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Datadog vs Elastic

Datadog logo

Datadog

Technology

Modern monitoring & security

From
$15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
E

Elastic

Log Management

Search AI powered by Elasticsearch

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Datadog consumption-based pricing model makes costs hard to predict and can scale quickly; Elastic the 99.95% monthly uptime SLA is only offered on the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers of Hosted deployments, not on lower tiers, per elastic.co, August 2026

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Datadog and Elastic actually diverge.

Attributes where Datadog and Elastic differ
AttributeDatadogElastic
Starting price$15/monthOn request
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Windows, macOSWeb
CategoryTechnologyLog Management
Founded2010Unknown

Identical on both: pricing model (Unknown), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Datadog

  • Infrastructure monitoring
  • Application performance monitoring
  • Log management
  • Real user monitoring
  • Synthetic monitoring
  • Security monitoring
  • Network monitoring
  • Serverless monitoring

Only in Elastic

Nothing recorded that Datadog does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Datadog

  • Infrastructure monitoringnot Elastic
  • Application performancenot Elastic
  • Security monitoringnot Elastic
  • Log analysisnot Elastic
  • Cloud monitoringnot Elastic

Elastic

No use cases recorded yet. See the Elastic review.

Where each one falls short

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

Datadog

  • Consumption-based pricing model makes costs hard to predict and can scale quickly
  • Add-on modules significantly increase costs: custom metrics, indexed spans, extended retention
  • No free tier for production monitoring
  • High costs for organizations with large amounts of log data or high-cardinality metrics

Elastic

  • The 99.95% monthly uptime SLA is only offered on the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers of Hosted deployments, not on lower tiers, per elastic.co, August 2026

Pricing, plan by plan

Datadog

$15/month
  • Infrastructure Monitoring$15/month
    • Host monitoring
    • Basic dashboards
  • APM$31/month
    • Application performance monitoring
    • Trace collection
  • Log Management$0.1/gb
    • Log indexing
    • Search and filter

Elastic

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Elastic review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Datadog if

  • You need infrastructure monitoring.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want application performance monitoring.
Datadog review

Choose Elastic if

Nothing in the data separates Elastic from Datadog on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Elastic review

Questions people ask

Is Datadog or Elastic better?
Neither clearly leads. Datadog starts at $15/month and Elastic at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Datadog or Elastic?
Datadog starts at $15/month and Elastic at On request.
Does Datadog or Elastic run on more platforms?
Datadog runs on Web, Linux, Windows, macOS. Elastic runs on Web.
What is Datadog best used for?
Datadog is most often used for infrastructure monitoring, application performance, security monitoring, log analysis. Of those, infrastructure monitoring and application performance are not what Elastic is typically brought in for.
What can Datadog do that Elastic cannot?
Datadog covers Infrastructure monitoring, Application performance monitoring, Log management, Real user monitoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Datadog: How is Datadog pricing structured?

Datadog uses consumption-based pricing tied to data volume ingested, hosts monitored, and products enabled. Infrastructure Monitoring starts at $15/host/month, APM at $31/host/month, and Log Management at $0.10/GB for indexed logs.

Source
Datadog: Does Datadog offer a free tier?

Datadog offers a free trial but not a permanent free tier for production monitoring. Pricing begins with paid plans only.

Source
Datadog: What integrations does Datadog support?

Datadog offers 1000+ built-in integrations including AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Azure, GCP, and most major cloud platforms and services.

Source
Datadog: Can Datadog monitor Kubernetes clusters?

Yes. The Datadog Agent runs as a DaemonSet to provide real-time visibility into pods, nodes, deployments, and control-plane health across major Kubernetes distributions including EKS, AKS, GKE, OpenShift, and others.

Source
Datadog: How can I reduce Datadog costs?

Datadog bills based on indexed logs, custom metrics, and high-cardinality tags. Costs can be unpredictable and may run 2-3x estimates. Prepaying annually can secure 5-15% discounts.

Source
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