Choosing an excellent application performance monitoring tool is a challenging task. Nowadays, there are dozens of instruments, and it can be problematic to pick the right one. However, when looking into every given “top ten list”, New Relic vs. Datadog will always be there.
At this point, instead of focusing on dozens of log management tools, let’s focus on some key ones. Comparing New Relic vs. Datadog offers a distinct perspective on how infrastructure monitoring should look. Besides, there is always space for some unexpected finds to unravel.
By the way, we’ve compared both Sematext vs Datadog and Sematext vs New Relic. Hint: maaaaajor cost differences in both cases!
What Is Datadog?
Datadog is a comprehensive monitoring tool that provides an all-encompassing view of your infrastructure, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. This tool unifies logs, metrics, and traces, making it easy to optimize and troubleshoot performance issues.
With Datadog, you can easily automate the monitoring of your infrastructure, log management, application performance, and real-time observability. This helps you to manage and maintain your entire tech stack efficiently and securely. The tool also uses alerts and anomaly detection to identify and prevent issues, making it an ideal tool for developers, security engineers, and business owners.
While there are various monitoring tools available, Datadog’s emphasis on end-to-end visibility and comprehensive monitoring capabilities sets it apart from the competition, making it a preferred option for businesses looking for a complete observability solution.
Want to see how Datadog compares with several market competitors? Read our full article on the best Datadog alternatives.
What Is New Relic?
New Relic is a cloud-based observability platform that enables end-to-end visibility into complex software environments. It allows businesses to monitor the health and performance of their systems, applications, and infrastructure in real time. New Relic provides full-stack monitoring capabilities through metrics, logs, and distributed tracing, enabling businesses to optimize and troubleshoot performance issues quickly.
New Relic offers an all-in-one solution that automates infrastructure monitoring, log management, application performance monitoring, and real-time observability. With its powerful alerting and anomaly detection capabilities, New Relic helps businesses identify and prevent issues before they cause any harm.
Additionally, New Relic provides customizable dashboards and alerts to help users stay informed and take action quickly. As with Datadog and Splunk, New Relic is a valuable tool for developers, IT professionals, and business owners seeking a comprehensive observability solution.
Datadog vs. New Relic: Side-by-Side Comparison
Image source: Krakenid.io
It is no secret that Datadog vs. New Relic is an excellent tool for infrastructure monitoring, real user monitoring, and network monitoring. They are considered to be leaders in the market. There is little difference between Datadog and New Relic, which makes it harder to choose between them. To make it easier, we present a toe-to-toe comparison, indicating the following areas:
- Key Features Overview
- Installation and Ease of Use
- Incident Management and Alerting
- Third-Party Integrations
- Pricing and Support
- Best For
Key Features Overview
When it comes to comparing Datadog vs. New Relic, both tools have unique features that set them apart.
Datadog places a significant emphasis on cloud and security monitoring within its feature set. It also includes log management, infrastructure monitoring, device monitoring, and database monitoring capabilities, among others. This monitoring tool can track the performance of databases, servers, and overall infrastructure and supports multiple cloud providers.
Some of the key features of Datadog include:
- Log management
- Application performance monitoring
- Security monitoring
- Network monitoring
- Real user monitoring
On the other hand, New Relic provides monitoring capabilities for cloud-native architectures, distributed systems, and microservices. This tool enables users to monitor applications in real-time, track distributed traces, and correlate logs with application performance.
New Relic’s key features include:
- Application performance monitoring
- Distributed tracing
- Error analytics
- Infrastructure monitoring
- Real user monitoring
While both Datadog and New Relic offer monitoring solutions, each tool takes a different approach in terms of the features offered. The choice between these two tools ultimately depends on the specific needs of your organization.
Installation and Ease of Use
Datadog’s installation process is quite straightforward and easy to manage, even for novice users. The tool comes with well-documented installation guides that make the process seamless. Datadog provides a simple installation process that requires minimal configuration, and once installed, it is ready to use. Moreover, there is no need to integrate third-party plugins to get started with the tool, as it comes with all the necessary features.
