Compare Datadog and Grafana Cloud free tiers side by side. Grafana Cloud's free tier is dramatically more generous than Datadog's: 10K metrics with 14-day retention vs Datadog's 5 hosts with 1-day retention.
Side-by-side comparison of free tiers, pricing changes, and stability. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-08-14.
Quick Verdict: Grafana Cloud's free tier is dramatically more generous than Datadog's: 10K metrics with 14-day retention vs Datadog's 5 hosts with 1-day retention. For teams that want full-stack observability without vendor lock-in, Grafana Cloud is the clear winner on free tier value.
Free tier includes access to all Grafana Cloud services with limited usage, 14-day retention, and community support. 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, and 50 GB traces are included. A $19/month platform fee is required for 10k active series, 50 GB ingested logs/traces, and 30 days retention.
Key Differences
Free tier generosity: Grafana Cloud offers 10K metric series, 50 GB logs, 50 GB traces with 14-day retention. Datadog offers 5 hosts with 1-day retention — a 14x retention difference.
Lock-in: Grafana Cloud is built on open standards (Prometheus, Loki, Tempo). Datadog uses proprietary agents and query languages, making migration painful.
Users: Grafana Cloud allows 3 users on the free plan. Datadog has no explicit user limit on free tier.
Ease of use: Datadog has arguably better out-of-the-box dashboards and integrations. Grafana requires more initial configuration but offers more flexibility.
Pricing Change History
Datadog
No recorded pricing changes for Datadog.
Grafana Cloud
restructureddiscovered 2026-09-02 · effective date unknownhigh impact
The free tier now includes access to all Grafana Cloud services with limited usage, 14-day retention for metrics, logs, traces, profiles, & k6 performance tests, and community support. The free tier includes 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, and 50 GB traces. A $19/month platform fee is now required for 10k active series, 50 GB ingested logs/traces, and 30 days retention. Source ↗
Our Recommendation
Choose Grafana Cloud if you want more free monitoring headroom than Datadog's 5 hosts and 1-day retention, prefer open standards, or want to avoid vendor lock-in.
Choose Datadog if you prioritize out-of-the-box integrations and polished UX — but only if you can justify the cost when you outgrow the very limited free tier.
Grafana Cloud's free tier is dramatically more generous than Datadog's: 10K metrics with 14-day retention vs Datadog's 5 hosts with 1-day retention. For teams that want full-stack observability without vendor lock-in, Grafana Cloud is the clear winner on free tier value.
What is Datadog's free tier?
Datadog offers a Free plan: Infrastructure monitoring free for up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention
What is Grafana Cloud's free tier?
Grafana Cloud offers a Free plan: Free tier includes access to all Grafana Cloud services with limited usage, 14-day retention, and community support. 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, and 50 GB traces are included. A $19/month platform ...
Should I choose Datadog or Grafana Cloud?
Choose Grafana Cloud if you want more free monitoring headroom than Datadog's 5 hosts and 1-day retention, prefer open standards, or want to avoid vendor lock-in. Choose Datadog if you prioritize out-of-the-box integrations and polished UX — but only if you can justify the cost when you outgrow the very limited free tier.
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