Grafana
Open-source observability dashboards
Datadog
Full-stack observability platform
Grafana is the open-source dashboard king, paired with Prometheus/Loki/Tempo (the LGTM stack). Datadog is the polished managed alternative — faster to deploy, easier to use, much more expensive. Grafana LGTM wins on cost and flexibility; Datadog wins on time-to-value and enterprise support.
Pick Grafana (LGTM stack) when you want open-source, cost control, or on-prem.
Pick Datadog when you want zero-ops observability and your team is small or time-constrained.
| Feature | 📊Grafana | 🐕Datadog | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost at 100 hosts | ~$0 self-host + infra | ~$3000-8000/mo | A |
| Open source | Yes (AGPLv3 core) | No | A |
| Setup time | 1-5 days | Minutes per agent | B |
| Log search UX | Loki (LogQL) | Very polished | B |
| APM | Tempo (traces) | Datadog APM (mature) | B |
| Managed option | Grafana Cloud | Datadog SaaS | Tie |
| Alerting | Strong (Grafana Alerting) | Strong, more features | B |
| Plugin ecosystem | Huge community | Huge (400+ integrations) | Tie |
Cost at 100 hosts
AGrafana
~$0 self-host + infra
Datadog
~$3000-8000/mo
Open source
AGrafana
Yes (AGPLv3 core)
Datadog
No
Setup time
BGrafana
1-5 days
Datadog
Minutes per agent
Log search UX
BGrafana
Loki (LogQL)
Datadog
Very polished
APM
BGrafana
Tempo (traces)
Datadog
Datadog APM (mature)
Managed option
TieGrafana
Grafana Cloud
Datadog
Datadog SaaS
Alerting
BGrafana
Strong (Grafana Alerting)
Datadog
Strong, more features
Plugin ecosystem
TieGrafana
Huge community
Datadog
Huge (400+ integrations)
Best for
Best for
Datadog → Grafana: install the Grafana Agent / Alloy, point it at Prometheus and Loki endpoints, rebuild dashboards (Datadog JSON exports don't port directly — use grafana-dashboards conversion scripts as a starting point). Grafana → Datadog: install dd-agent everywhere, enable autodiscovery, and rebuild dashboards in Datadog's query syntax.
Grafana is the open-source dashboard king, paired with Prometheus/Loki/Tempo (the LGTM stack). Datadog is the polished managed alternative — faster to deploy, easier to use, much more expensive. Grafana LGTM wins on cost and flexibility; Datadog wins on time-to-value and enterprise support. In short: Grafana — Open-source observability dashboards. Datadog — Full-stack observability platform.
Pick Grafana (LGTM stack) when you want open-source, cost control, or on-prem.
Pick Datadog when you want zero-ops observability and your team is small or time-constrained.
Datadog → Grafana: install the Grafana Agent / Alloy, point it at Prometheus and Loki endpoints, rebuild dashboards (Datadog JSON exports don't port directly — use grafana-dashboards conversion scripts as a starting point). Grafana → Datadog: install dd-agent everywhere, enable autodiscovery, and rebuild dashboards in Datadog's query syntax.
Yes. Both have MCP servers installable via MCPizy (mcpizy install grafana and mcpizy install datadog). They work identically across Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and any other MCP-compatible client. You can install both side by side and route queries in your agent's prompt.
Sentry is a developer-first error + performance tracker — excellent for 'why did this deploy break?'. Datadog is a full-stack observability platform — infra metrics, APM, logs, RUM, security, and ~30 more products. Most teams use Sentry for app errors and Datadog (or competitors) for infra.
Not competitors — they're paired. Prometheus is the time-series database and scraper. Grafana is the dashboarding UI. You run both: Prometheus collects and stores metrics, Grafana visualizes them. Grafana also supports Loki (logs), Tempo (traces), Elasticsearch, and 100+ other data sources.
Both are error-tracking services. Sentry has broader features (performance monitoring, session replay, profiling, release tracking, feedback widgets) and bigger developer mindshare. Rollbar is simpler, competitively priced, and good enough for most teams that only want errors.
Not sure? Run both side by side — swap between them in your AI agent with a single config line.