I've noticed our Datadog bills are getting pretty high lately for APM, especially since we rely on it for insights into our Python and Node.js services. Given the increase in our data volume over the past few months, I'm on a mission to explore cheaper alternatives. We already use Elastic for an internal service and are satisfied, so I'm considering that for logging. I'm open to suggestions like Honeycomb, Sentry, Sumo Logic, Splunk, New Relic, Dynatrace, Grafana, Groundcover, or whatever else works. It's important that any alternative can handle tracing since that's essential for us, and I'd prefer not to make any significant code changes due to our limited resources. Also, if it has good database APM features, particularly for PostgreSQL workloads, that would be a big plus. Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated!
8 Answers
For centralized logging, I recommend using Grafana with Loki, especially if you're on Kubernetes. It provides a user-friendly setup for your logging needs.
Since you’re content with Elastic, maybe explore Parseable for APM and tracing. It's cost-effective and supports OpenTelemetry, which means minimal code changes are needed. They’re developing database telemetry too, which could tie together web traces and database calls nicely. Plus, it’s self-hosted, so you won’t run into data storage surprises. Just something to consider!
You might want to look into last9.io. They claim to cut observability costs significantly and have a feature to import from Datadog. They've also worked with some big companies, so they could be worth a shot!
Have you considered Elastic APM? Since you’re already using Elastic for logs, it might integrate smoothly.
My company switched from Datadog to New Relic to save costs. They have solid APM agents with excellent code insights and support for distributed tracing between microservices, so it could be a good fit for you!
Datadog's definitely pricey, and while it's great for integration ease, looking for something else will take a little setup. I’ve heard Grafana Cloud paired with Sentry makes for a really solid combo, but if you want all the features Datadog offers, you’ll need some development work to get it tailored to your needs.
If you want an open-source alternative, consider using a stack with Loki, Grafana, and Tempo. Tempo is great for tracing and should meet your needs! You could also swap out Tempo with AWS-managed Prometheus if that works better for you.
Have you checked out KloudMate? It's OpenTelemetry native and costs way less than Datadog. It aggregates metrics, logs, and traces, plus has modules like Incident Management. Check them out for a potentially budget-friendly solution!
Dynatrace is an option, but it might be even pricier than Datadog, so keep that in mind.