Datadog vs Grafana Cloud: integrated platform or OpenTelemetry-first stack
Datadog and Grafana Cloud compared on signals, instrumentation, OpenTelemetry, open-source options, data regions and how each bills, with when to choose which.
Choose Datadog if…
- You want one integrated product, including session replay and error tracking, with the vendor agent doing most of the instrumentation
- Your infrastructure has a predictable number of hosts, since infrastructure and APM bill per host
- You need FedRAMP or a US government site; Datadog lists FedRAMP High and two government sites
Choose Grafana Cloud if…
- You want OpenTelemetry and open formats (Prometheus, Loki, Tempo) as your foundation, with the option to self-host the same stack later
- You want a meaningful free tier to start: 10k metric series and 50 GB each of logs, traces and profiles a month
- You need a region beyond the US, EU, UK and APAC basics, such as Brazil, Canada or the UAE
| Product | APM | Distributed tracing | Metrics | Logs | Error tracking | Real user monitoring | Session replay | Infrastructure monitoring | Continuous profiling | Synthetic / uptime checks | OpenTelemetry | Runs as | Data regions | Free option | Pricing model | Compliance on vendor page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DatadogDatadogsource · 8 Nov 2026 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Native OTLP ingest | SaaS | US, EU, UK, APACNine sites incl. EU1 (Germany), UK1, AP1 (Japan), AP2 (Australia) and two US government sites | Free tier | per host, per GB ingested, per event, per session, per test run | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP, PCI DSS |
| Grafana LabsGrafana Cloudsource · 8 Nov 2026 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Yes | Yes | Native OTLP ingest | SaaS | US, EU, UK, APAC, OTHERRegions on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure across US, EU, UK, APAC, Brazil, Canada and UAE | Free tier | per active metric series, per GB ingested, per user, per session, per host | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR DPA |
| Grafana LabsGrafana, Loki, Tempo, Mimir (self-hosted open source)source · 8 Nov 2026 | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Partial | Not stated | Not stated | Native OTLP ingest | Self-hostedopen source (AGPL-3.0) | Where you host it | Free (self-hosted) | free (open source, you run it) | Not confirmed in sources checked |
yes · partial or add-on · no · – not stated in the sources we checked. Compliance lists only reports named on the vendor's own trust or security page; a blank does not mean the vendor lacks them. From each vendor's own documentation on the date shown; prices are not shown here, only how each product bills.
Both cover metrics, logs, traces, APM, real user monitoring, profiling and synthetics. The difference is philosophy and billing. Datadog sells an integrated platform of separately billed products, built around its agent. Grafana Cloud sells a managed version of an open-source stack built around OpenTelemetry and open formats.
Where they differ
| Datadog | Grafana Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Integrated proprietary platform | Managed version of open-source components (Grafana, Mimir, Loki, Tempo, plus profiles) |
| Instrumentation | Datadog Agent (with embedded OTel Collector), your own OTel Collector, or agentless OTLP | OpenTelemetry-first |
| Self-hosting | No | The same components are open source (AGPL-3.0) and can be run yourself |
| Billing | Per host (infrastructure, APM, profiler), per GB plus per event for logs, per session for replay | Per active metric series, per GB for logs, traces and profiles, per user, per host-hour for APM |
| Free tier | Infrastructure only: up to 5 hosts, 1-day metric retention | All services with limits, 14-day retention |
| Regions | US, EU (Germany), UK, Japan, Australia, US government | US, EU (several countries), UK, APAC, Brazil, Canada, UAE |
| Session replay / error tracking | Yes, as separate products | Not listed as products on the pricing page |
The cost question in practice
Datadog’s per-host pricing for infrastructure and APM makes cost follow the size of your fleet. Its logs bill on both ingest and indexing, so cost depends on what you choose to make searchable. Grafana Cloud’s costs follow data volume: active metric series and gigabytes. That rewards teams who control cardinality and log volume. Neither is cheaper in general; it depends on your shape.
The full set of observability products is in the capability matrix.
Vendor facts
Datadog
Full-stack SaaS observability: separately billed products for infrastructure, APM, logs, RUM, session replay, error tracking, synthetics and profiling.
- OpenTelemetry
- Native OTLP ingest: OTLP via the Datadog Agent (with embedded DDOT Collector), via your own OTel Collector, or direct agentless OTLP ingestion
- Runs as
- saas
- Free option
- Free tier: Free tier for infrastructure: up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention
- Bills
- per host, per GB ingested, per event, per session, per test run (Infrastructure, APM and profiler per host; logs per GB ingested plus per million indexed events; replay per 1,000 sessions; errors by volume)
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP, PCI DSS
Verified 8 Nov 2026 · Datadog pricing, Datadog docs: OpenTelemetry, Datadog docs: sites, Datadog Trust Center, OpenTelemetry vendor registry (frozen list)
Grafana Cloud
Managed LGTM stack (metrics, logs, traces, profiles) with Application Observability (APM), Frontend Observability (RUM), Kubernetes monitoring and synthetics.
- OpenTelemetry
- Native OTLP ingest: Listed with native OTLP support in the OpenTelemetry vendor registry
- Runs as
- saas
- Free option
- Free tier: "Always free": 10k active series, 50 GB each of logs, traces and profiles per month, 14-day retention, 3 active users
- Bills
- per active metric series, per GB ingested, per user, per session, per host (Usage-based above the free tier; APM and Kubernetes per host-hour)
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR DPA
Verified 8 Nov 2026 · Grafana Cloud pricing, Grafana Cloud docs: regional availability, Grafana Labs security, OpenTelemetry vendor registry (frozen list)
Sources
- Datadog pricing, checked 8 Nov 2026
- Datadog docs: OpenTelemetry, checked 8 Nov 2026
- Datadog docs: sites, checked 8 Nov 2026
- Grafana Cloud pricing, checked 8 Nov 2026
- Grafana Cloud docs: regional availability, checked 8 Nov 2026
- GitHub: grafana/grafana (AGPL-3.0), checked 8 Nov 2026
Matrix rows carry their own source and verification date. This page is revisited when: either vendor changes its products, billing dimensions, free tier, OpenTelemetry ingestion, regions or open-source licensing