These three are the most-compared observability platforms, and they pick three different pricing axes. Here is how they line up in June 2026. Full breakdowns: Datadog, New Relic, Grafana Cloud.
Side by side
| Datadog | New Relic | Grafana Cloud | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary model | Per host | Per GB + per user | Free tier + usage |
| Infra/metrics | $15/host (Pro) | per-GB ingest meter | $6.50 per 1,000 active series |
| APM | $31/host (+Infra) | per Full Platform user $99-$349 | builds on traces/metrics |
| Logs | $0.10/GB + $1.27/M indexed | $0.40/GB (after 100 GB free) | ~$0.45/GB (after 50 GB free) |
| Free tier | 14-day trial only | 100 GB + 1 user, forever | 10K series, 50 GB logs, 3 users |
Who each one wins
Datadog wins on depth: the broadest integration catalog and the most polished dashboards and out-of-the-box monitors. Its per-host model is predictable on a stable fleet but punishes dense Kubernetes and stacks up across modules. Best when capability matters more than cost. See Datadog pricing explained.
New Relic wins for small and mid-size teams: 100 GB ingest and one full user free forever, then a simple all-telemetry per-GB meter. The catch is per-Full-Platform-user pricing ($99-$349/user) once the team grows, and heavy log/trace volume eats the 100 GB fast. Compare Datadog vs New Relic.
Grafana Cloud wins for cost-sensitive teams comfortable with the open-source LGTM stack (Loki, Mimir, Tempo, Pyroscope). The free tier is the most generous in the market, and per-signal usage billing is cheap at low volume. The catch is active-series billing surprising high-cardinality setups. Compare Datadog vs Grafana Cloud.
The deciding question
How do you scale - by hosts, by data volume, or by team size? Per-host Datadog scales with hosts; per-GB New Relic and Grafana scale with telemetry; New Relic also scales with users. Match the model to your growth shape, then model it in the cost calculator.
Bottom line
Pick Datadog for depth, New Relic for a generous simple meter on a small team, Grafana for the best free tier and open-source alignment. Prices are a June-2026 snapshot; verify on each vendor’s pricing page.