New Relic vs Datadog

The observability Swiss Army knife that'll make your logs sing, but might also singe your wallet meets the swiss army knife of observability. Here's our take.

New Relic

Nice Pick

The observability Swiss Army knife that'll make your logs sing, but might also singe your wallet.

Pros

• Full-stack monitoring with easy integration for metrics, logs, and traces
• Powerful APM tools that actually help you debug in production
• User-friendly dashboards that even ops teams can love

Cons

• Pricing can get eye-wateringly expensive as you scale
• Sometimes feels like you're drowning in data without clear actionable insights

Datadog

The Swiss Army knife of observability. It does everything, but good luck not getting lost in the dashboard jungle.

Pros

• Unified view of metrics, traces, and logs in one platform
• Extensive integrations with cloud services and third-party tools
• Powerful alerting and anomaly detection features
• Real-time dashboards for quick troubleshooting

Cons

• Pricing can escalate quickly with high data volumes
• Steep learning curve due to feature overload

The Verdict

Use New Relic if: You want full-stack monitoring with easy integration for metrics, logs, and traces and can live with pricing can get eye-wateringly expensive as you scale.

Use Datadog if: You prioritize unified view of metrics, traces, and logs in one platform over what New Relic offers.

The Bottom Line

New Relic wins

The observability Swiss Army knife that'll make your logs sing, but might also singe your wallet.