New Relic is also a user-friendly tool, and its installation process is equally easy to manage. New Relic’s installation wizard is intuitive, and it guides you through the process. Unlike Datadog, New Relic requires you to install agents on the systems you want to monitor, but this is a straightforward process that can be completed within minutes.
Overall, both Datadog and New Relic offer simple installation and ease of use, making it easy for users to get started with monitoring their infrastructure. However, Datadog’s installation process is slightly more straightforward, as it doesn’t require you to install any additional plugins, while New Relic requires you to install agents on the systems you want to monitor.
Dashboards and Reporting
When it comes to dashboards and reporting, both Datadog and New Relic offer robust solutions. Datadog provides a customizable dashboard, making it easier for users to create custom dashboards based on their requirements. It enables users to filter the data and then present it in a way that is meaningful to their teams. Besides, Datadog’s dashboard allows for drilling down into specific metrics and investigating issues quickly. The tool also offers real-time reporting and alerting features, so users can receive notifications when a specific threshold is reached.
New Relic, on the other hand, offers an intuitive dashboard that presents data in real-time, allowing users to monitor their system’s health easily. This tool provides a feature called Insights, which offers deep insights into your applications, infrastructure, and customer experience. With Insights, users can query data, analyze trends, and visualize the data in various formats, including charts, tables, and histograms. Furthermore, New Relic offers various reporting options, including pre-built reports, customizable dashboards, and the ability to create custom reports.
Overall, both Datadog and New Relic provide robust dashboards and reporting capabilities that allow users to monitor their systems effectively. The choice between the two tools ultimately depends on your specific needs and the level of customization you require.
Incident Management and Alerting
When it comes to incident management and alerting, Datadog and New Relic have similarities and differences. New Relic has a strong focus on alerting, offering an advanced alerting system that allows for multiple levels of escalation and notification channels. It also has an AI-powered incident response tool that leverages machine learning algorithms to detect and respond to incidents automatically. In comparison, Datadog’s alerting and incident management system is also strong and includes features such as anomaly detection and root cause analysis. However, it does not have an incident response tool that automates the response process.
Both Datadog and New Relic offer third-party integrations for their alerting systems. Datadog allows for integrations with PagerDuty, Slack, and email, while New Relic has integrations with tools such as Opsgenie and VictorOps. In terms of anomaly detection, Datadog uses machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies in data and trigger alerts, while New Relic uses a combination of static thresholds and dynamic baselines to detect anomalies.
When it comes to defining alert rules, both Datadog and New Relic offer a high degree of flexibility. Datadog allows for correlation between alert rules and metrics, as well as the ability to group alerts and set alert thresholds based on percentiles. New Relic offers similar capabilities, with the added ability to define alert policies based on the severity of an incident and the associated business impact. Ultimately, the choice between Datadog and New Relic will depend on the specific needs and preferences of your organization.
Third Party Integrations
Regarding third-party integrations, both Datadog and New Relic provide a wide range of options. Datadog has more than 500 integrations that allow users to collect metrics through the entire tech stack, including popular tools like Kubernetes, MySQL, and Docker. It also has add-ons for third-party integrations, such as Splunk, AWS, and PagerDuty. Similarly, New Relic offers more than 100 integrations for various services and platforms, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. However, unlike Datadog, New Relic offers built-in integrations for its APM and infrastructure monitoring tools, which can be a benefit for users who want to avoid the hassle of configuring and maintaining third-party integrations.
When it comes to choosing between Datadog and New Relic for third-party integrations, both options are highly capable. Datadog offers a larger selection of integrations and more flexibility with add-ons. Meanwhile, New Relic’s built-in integrations can make setup and maintenance more straightforward. Ultimately, the choice between these two tools will depend on your specific needs and preferences as a DevOps professional.
Pricing and Support
When it comes to pricing, Datadog and New Relic both offer flexible options, and both are expensive. Some people even take to X to complain about the prices, quoting them as “insane”.
Datadog has a variety of pricing plans, including a free plan that allows up to 5 hosts, and paid plans that start at $15 per host per month. The paid plans come with additional features such as APM, logs, and custom metrics. Datadog also offers an enterprise plan for larger organizations starting at $27 per host per month and offering custom pricing based on specific needs.
