Datadog vs Better Stack
Default scenario: At 3,000 GB log ingest / month, 50 monitored hosts, estimated bills are $8,280/yr for Better Stack and $102,600/yr for Datadog. That’s a $94,320 difference before accounting for different features or operating costs.
The services may differ in features, performance, support and the work you need to do yourself. Read the notes and test what matters to your setup.
Your selected usage
3,000 GB log ingest / month, 50 monitored hosts
- Datadog: $102,600/yr estimated
- Better Stack: $8,280/yr estimated
Estimated costs at different usage levels
| Usage | Datadog | Better Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Startup100 GB log ingest / month, 5 monitored hosts | $4,020/yrPro (annual) · $260 logs + $75 hosts | $276/yr$23 logs + $0 hosts |
| Mid-size3,000 GB log ingest / month, 50 monitored hosts | $102,600/yrPro (annual) · $7,800 logs + $750 hosts | $8,280/yr$690 logs + $0 hosts |
| Large50,000 GB log ingest / month, 500 monitored hosts | $1,650,000/yrPro (annual) · $130,000 logs + $7,500 hosts | $138,000/yr$11,500 logs + $0 hosts |
About 30 days of searchable log retention. Vendors billing per event assume ~1 KB per event; custom metrics, traces and users are extra. Try your own numbers against all logs & monitoring providers.
Side by side
| Datadog | Better Stack | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Broad SaaS monitoring platform (infrastructure, APM, logs) priced per host plus per-GB log ingest and per-million-event log indexing. | Log management, tracing, metrics and uptime monitoring built on ClickHouse, billed per GB ingested plus per GB retained, with no per-host fees. |
| Headquarters | 🇺🇸 United States | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
| Parent jurisdiction | 🇺🇸 United States | 🇺🇸 United States |
| EU self-serve plan | Available; check eligible plans and regions | Available; check eligible plans and regions |
| GDPR DPA | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | subscription | payg |
| Free tier | Free plan for up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention; no log management. | 3 GB logs and 3 GB traces retained for 3 days; 30 GB metrics included. |
| Open source | No | No |
| Source last checked | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-06 |
| Pricing evidence | Modeled rates | Published rates |
Which should you choose?
Better Stack has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 300 GB log ingest / month, 5 monitored hosts to 300,000 GB log ingest / month, 5,000 monitored hosts.
Choose Datadog if…
Our data shows no advantage on price, residency, jurisdiction or licensing. Compare features in the notes below.
Choose Better Stack if…
- it has the lower estimated bill at Startup, Mid-size and Large usage
Based on estimated list-price bills and the facts above. Features, performance and support aren’t scored.
Datadog pricing
Published rates converted using workload assumptions. Read the notes. Assumes 1 KB per indexed event and indexes all ingested logs for 30 days. APM and custom metrics are extra.
| Plan | Log ingestion + retention / GB | Monitored host / month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 |
| Pro (annual) | $2.6 | $15 |
Infrastructure Pro is $15/host/month billed annually ($18 month-to-month or on-demand); Enterprise $23 ($27). APM starts at $31/host annually. Logs are billed twice: ingestion $0.10/GB plus indexing per million events, $2.50/M with 30-day retention annually ($3.00 monthly, $3.75 on-demand; 15-day is $1.70/M). At ~1 KB per event, 1M events is ~1 GB, so per_gb = $0.10 + $2.50 = $2.60. Flex Logs storage is $0.05/M events (annual) for cheaper, slower search. EU1 site (Germany) is selectable at signup on all plans. Custom metrics, APM, RUM and synthetics are extra.
Datadog plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
Better Stack pricing
Calculated from the listed vendor rates; exclusions still apply.
| Log ingestion + retention / GB |
|---|
| $0.23 |
Pay-as-you-go logs, US region: $0.15/GB ingestion plus $0.08/GB per month of retention, so ~30 days of searchable retention costs about $0.15 + $0.08 = $0.23 per GB ingested. The EU region is cheaper: $0.10 ingest + $0.05/GB-month = $0.15/GB (Singapore $0.35 + $0.18). No per-host pricing: metrics are billed by data volume (30 GB included, then $0.75/GB-month US, $0.50 EU), so per_host_month is 0. Telemetry bundles with 30-day log retention also exist (e.g. Tera: 700 GB each of logs, traces and metrics for $750/month US, or $630/month billed yearly; $500/$420 in the EU), but they work out dearer per GB than pay-as-you-go for logs alone. Responder seats for incident management ($34/month) are separate. Operations are in Prague (Better Stack s.r.o.), but the contracting entity is Better Stack, Inc., a Delaware corporation, under New York law. DPA at betterstack.com/dpa is part of the terms.
Better Stack plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
Frequently asked questions
Is Datadog cheaper than Better Stack?
Better Stack has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 300 GB log ingest / month, 5 monitored hosts to 300,000 GB log ingest / month, 5,000 monitored hosts. At 3,000 GB log ingest / month, 50 monitored hosts, the estimates are $102,600/yr for Datadog and $8,280/yr for Better Stack. Estimates use list prices and leave out features, support and operating costs.
Do Datadog and Better Stack offer EU data residency?
Both offer EU data residency on a self-serve plan. Check which plans and regions qualify.
Do Datadog and Better Stack have a free tier or trial?
Datadog: Free plan for up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention; no log management. Better Stack: 3 GB logs and 3 GB traces retained for 3 days; 30 GB metrics included.
Where are Datadog and Better Stack based?
Datadog is headquartered in the United States. Better Stack is headquartered in the Czechia, with a parent company in the United States.