Is Datadog or Semgrep better?

Neither clearly leads. Datadog starts at $15/month and Semgrep at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Datadog or Semgrep?

Semgrep has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $15/month for Datadog and Free for Semgrep.

Does Datadog or Semgrep run on more platforms?

Datadog runs on Web, Linux, Windows, macOS. Semgrep runs on web, api, linux, mac, windows.

Can I use Semgrep for free?

Yes. Semgrep has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Datadog starts at $15/month.

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 Semgrep is typically brought in for.

What can Datadog do that Semgrep cannot?

Datadog covers Infrastructure monitoring, Application performance monitoring, Log management, Real user monitoring. Semgrep covers Static code scanning, Supply chain scanning, Secrets detection, Cross-file analysis.

Security & Cybersecurity · head to head

Datadog vs Semgrep

Datadog

Security & Cybersecurity

Modern monitoring & security

From: $15/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Semgrep

Security & Cybersecurity

Open-source static analysis tool for finding security bugs and enforcing code standards.

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Semgrep has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Datadog consumption-based pricing model makes costs hard to predict and can scale quickly; Semgrep free tier caps out at 10 contributors and 10 repositories.
They diverge on capability: Datadog covers Infrastructure monitoring, Semgrep covers Static code scanning.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Datadog and Semgrep actually diverge.

Attributes where Datadog and Semgrep differ
Attribute	Datadog	Semgrep
Starting price	$15/month	Free
Pricing model	Unknown	freemium
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, Linux, Windows, macOS	web, api, linux, mac, windows
Category	Unknown	Security & Cybersecurity
Founded	2010	Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Semgrep

Static code scanning
Supply chain scanning
Secrets detection
Cross-file analysis
AI-powered triage and remediation
CI/CD integration

What people use each for

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

Datadog

Infrastructure monitoringnot Semgrep
Application performancenot Semgrep
Security monitoringnot Semgrep
Log analysisnot Semgrep
Cloud monitoringnot Semgrep

Semgrep

Scanning code for security vulnerabilities in CI/CDnot Datadog
Detecting vulnerable open-source dependenciesnot Datadog
Finding hardcoded secrets before code shipsnot Datadog
Enforcing custom code standards with rule setsnot Datadog
Prioritizing findings with AI-assisted triagenot 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

Semgrep

Free tier caps out at 10 contributors and 10 repositories.
Secrets scanning is priced as a separate module ($15/contributor) from Code and Supply Chain.
Self-managed repositories and custom CI/CD require the Enterprise tier.
AI credits are limited per tier and additional usage requires upgrading.

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

Semgrep

Free

FreeFree
- Up to 10 contributors
- Code and Supply Chain scanning
- 60 AI credits total
Teams$30/month
- Code, Supply Chain, or Secrets scanning per contributor
- Pro rules
- AI-powered triage and remediation
Enterprise$undefined/month
- On-prem support
- Custom CI/CD
- 50 AI credits per developer/month

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 Semgrep if

You need static code scanning.
You want to start without paying.
You work on web, api, linux, mac, windows.
You also want supply chain scanning.

Semgrep review

Questions people ask

Is Datadog or Semgrep better?: Neither clearly leads. Datadog starts at $15/month and Semgrep at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Datadog or Semgrep?: Semgrep has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $15/month for Datadog and Free for Semgrep.
Does Datadog or Semgrep run on more platforms?: Datadog runs on Web, Linux, Windows, macOS. Semgrep runs on web, api, linux, mac, windows.
Can I use Semgrep for free?: Yes. Semgrep has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Datadog starts at $15/month.
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 Semgrep is typically brought in for.
What can Datadog do that Semgrep cannot?: Datadog covers Infrastructure monitoring, Application performance monitoring, Log management, Real user monitoring. Semgrep covers Static code scanning, Supply chain scanning, Secrets detection, Cross-file analysis.

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

Semgrep: What does Semgrep cost?

The Free edition covers up to 10 contributors; Teams starts at $30/contributor/month for Code scanning (Supply Chain also $30, Secrets $15); Enterprise is custom-priced.

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

Semgrep: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

Yes, the Free edition supports up to 10 contributors and 10 repositories with Code and Supply Chain scanning plus 60 AI credits total.

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

Semgrep: How is usage metered?

Pricing is per contributor, defined as someone who made at least one commit to a scanned private repository in the past 90 days.

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

Semgrep: Is there special pricing for startups?

Yes, Semgrep offers special startup pricing upon request for early-stage companies.

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

Datadog vs Semgrep

Datadog

Semgrep

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Datadog

Only in Semgrep

What people use each for

Datadog

Semgrep

Where each one falls short

Datadog

Semgrep

Pricing, plan by plan

Datadog

Semgrep

Which should you pick?

Choose Datadog if

Choose Semgrep if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Datadog

More on Semgrep

Keep looking

Other head to heads