New Relic also offers a free plan, which includes basic features such as 100GB of data, unlimited users, and basic alerts. Paid plans start at $149 per month and include additional features such as APM, infrastructure monitoring, and logs and unlimited number of platform users. New Relic also offers an enterprise plan for larger organizations with custom pricing.
In terms of support, both Datadog and New Relic offer a variety of resources including documentation, community forums, and support tickets. Datadog also offers phone support for their paid plans, while New Relic offers phone support for their Pro and Enterprise plans.
Additionally, Datadog offers a dedicated technical account manager for their enterprise customers. Both platforms have a large community of users and offer extensive documentation to help users troubleshoot any issues they may encounter.
Audience
When it comes to Datadog and New Relic, both tools are suitable for medium to large enterprises with complex infrastructures. However, there are some key differences. Datadog may be a better fit for organizations that heavily use cloud-based infrastructure, while New Relic may be more suitable for companies with a hybrid infrastructure that spans across both cloud and on-premises environments.
Additionally, Datadog is known for its extensive support for more than 500 integrations, making it a great choice for companies that use a wide variety of tools and services. On the other hand, New Relic is particularly strong in application performance monitoring (APM) and tracing capabilities, making it a good fit for companies with a strong focus on application development.
Ultimately, the choice between Datadog and New Relic will depend on the specific needs and priorities of the organization in question.
Datadog vs. New Relic for APM
Datadog APM
New Relic APM
Datadog and New Relic are both popular application performance monitoring (APM) solutions that offer powerful insights into application performance.
Datadog’s APM capabilities provide users with detailed tracing information to help identify issues and bottlenecks in their applications. The tool can monitor metrics across a wide range of applications, including Python, Java, Node.js, and more. Datadog also offers integrated logs and infrastructure monitoring, making it a comprehensive solution for DevOps teams.
New Relic’s APM capabilities focus on application-level monitoring, offering users detailed performance metrics and the ability to drill down into specific transactions. The tool also provides in-depth reporting on error rates, throughput, and response times. New Relic can monitor applications across a range of platforms, including mobile, web, and IoT devices.
In summary, Datadog is a comprehensive solution that offers robust APM capabilities with integrated logs and infrastructure monitoring. New Relic is an excellent choice for organizations looking for detailed application-level monitoring and reporting across a range of platforms.
Datadog vs. New Relic for Infrastructure Monitoring
Datadog infrastructure monitoring
New Relic infrastructure monitoring
Datadog and New Relic are both popular infrastructure monitoring solutions used by many organizations.
Datadog offers a comprehensive set of features that make it a great option for infrastructure monitoring. The platform allows users to monitor infrastructure metrics, logs, and traces in real-time, with automatic anomaly detection and alerting. Datadog also provides over 450 integrations with various technologies, making it easy to integrate with existing systems. Additionally, the platform provides customizable dashboards and visualizations to help users gain insights into their infrastructure’s performance.
New Relic is also a robust infrastructure monitoring solution that provides detailed monitoring and alerting capabilities. The tool can monitor servers, containers, and cloud-based infrastructure, providing real-time visibility into system health and performance. New Relic also offers customizable dashboards and alerts that can be tailored to specific user needs.
Overall, both Datadog and New Relic are excellent options for infrastructure monitoring, and the choice between them ultimately depends on specific business requirements and use cases.
Datadog vs. New Relic for Real User Monitoring
Datadog Real User Monitoring
New Relic Real User Monitoring
When it comes to real user monitoring, both Datadog and New Relic offer robust solutions that can help DevOps professionals gain insights into how end-users are interacting with their applications. Datadog’s real user monitoring solution is part of its comprehensive platform and is particularly well-suited for organizations that want to monitor their applications across multiple platforms and environments. Datadog’s solution provides detailed information on user sessions, including the number of active sessions, page load times, and user experience scores.
New Relic’s real user monitoring solution is also comprehensive, but it has a more advanced set of features. For example, New Relic’s solution provides deep insights into user behavior, including session replays, error analysis, and funnel analysis. New Relic’s solution is particularly well-suited for organizations that want to optimize the user experience and identify areas where they can improve conversion rates or reduce user churn.
