Elastic Cloud vs Datadog
A comparison of Elastic Cloud and Datadog built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- Pick Elastic Cloud if
- Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
- Pick Datadog if
- Teams that need one vendor across infrastructure, logs, traces and replay, and can model a bill that has a separate meter for each.
2 sourced criteria separate them:
- Free tier
- Elastic Cloud: No
- Datadog: Yes
- Pricing model
- Elastic Cloud: Hosted: resource-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. Serverless: usage-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid.
- Datadog: Per product, not per plan: infrastructure per host, logs split between ingest per GB and indexing per million events, with retention chosen per index and priced accordingly. There is no single Datadog price — this profile follows Log Management, which is the meter comparable to the per-GB platforms in this category.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Elastic Cloud 0
Datadog 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Elastic Cloud | Datadog |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Pricing model | Hosted: resource-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. Serverless: usage-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. | Per product, not per plan: infrastructure per host, logs split between ingest per GB and indexing per million events, with retention chosen per index and priced accordingly. There is no single Datadog price — this profile follows Log Management, which is the meter comparable to the per-GB platforms in this category. |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- Elastic Cloud
- No
- Datadog
- Yes
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“Only a free trial is offered on this page; no ongoing free tier is listed alongside the Hosted and Serverless plans.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- Pricing — Datadog ↗
“Free Starting At $ 0 Core collection and visualization features 1-day metric retention Up to 5 hosts Start Free Trial”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Elastic Cloud
- Hosted: resource-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. Serverless: usage-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid.
- Datadog
- Per product, not per plan: infrastructure per host, logs split between ingest per GB and indexing per million events, with retention chosen per index and priced accordingly. There is no single Datadog price — this profile follows Log Management, which is the meter comparable to the per-GB platforms in this category.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“Hosted: Resource based pricing. Pay as you go (monthly) or prepaid. Serverless: Usage based pricing. Pay as you go (monthly) or prepaid.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- Pricing — Datadog ↗
“Flex Ingest Starting At $ 0.10 Per ingested or scanned GB [...] Standard Indexing [...] $ 1.70 Per million log events, per month [...] Pro Starting At $ 15 Per host, per month”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Which should you choose?
Choose Elastic Cloud if…
Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Datadog if…
Teams that need one vendor across infrastructure, logs, traces and replay, and can model a bill that has a separate meter for each.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Elastic Cloud: The need is narrowly error tracking or APM — a purpose-built tool is usually simpler to operate than standing up an Elasticsearch cluster for one workload, and Elastic Cloud's per-resource pricing doesn't publish a flat entry price the way single-purpose competitors do.
- Datadog: Ingest and indexing are billed separately on the same logs, so $0.10 per GB is not the cost of keeping a log — the indexing charge above it is where the bill actually lands.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
Questions this comparison answers.
Free tier: Elastic Cloud or Datadog?
Elastic Cloud: No
Datadog: Yes
Should I choose Elastic Cloud or Datadog?
Pick Elastic Cloud if Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
Pick Datadog if Teams that need one vendor across infrastructure, logs, traces and replay, and can model a bill that has a separate meter for each.