog Logs
System observabilitynot Datadog Logs
Enterprise compliance monitoringnot Datadog Logs

Datadog Logs

Centralised log aggregation and analysisnot Checkmk
Multi-source log correlation with metrics and tracesnot Checkmk
Root cause analysis and troubleshootingnot Checkmk
Security monitoring and threat detectionnot Checkmk

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Checkmk

Pricing calculated by service count, not hosts (approximately 30 services per host on average)
Professional support limited to 8-10 hours per week on base plans
Synthetic monitoring is separate add-on with per-test pricing

Datadog Logs

Complex, multi-tiered pricing model based on ingestion, indexing, and storage; can become expensive at scale
Ingestion pricing of $0.10/GB can accumulate rapidly for high-volume logging environments

Pricing, plan by plan

Checkmk

Free

Community (Self-Hosted)Free
- No cost, forever
- Up to ~100 hosts
- Basic infrastructure monitoring
Pro (Self-Hosted)€190/mo
- Advanced analytics
- Reporting
- Distributed monitoring
Ultimate (Self-Hosted)€275/mo
- Full-stack observability
- Advanced security compliance
- 10 hours x 5 days professional support (upgradable to 24/7)
CloudAI (SaaS)€240/mo
- Fully managed cloud hosting
- 99.5% uptime SLA
- Supports up to 50000 services

Datadog Logs

$0.1/per GB ingested per month

No published plan breakdown. See the Datadog Logs review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Checkmk if

You want to start without paying.

Checkmk review

Choose Datadog Logs if

You need log ingestion.
You also want full-text search.

Datadog Logs review

Questions people ask

Is Checkmk or Datadog Logs better?: Neither clearly leads. Checkmk starts at Free and Datadog Logs at $0.1/per GB ingested per month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Checkmk or Datadog Logs?: Checkmk has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Checkmk and $0.1/per GB ingested per month for Datadog Logs.
Does Checkmk or Datadog Logs run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Checkmk for free?: Yes. Checkmk has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Datadog Logs starts at $0.1/per GB ingested per month.
What is Checkmk best used for?: Checkmk is most often used for infrastructure monitoring, system observability, enterprise compliance monitoring. Of those, infrastructure monitoring and system observability are not what Datadog Logs is typically brought in for.
What can Checkmk do that Datadog Logs cannot?: Datadog Logs covers Log ingestion, Full-text search, Custom dashboards, Log-based metrics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Checkmk: Is there a free version of Checkmk?

Yes, Checkmk Community edition is free forever and supports up to approximately 100 hosts for basic infrastructure monitoring with no cost.

Source

Datadog Logs: What pricing options does Datadog offer for log ingestion and processing?

Log ingestion starts at $0.10/GB (annual billing; $0.10 on-demand). Standard indexing costs $1.70 per million events per month (annual; $2.55 on-demand). Flex Storage costs $0.05/million events stored per month (annual; $0.075 on-demand). Flex Logs Starter costs $0.60/million events stored per month (annual; $0.90 on-demand).

Source

Checkmk: How does Checkmk calculate pricing by host count?

Checkmk uses service-based pricing where each monitored aspect (file system, hardware sensor, switch port, metric) counts as one service. On average, there are approximately 30 services per host.

Source

Datadog Logs: What retention options are available and how does it affect pricing?

Standard indexing offers 15-day retention with options for 3 to 30+ days. Flex Storage supports flexible retention up to 15 months. Flex Logs Starter includes bundled compute for retention of 3-15 months.

Source

Checkmk: What is the difference between Checkmk Pro and Ultimate tiers?

Pro tier at 190 EUR/month includes advanced analytics and 8x5 support, while Ultimate at 275 EUR/month adds full-stack observability, advanced compliance features, and upgradable 24/7 support.

Source

Datadog Logs: Is there a cost to forward logs to external systems?

Yes, log forwarding costs $0.25/GB outbound per destination for routing logs to external systems.

Source

Checkmk: Does Checkmk offer a managed SaaS option?

Yes, Checkmk CloudAI is a fully managed SaaS tier at 240 EUR/month with 99.5% uptime SLA and support for up to 50000 services.

Source

Datadog Logs: What discounts are available for high-volume customers?

Multi-year and volume discounts are available for customers processing 3B+ events per month.

Source

Checkmk vs Datadog Logs

Checkmk

Datadog Logs

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Checkmk

Only in Datadog Logs

What people use each for

Checkmk

Datadog Logs

Where each one falls short

Checkmk

Datadog Logs

Pricing, plan by plan

Checkmk

Datadog Logs

Which should you pick?

Choose Checkmk if

Choose Datadog Logs if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Checkmk

More on Datadog Logs

Keep looking

Other head to heads