Looking for Datadog alternatives? Here's a quick rundown of 8 top monitoring tools:
Each offers unique features for different monitoring needs:
| Tool | Best For | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|
| AWS CloudWatch | AWS environments | Native AWS integration |
| LogicMonitor | Flexible monitoring | 2000+ integrations |
| IBM Instana | Automated APM | AI-powered insights |
| New Relic | Full-stack observability | Customizable dashboards |
| Splunk | Data analysis | Machine learning capabilities |
| Dynatrace | AI-driven monitoring | Automatic problem detection |
| AppDynamics | Business performance | End-user experience monitoring |
| Prometheus | Cloud-native setups | Pull-based metrics collection |
When choosing, consider:
- Your infrastructure
- Specific monitoring needs
- Budget
- Team expertise
Let's dive into each tool's features, pricing, and use cases.
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1. AWS CloudWatch
CloudWatch monitors AWS resources, applications, and services in real-time. It collects metrics, logs, and alarms.
Key features:
- Real-time AWS monitoring
- Metric tracking
- Log analysis
- Alarm setting
CloudWatch integrates seamlessly with AWS. It's pay-as-you-go with no upfront costs. The free tier includes:
| Product | Free Tier |
|---|---|
| Metrics | 10 custom metrics/month, 1M API requests |
| Logs | 5 GB ingested, archived, scanned |
| Alarms | 10 alarms |
| Dashboards | 3 dashboards (50 metrics each) |
Advanced features include:
- Container Insights
- Application Insights
- CloudWatch Evidently for feature testing
While designed for AWS, CloudWatch can monitor on-premises and other cloud providers, with some limitations.
2. LogicMonitor
LogicMonitor offers comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring for all business sizes. It covers on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
Key features:
- Automated discovery
- Real-time alerting
- Customizable dashboards
- AIOps capabilities
- Long-term data retention (2 years)
Pricing plans:
| Plan | Devices | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | Up to 1999 | Automated monitoring, alerting, reporting |
| Enterprise | 2000+ | AIOps, advanced forecasting, log analysis |
LogicMonitor boasts 2000+ pre-configured integrations, making it suitable for diverse IT setups.
Compared to Datadog:
| Feature | LogicMonitor | Datadog |
|---|---|---|
| Integrations | 2000+ | 450+ |
| Data Retention | Pro: 1 year, Enterprise: 2 years | Free: 1 day, Pro/Enterprise: 15 months |
| Support | Ticket, Chat, Phone | Chat, Email (Phone for Enterprise) |
3. IBM Instana
Instana offers automated APM for cloud-native and legacy systems with real-time monitoring and AI-powered insights.
Key features:
- Automated discovery and mapping
- Real-time dependency maps
- 1-second granularity metrics
- AI-powered anomaly detection
Pricing (per Managed Virtual Server/month):
| Edition | Price | Deployment |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $20 | Cloud |
| Standard | $75 | Cloud |
| Self-Hosted | $93.80 | On-Premise |
Instana vs Datadog APM:
| Feature | Instana | Datadog APM |
|---|---|---|
| Market Share | 0.51% | 0.17% |
| Customer Count | 1,845 | 621 |
| Top Locations | USA, France, Germany | USA, India, UK |
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4. New Relic
New Relic provides full-stack monitoring through metrics, logs, and distributed tracing.
Key features:
- APM
- Infrastructure monitoring
- Real User Monitoring
- AI-powered incident response
- Customizable dashboards
New Relic's usage-based pricing offers more flexibility than Datadog:
| Feature | New Relic | Datadog |
|---|---|---|
| Free Data | 100 GB/month | 14-day trial |
| Containers | Unlimited per host | Extra cost beyond agent limit |
| Log Retention | 30 days included | $2.50/m log events/month |
| Overage Penalties | None for logs | +50% if volume exceeds contract |
Plans start at $149/month, with a free tier for basic features.
5. Splunk
Splunk specializes in analyzing machine-generated data for improved services and decision-making.
Features:
- In-depth data insights
- IT operations and security monitoring
- GDPR and SOC2 compliance
Pricing (team of 200):
| Product | Price Range |
|---|---|
| Splunk Cloud | $17,700 - $35,800 |
| Splunk Enterprise | $30,900 - $45,700 |
Splunk's DevOps monitoring provides:
- Real-time delivery lifecycle monitoring
- Shared visibility into app and infrastructure health
- Support for infrastructure, network, and APM
6. Dynatrace
Dynatrace uses AI for managing complex cloud environments, offering APM, infrastructure monitoring, and digital experience monitoring.
Key features:
- AI-powered insights
- 650+ technology integrations
- Unified observability
Pricing starts at $0.08/hour for full-stack monitoring.
Dynatrace's OneAgent simplifies setup, automatically reporting on logs, infrastructure, and application metrics.
7. AppDynamics
AppDynamics offers 24/7 visibility into application environments, monitoring and analyzing business transactions.
Features:
- Comprehensive monitoring
- Flexible deployment
- Distributed transaction tracing
New pricing model:
| Plan | Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| APM Pro | Multi-cloud mapping, health rules, root cause diagnosis | Small to medium businesses |
| APM Advanced | Pro features + server performance, Docker/Kubernetes monitoring | Growing enterprises |
| APM Peak | Advanced features + transaction analytics, business metrics | Large-scale operations |
Pricing starts at $3,300/year, with free and subscription options available.
8. Prometheus
Prometheus is an open-source monitoring toolkit for cloud-native environments.
Key features:
- Pull-based model
- Time-series data storage
- PromQL query language
- Service discovery
Prometheus excels in:
| Use Case | Monitors |
|---|---|
| Application | Request latency, error rates, resource usage |
| Infrastructure | Servers, databases, network devices |
| Kubernetes | Kubernetes objects and clusters |
| Database | Performance metrics |
While free, Prometheus requires technical expertise to set up and maintain.
Choose your monitoring solution based on your specific needs, infrastructure, and team capabilities.
