Datadog vs New Relic
Datadog and New Relic are the two most-compared full-stack observability platforms. Datadog leads on market share and breadth of integrations. New Relic shifted to consumption-based pricing in 2022, making it more attractive for teams that want predictable costs. Both cover APM, infrastructure, logs, and synthetics.
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All-in-one cloud monitoring and observability vs Full-stack observability platform.
| Feature | Datadog | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing from | From $15/host/month | Free up to 100 GB/month |
| Pricing model | Per-host + per-product | Consumption-based (GB ingest) |
| Pricing predictability | Complex - can surprise at scale | More predictable with ingest-based model |
| APM quality | Excellent | Excellent |
| Log management | Strong | Strong |
| Free tier | Very limited | Generous - 100 GB/month free |
| Dashboard UX | Strong | Strong |
The third option most teams miss
Picking between Datadog and New Relic isn't the only choice.
For incident management and on-call runbook tools that work alongside your observability platform, Appaca builds the operational layer fast.
- No code, no deployment, no devops
- Built-in database, dashboards, team access
- Refine with chat as your needs change
- Free to start, no per-seat pricing surprises
Common questions
It depends on usage patterns. New Relic's consumption model is often cheaper for teams with variable workloads. Datadog's per-host model can be cheaper for stable, predictable infrastructure.
Yes - New Relic offers a generous free tier with 100 GB of data ingest per month and one full-platform user. This is sufficient for many small teams.
Appaca is a third option for teams that don't want to choose between two existing tools. Instead of forcing your workflow into someone else's product, Appaca builds a custom app from a description - with built-in database, hosting, and team access. Try it free at appaca.ai.