Observability cost calculator
Estimate a monthly observability bill. Enter your number of hosts, monthly log volume in GB and log retention; the calculator computes hosts x per-host rate + billable log GB x per-GB rate for every vendor with a public rate, and ranks them cheapest first - entirely in your browser. It applies known free allowances (New Relic 100 GB, Grafana and Better Stack 50 GB logs) and excludes APM/RUM add-ons, log indexing, transfer and discounts, so use it as a directional starting estimate, not a quote. Pricing snapshot: June 2026 - verify current pricing on the vendor's site before relying on these figures.
Data as of June 2026.
How it works
The formula is deliberately simple and transparent:
monthly estimate = (hosts × per-host rate) + (billable log GB × per-GB rate)
Per-host and per-GB rates are a dated snapshot from each vendor's published pricing page. We only model vendors that publish such a rate; per-event (Sentry, Honeycomb), per-vCPU (AppDynamics) and custom (Chronosphere) vendors are listed separately rather than guessed. See the methodology for the snapshot date, assumptions and exclusions, and each vendor page for the underlying figures.
Frequently asked questions
How does the observability cost calculator work?
Enter your number of hosts, monthly log volume (GB) and log retention. For every vendor that publishes a usable per-host and/or per-GB log rate, the calculator computes hosts x per-host rate + billable log GB x per-GB rate and ranks them cheapest first. It runs entirely in your browser using the June 2026 snapshot rates. Vendors that price per-event, per-user, per-vCPU or custom (Sentry, Honeycomb, AppDynamics, Chronosphere) are listed as "not directly comparable" rather than guessed.
What does the estimate NOT include?
It excludes APM/RUM/tracing add-ons, log indexing charges (Datadog's $1.27/M events), data transfer/egress, support plans, custom-metric overage, per-second nuances and negotiated volume discounts. For longer retention it shows a note rather than a guessed multiplier. Treat the result as a directional starting estimate, not a quote.
Where do the per-unit rates come from?
They are a dated snapshot (Pricing snapshot: June 2026) taken from each vendor's published pricing page, the same figures shown on the individual vendor pages. Pricing snapshot: June 2026 - verify current pricing on the vendor's site before relying on these figures.
Which vendors can the calculator model?
Vendors with a public per-host or per-GB-log rate: Datadog, Splunk, Dynatrace, Grafana Cloud, Better Stack, Coralogix, Elastic and New Relic. The free allowances (New Relic 100 GB, Grafana/Better Stack 50 GB logs) are applied automatically.
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Last updated: 2026-06-21