We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It never changes a score or a ranking. How we make money
Most buyers should pick New Relic.
New Relic is the easier starting point for developers who want a free plan, clear ingest limits, and per-user pricing. Datadog fits teams that want observability, security, digital experience, software delivery, and service management in one platform. New Relic’s costs rise with users and ingest; Datadog lists a price for AI Credits, but teams should confirm their expected telemetry costs with Datadog. Choose based on stack coverage and the bill at your expected scale.
01Side by side
| Datadog | New Relic | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | AI Credits: $500 per 500 credits monthly, annual | Per-user plans plus usage-based ingest charges |
| Free tier | No free plan | 100 GB ingest; one full-platform user |
| Usage charges | $1.30 per AI credit on demand | $0.40/GB beyond 100 GB on Standard |
| Limits and scaling | 500 AI credits monthly on annual billing | 500 synthetic checks; at least eight days’ retention |
| Integrations | AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, OpenTelemetry | OpenTelemetry, Kubernetes, cloud environments, LLMs, agents |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Platform scope | Observability, security, delivery, service management, AI | APM, infrastructure, logs, security, digital experience |
| AI monitoring | Bits Chat, Investigation, and Code | Model and agent interactions, behavior, and costs |
Datadog Choose Datadog if
- Choose Datadog if you want observability and security in one platform.
- Choose Datadog if software delivery and service management matter.
- Choose Datadog if its named cloud and platform integrations fit your stack.
New Relic Choose New Relic if
- Choose New Relic if you need a free way to start.
- Choose New Relic if per-user and ingest pricing suits your budget.
- Choose New Relic if you need AI monitoring for models and agents.
02Pricing at real usage
New Relic has the clearer entry point: its Free plan includes 100 GB of data ingest monthly, one full-platform user, unlimited basic users, 500 synthetic checks, and at least eight days of retention. Standard starts at $10 monthly for the first full-platform user; each additional full-platform user is $99, and data above 100 GB costs $0.40/GB. Core users cost $49 each. Pro is $349 per user monthly with an annual commitment or $418.80 month to month. Datadog lists AI Credits at $500 per 500 credits monthly with annual billing, or $1.30 per credit on demand. The AI Credits plan includes Bits Chat, Bits Investigation, and Bits Code. These figures do not establish Datadog’s general observability price. Before choosing, estimate seats and ingest, then check the cost of the features and add-ons your workloads need.
03API, SDKs and integration
Datadog names AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, OpenTelemetry, OpenAI, and SAP as integrations. New Relic’s homepage highlights OpenTelemetry, Kubernetes, cloud environments, LLMs, agents, and microservices. New Relic also presents OpenTelemetry as an open standard for signals. Those lists help with an initial stack fit check, but do not establish support for a particular instrumentation path or version. Neither homepage specifies API conventions, SDK languages, or CLI commands; check each vendor’s current developer documentation before standardizing an integration. In particular, verify which languages and frameworks your services use, how telemetry reaches the platform, and what configuration can be managed in code. Both products are web platforms. The pages describe broad monitoring capabilities, but they do not give enough detail to compare SDK maintenance, API limits, or CLI workflows.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Datadog and New Relic are presented as web platforms for monitoring software systems. The vendor pages do not specify an open-source licence, self-hosted deployment option, or data-export path for either product. That leaves key migration questions for procurement and architecture review: ask what telemetry can be exported, in which formats, and whether export or retention carries extra charges. Also check how dashboards, alerts, queries, and instrumentation configuration can be moved or recreated outside the platform. OpenTelemetry appears in both vendors’ integration messaging, which may help keep instrumentation aligned with a common standard; it does not by itself establish that stored data or platform-specific configuration is portable. Confirm those exit paths before making either service a dependency for incident response.
Questions people ask
Datadog vs New Relic: which should developers choose?
New Relic is the stronger starting point for teams that need a free tier and published per-user and ingest prices. Datadog is a better fit when a team wants observability, security, software delivery, and service management across one platform. Compare the features you need and model costs at your expected ingest and user counts.
Which is cheaper, Datadog or New Relic?
New Relic has a free plan and lists Standard at $10 monthly for its first full-platform user, plus $0.40/GB over 100 GB. Datadog lists AI Credits at $500 per 500 monthly credits with annual billing, or $1.30 per credit on demand. Those prices cover different offerings, so compare your actual required products and usage.
Does Datadog or New Relic offer a free tier?
New Relic’s Free plan includes 100 GB of monthly ingest, one full-platform user, unlimited basic users, 500 synthetic checks, and at least eight days of retention. Datadog does not list a free plan. Teams evaluating Datadog should request a price estimate for their intended products and telemetry volume.
Who is Datadog’s biggest competitor?
New Relic is a direct alternative to Datadog for application, infrastructure, log, security, and user-experience monitoring. The better fit depends on the stack and billing model: New Relic publishes a free tier and per-user pricing, while Datadog combines a wider set of observability, security, delivery, and service-management products.