Overall, both Datadog and New Relic offer powerful real user monitoring solutions, but the best choice depends on your specific needs. If you’re looking for a solution that’s part of a comprehensive platform and provides detailed information on user sessions, Datadog is a great choice. If you’re looking for more advanced features like session replays and funnel analysis, New Relic is the way to go.
Datadog vs. New Relic for Synthetic Monitoring
Datadog Synthetic Monitoring
New Relic Synthetic Monitoring
Datadog and New Relic both provide synthetic monitoring solutions for monitoring web applications and APIs.
Datadog’s synthetic monitoring allows users to simulate user interactions with their web applications and APIs from multiple locations around the world. The tool provides real-time analytics and can identify performance bottlenecks and errors, making it an excellent choice for DevOps teams looking to improve the user experience. Datadog also provides integration with other monitoring solutions and alerting systems.
New Relic’s synthetic monitoring solution, called Synthetics, provides users with the ability to create custom scripted tests to simulate user interactions with web applications and APIs. The tool offers a range of metrics and performance data, allowing DevOps teams to identify issues and optimize their applications. Synthetics also integrates with other New Relic products, such as APM and Browser.
In summary, both Datadog and New Relic offer powerful synthetic monitoring solutions that can help DevOps teams monitor the performance of their web applications and APIs. Datadog’s solution is more straightforward to set up and provides real-time analytics, while New Relic’s solution offers more advanced customization options and integration with other New Relic products.
Note that Datadog offers log forwarding capabilities. This allows you to ship logs to Datadog and then have Datadog ship your logs elsewhere. This can be handy if you want to test out other log monitoring vendors’ capabilities or compare their costs to Datadog’s cost. For example, this is how you could forward logs from Datadog to Sematext to make such comparisons.
Datadog vs. New Relic for Log Management
Datadog Log Management
New Relic Log Management
Datadog and New Relic are both log management tools that allow users to collect, analyze, and store logs from various sources.
Datadog’s approach to log management is focused on providing users with a comprehensive platform for collecting and analyzing logs. The tool offers automatic log enrichment, processing, and analysis features, enabling users to quickly identify and resolve issues. Datadog’s platform can collect logs from more than 400 integrations and sources, including cloud services and popular databases. It also offers real-time log search and analytics, allowing users to troubleshoot issues as they arise.
New Relic’s log management tool, on the other hand, offers more limited log collection capabilities, but is better suited for users who need more advanced log processing and analysis features. The tool can collect logs from various sources and offers features such as log parsing, filtering, and alerting. It also includes a powerful query language that allows users to analyze logs in-depth. Additionally, New Relic’s log management tool integrates well with its broader suite of application performance monitoring tools, making it a suitable choice for organizations that use New Relic for their monitoring needs.
In summary, Datadog is a comprehensive and user-friendly option for log management, while New Relic’s tool is better suited for users who need more advanced log processing and analysis features and who already use New Relic for their broader monitoring needs.
Sematext: A Better Alternative to Datadog and New Relic
Sematext is a comprehensive monitoring solution that provides an excellent alternative to Datadog and New Relic.
With Sematext, users can monitor their applications, infrastructure, logs, user experiences, uptime, SSL certificates, etc. all from a single platform.
Compared to Datadog, Sematext offers a more straightforward installation process, more affordable pricing options, and greater flexibility with custom dashboards and alerts. Sematext also excels in terms of log management, with a built-in ELK stack and powerful search and analysis capabilities.
When compared to New Relic, Sematext provides more in-depth monitoring capabilities for server, container, and database performance, and it also offers advanced features like distributed tracing and process monitoring.
Additionally, Sematext’s pricing structure is more affordable and transparent, making it a cost-effective option for organizations of all sizes.
Sematext can monitor various applications, including Java, Python, Node.js, Ruby, and more, and can provide detailed insights into application performance and availability, with customizable dashboards and alerts.
The tool also offers extensive logging capabilities, with support for various log types, including structured and unstructured logs, with advanced parsing and filtering options.
