Independent comparison for enterprise buyers. Updated May 2026.
Quick verdict: Choose Datadog for the broadest unified observability suite with the deepest integration catalogue and mature Cloud SIEM. Choose New Relic for predictable consumption-based pricing through New Relic One, strong APM heritage, and a simpler commercial model that scales with telemetry rather than infrastructure footprint. The differentiator is pricing model: Datadog is module- and host-priced; New Relic charges for telemetry ingest and user seats.
| Criteria | Datadog | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.6 / 5.0 (3,400 reviews) | 4.3 / 5.0 (1,900 reviews) |
| Platform | Datadog Cloud | New Relic One |
| Pricing Model | Per-host, per-user, per-GB | Telemetry ingest plus user seats |
| APM | Distributed tracing, native | Native APM, heritage strength |
| Infrastructure | 700+ integrations | 500+ integrations |
| Logs | Datadog Log Management | Native, included in ingest |
| Security | Cloud SIEM, CSPM, CWPP | New Relic Vulnerability Management |
| AIOps | Watchdog, Bits AI | New Relic AI (Grok-based) |
| Deployment | SaaS only | SaaS, EU/US/FedRAMP |
Datadog and New Relic are both Gartner Leaders in observability with overlapping but architecturally distinct platforms. Datadog has scaled into a broad suite covering infrastructure, APM, logs, RUM, network monitoring, synthetics, and Cloud SIEM. New Relic One consolidates similar capabilities under a unified platform with a simpler commercial model.
On APM, New Relic has the longer heritage and a strong reputation for application performance monitoring across web, mobile, and serverless workloads. Datadog APM has matured rapidly and is competitive on distributed tracing, deployment tracking, and Continuous Profiler.
Infrastructure monitoring is a strength for Datadog, with 700+ pre-built integrations and rich out-of-the-box dashboards. New Relic supports 500+ integrations and is competitive for the major cloud and Kubernetes scenarios.
For logs, both platforms now treat logs as a first-class telemetry type. Datadog Log Management uses indexed and archived patterns with separate cost dimensions. New Relic includes log ingest in its overall data ingest pricing, which can produce more predictable bills for log-heavy environments.
Security and AIOps are growing differentiators. Datadog Cloud SIEM, CSPM, and Application Security Management compete with dedicated security tools. New Relic has added Vulnerability Management and AI-driven analysis through New Relic AI. Datadog's security footprint is broader; New Relic's AI investment is more visible in core observability workflows.
Datadog pricing combines per-host charges ($15-23 per host per month for infrastructure), per-user charges, and per-GB log ingest with separate index and archive pricing. APM is per host. RUM and security have additional component pricing. Costs can grow rapidly with high-cardinality metrics or verbose logs.
New Relic uses a simpler model: data ingest at $0.30-0.55 per GB depending on tier, plus user seats (Full Platform User at $99 per user per month, Core User at $49, Basic User free). The model decouples telemetry from infrastructure footprint, which suits microservices-heavy estates with many small hosts.
Five-year TCO for a 300-host telemetry-heavy environment: Datadog $4M-9M, New Relic $3M-7M. New Relic is often cheaper for telemetry-heavy estates with many small hosts; Datadog is often cheaper for lean telemetry with fewer, larger hosts and broad module use.
Choose Datadog when breadth across observability, security, and network monitoring matters, when the integration catalogue is decisive, when Cloud SIEM is part of the observability strategy, or when per-host pricing aligns with the workload model.
Choose New Relic when telemetry-ingest pricing produces a more predictable bill at scale, when APM is the primary use case, when user-seat economics favour New Relic's Core and Basic tiers, or when simplicity of commercial model is highly valued.