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Software · head to head

Datadog vs Elastic Stack

Datadog logo

Datadog

Software

Modern monitoring & security

From
$15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Elastic Stack logo

Elastic Stack

Software

Search, Observability, and Security Solutions

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 Stack self-managed deployment requires licensing based on node count and RAM usage
  • They diverge on capability: Datadog covers Infrastructure monitoring, Elastic Stack covers Full-text search.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Datadog and Elastic Stack actually diverge.

Attributes where Datadog and Elastic Stack differ
AttributeDatadogElastic Stack
Starting price$15/monthOn request
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Windows, macOSCloud-hosted, Self-managed, Docker, Kubernetes (ECK)
Founded20102011

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

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
  • Network monitoring
  • Serverless monitoring
  • AWS

Only in Elastic Stack

  • Full-text search
  • Log analytics
  • Alerting
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support
  • Api support

Both cover

  • Security monitoring

What people use each for

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

Datadog

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

Elastic Stack

  • Distributed search and analytics engine for production-scale workloadsnot Datadog
  • Full-text search and vector search with approximate nearest neighbour supportnot Datadog
  • Security event tracking with field-level and document-level access controlnot Datadog
  • Machine learning capabilities including anomaly detection and forecastingnot Datadog

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 Stack

  • Self-managed deployment requires licensing based on node count and RAM usage
  • Serverless option has pending features including traffic filtering and bring-your-own-key encryption
  • Hosted deployment requires custom resource configuration for cluster management
  • Pricing models differ significantly across Hosted, Serverless, and Self-managed options

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 Stack

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Elastic Stack 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 Stack if

  • You need full-text search.
  • You work on Cloud-hosted, Self-managed, Docker, Kubernetes (ECK).
  • You also want log analytics.
Elastic Stack review

Questions people ask

Is Datadog or Elastic Stack better?
Neither clearly leads. Datadog starts at $15/month and Elastic Stack at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Datadog or Elastic Stack?
Datadog starts at $15/month and Elastic Stack at On request.
Does Datadog or Elastic Stack run on more platforms?
Datadog runs on Web, Linux, Windows, macOS. Elastic Stack runs on Cloud-hosted, Self-managed, Docker, Kubernetes (ECK).
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 Stack is typically brought in for.
What can Datadog do that Elastic Stack cannot?
Datadog covers Infrastructure monitoring, Application performance monitoring, Log management, Real user monitoring. Elastic Stack covers Full-text search, Log analytics, Alerting, API. Both handle Security 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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