In addition, Sematext offers real user monitoring capabilities, with support for monitoring user experiences, including page load times, user sessions, and custom events, and synthetic monitoring, with the ability to simulate user transactions and monitor uptime and performance.
Sematext also includes server and container monitoring, with support for various operating systems and container platforms, including Kubernetes and Docker. The platform can provide detailed performance metrics, including CPU and memory usage, network traffic, and disk I/O, with the ability to monitor multiple hosts and clusters from a single dashboard.
Overall, Sematext’s monitoring tools provide a powerful solution for DevOps teams, with detailed performance metrics, customizable dashboards, and proactive alerting, making it a better alternative to Datadog and New Relic.
Datadog vs. New Relic vs. Sematext: Comparison Table
| Feature |
 Datadog |
 New Relic |
 Sematext |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation | Both SaaS or on-premise | Both SaaS or on-premise | Both SaaS or on-premise |
| Main Capabilities | Application performance monitoring, log management, real user monitoring, server and container monitoring, synthetic and process monitoring, database and network monitoring | Application performance monitoring, log management, real user monitoring, server and container monitoring, synthetic monitoring, infrastructure monitoring | Application performance monitoring, log management, server and container monitoring, synthetic and process monitoring, database and network monitoring, distributed tracing, anomaly detection |
| Customization | Flexible metrics collection and monitoring with custom metrics support and a large plugin library | Flexible metrics collection and monitoring with custom metrics support and a large plugin library | Flexible metrics collection and monitoring with custom metrics support and out-of-the-box integrations with popular technologies |
| Pricing | Free basic account Pro starts at $15/month per host |
Free up to 100 GB/month Pro starts at $149/month |
Free up to 500 MB/day Pro starts at $50/month |
| Audience (best for) | Small to large businesses with diverse IT infrastructure and cloud-based systems | Small to large businesses with diverse IT infrastructure and cloud-based systems | Small to large businesses with a focus on distributed systems and DevOps workflows |
| Pros | Easy to use with an intuitive interface and extensive documentation, large plugin library and support community, automated anomaly detection and alerting | Rich feature set with powerful analytics and visualizations, scalable with multi-cloud and hybrid support, excellent customer support | Strong focus on DevOps workflows and distributed systems, end-to-end visibility with distributed tracing and anomaly detection, competitive pricing |
| Cons | Limited customizability and lack of flexibility in dashboard design, high cost for some features | Steep learning curve for beginners, complex user interface, limited integrations with some technologies | Some features and integrations may require additional configuration, less established community and support network |
Note: The choice of monitoring tool ultimately depends on specific business needs and technical requirements. It is important to carefully evaluate each tool based on the features, pricing, customization options, and audience best suited for each tool before making a decision. Additionally, it is advisable to test each tool in a real-world environment before making a final decision.
Want to know the full extent of how the option compares to the two? Read out Sematext vs Datadog and the Sematext vs New Relic articles for a comprehensive overview.
Choosing Between Datadog and New Relic
When it comes to choosing between Datadog and New Relic, there are several factors to consider. Both tools offer extensive application performance monitoring capabilities, with customizable dashboards and alerting. Datadog focuses more on infrastructure monitoring, offering extensive support for cloud services and multicloud environments. On the other hand, New Relic is known for its APM capabilities, providing in-depth insights into application performance and user experiences. New Relic also offers more advanced features like distributed tracing, which can be helpful for identifying issues in complex microservices architectures.
One important factor to consider is pricing, as both tools have complex pricing structures that can vary significantly based on usage. Another factor to consider is the ease of installation and use, as some users may find one tool easier to set up and navigate than the other.
However, when it comes to overall monitoring capabilities, Sematext provides a more comprehensive and cost-effective solution compared to both Datadog and New Relic. Sematext offers extensive monitoring capabilities for servers, containers, applications, logs, and user experiences, with customizable dashboards and alerts. The platform also includes advanced features like distributed tracing, anomaly detection, and process monitoring, all at a more affordable price point. Ultimately, DevOps teams should evaluate their specific monitoring needs and consider all available options before making a decision.