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
No recorded pricing changes for Grafana Cloud.
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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