New Relic vs Datadog: Which APM Tool is Right for You?

Compare New Relic and Datadog for application performance monitoring. See pricing, features, and which tool fits your infrastructure monitoring needs.

Updated 2026-09 · 2026

New Relic

Full-stack observability platform with user-based pricing

99user/month

Strengths

+Generous free tier with 100GB/month data ingest
+User-based pricing can be cheaper for small teams
+Strong APM and distributed tracing capabilities

Weaknesses

-User-based pricing gets expensive as team grows
-Less comprehensive infrastructure monitoring than Datadog
-Query language (NRQL) has learning curve

Best for

Small to medium teams focused on application performance who want predictable per-user pricing

Datadog

Comprehensive monitoring platform with host-based pricing

15host/month

Strengths

+Most comprehensive monitoring platform available
+Excellent infrastructure and cloud monitoring
+500+ integrations with third-party services

Weaknesses

-Pricing complexity with multiple add-on costs
-Can become very expensive at scale
-Overwhelming for simple use cases

Best for

Organizations needing comprehensive infrastructure monitoring across cloud environments with complex architectures

Feature Comparison

Feature	New Relic	Datadog
Free Tier	100GB data/month, 1 user	5 hosts, 14-day retention
APM	Included in all paid plans	$31/host/month
Infrastructure Monitoring	Basic included	$15/host/month (comprehensive)
Log Management	Included, 100GB free tier	$0.10/GB ingested + $1.27/million events
Distributed Tracing	Included in APM	$1.70/million spans
Custom Metrics	Included in data ingest	$0.05 per 100 custom metrics
Integrations	450+ integrations	500+ integrations
Alerting	Unlimited alerts included	Unlimited alerts included
Synthetic Monitoring	$0.005 per check	$5/10k API tests
Mobile App Monitoring	Included in APM	$0.001 per session
Data Retention	8 days default, up to 13 months	15 months metrics, 15 days logs
Support	24/7 support on paid plans	24/7 support on Pro+ plans

The Verdict

New Relic wins for small teams focused on application performance with its generous free tier and predictable user-based pricing. Datadog is the better choice for organizations needing comprehensive infrastructure monitoring across complex cloud environments, despite higher costs. For budget-conscious teams, New Relic's free tier offers more value, while Datadog justifies its premium pricing with superior infrastructure visibility and integrations.

How to switch from New Relic to Datadog

Full New Relic export guide →

1Export what you need from New Relic first: use NRQL queries to pull dashboard data as CSV, and call the NerdGraph API to export alert conditions, custom events, and historical metrics as JSON before starting migration, since there's no bulk account export tool.
2Sign up for a Datadog account and install the Datadog Agent on all hosts you want monitored, enabling APM and log collection where needed.
3Rebuild your dashboards in Datadog manually or via its dashboard JSON API, using your exported New Relic queries as a reference for the metrics and panels you need to recreate.
4Recreate alert conditions and notification channels (Slack, PagerDuty, email) as Datadog Monitors, since New Relic's NRQL alert conditions don't import directly.
5Reconnect third-party integrations (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, CI/CD tools) through Datadog's integration tiles and verify data is flowing correctly.
6Run New Relic and Datadog in parallel for 2-4 weeks to validate metrics and alerts match, then cut over team access to Datadog and cancel or downgrade the New Relic subscription.

New Relic vs Datadog: common questions

How do I export my data from New Relic before switching to Datadog?+

Use NRQL queries in the New Relic query builder to export results as CSV, or pull historical data programmatically via the NerdGraph API in JSON format. There's no one-click full account export, so plan to script out dashboards, alert conditions, and any custom events you need to keep, since New Relic only retains most data for 8-13 months depending on plan.

What do I lose by switching from New Relic to Datadog?+

You lose New Relic's single per-user pricing model, which is replaced by Datadog's host-based pricing plus separate add-on costs for APM, logs, and tracing. You'll also need to rebuild NRQL-based dashboards and alerts from scratch, since there's no direct import path into Datadog's dashboard format.

Is Datadog's free tier enough for a small team?+

No, Datadog's free tier is limited to 5 hosts with 14-day metric retention and no APM, logs, or synthetics included. New Relic's free tier (100GB/month ingest, 1 full user) covers a lot more for a small team, so on Datadog you'll likely need a paid Pro or Enterprise plan almost immediately.

Will my existing integrations work the same way after switching to Datadog?+

Most common integrations (AWS, Kubernetes, Slack, PagerDuty) have direct equivalents in Datadog's 500+ integration catalog, but you'll need to reconnect and reconfigure each one manually. Custom integrations built on New Relic's API or NRQL-based alerts will need to be rewritten for Datadog's monitor and dashboard JSON format.

How does the cost compare over time after switching to Datadog?+

Datadog's host-based pricing plus per-feature add-ons (APM at $31/host/month, logs at $0.10/GB, custom metrics, etc.) tends to scale up faster than New Relic's flat per-user cost as your infrastructure grows. Small, low-host teams may see similar or lower costs initially, but expect the bill to climb noticeably as you add hosts, custom metrics, or log volume.