Datadog vs New Relic: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss the key differences between Datadog and New Relic, two popular monitoring and analytics platforms commonly used in the IT industry.

1. Pricing Model: One of the main differences between Datadog and New Relic is their pricing model. Datadog offers a flexible pricing structure based on metrics, which allows users to pay only for the data they actually use. On the other hand, New Relic follows a more traditional pricing model based on the number of hosts or containers being monitored. This can be advantageous for smaller businesses that have fewer resources to monitor but can become costly for larger organizations with a complex infrastructure.

2. Alerting and Notification Mechanisms: When it comes to alerting and notifications, Datadog provides more flexibility and customization options compared to New Relic. Datadog allows users to set up highly configurable alerts with granular conditions and actions. It also offers various integrations with third-party tools, making it easier to send notifications to different endpoints. New Relic, while still offering alerting capabilities, may not have the same level of flexibility and third-party integrations as Datadog.

3. Monitoring Capabilities: Both Datadog and New Relic offer comprehensive monitoring capabilities, but they excel in different areas. Datadog is known for its strong infrastructure monitoring capabilities, providing deep insights into system performance, metrics, and logs. It also offers extensive support for cloud-based environments, making it a popular choice for DevOps teams. On the other hand, New Relic specializes in application performance monitoring (APM), offering powerful tools for profiling and troubleshooting code-level performance issues.

4. User Interface and Ease of Use: The user interface and ease of use can be subjective factors, but overall, Datadog is often praised for its intuitive and user-friendly interface. It offers a visually appealing dashboard with drag-and-drop functionality for creating custom views. New Relic, on the other hand, may have a steeper learning curve and a more technical interface. However, some users prefer New Relic's interface for its extensive customization options and advanced features.

5. Community and Integrations: Datadog has a large and active community, which provides a wealth of resources, plugins, and integrations. It has a marketplace where users can find and share custom integrations with various tools and services. New Relic also has a community and integrations, but it may not have the same level of diversity and active development as Datadog.

6. Extensibility and Ecosystem: Datadog has built a strong ecosystem by offering a wide range of integrations and partnerships with other technology providers. This allows users to extend the functionality of Datadog and integrate it with their existing tools and workflows. New Relic also offers integrations, but the extensibility and ecosystem may not be as robust as Datadog.

In summary, the key differences between Datadog and New Relic can be summarized as follows: Datadog offers flexible pricing based on metrics, has advanced alerting and notification mechanisms, excels in infrastructure monitoring, and has an intuitive user interface. On the other hand, New Relic follows a traditional pricing model, specializes in application performance monitoring, may have a steeper learning curve, and may not have the same level of extensibility and ecosystem as Datadog.