Who is each tool for?
Da
Datadog APM
Enterprises needing unified APM with infrastructure monitoring
Pr
Prometheus
Teams wanting powerful open-source metrics monitoring with PromQL
Pros and Cons
Da
Datadog APM
Pros
- Seamless infrastructure correlation
- Automatic instrumentation
- Excellent service maps
- Continuous profiling included
Cons
- Higher price point
- Requires Datadog ecosystem buy-in
- Can be overwhelming for small teams
Pr
Prometheus
Pros
- Powerful PromQL query language
- Excellent Kubernetes integration
- Active open-source community
- Pull-based model is firewall-friendly
Cons
- Limited long-term storage by default
- No built-in dashboards (needs Grafana)
- High cardinality can be challenging
Feature Comparison
Feature
Da
Datadog APMPr
PrometheusAPM
9.5
5
Log Management
8
3
Infrastructure Monitoring
9
9
Alerting
9
8.5
Integrations
9.5
8.5
Ease of Use
8
7
Support
8.5
7
Value for Money
7.5
10
Overall Score
9.1
8.9
Pricing
Da
Datadog APM
From $31/host/mo
Pricing varies by data volume and features. Contact Datadog APM for a custom quote.
Pr
Prometheus
Free / Open Source
Pricing varies by data volume and features. Contact Prometheus for a custom quote.
Our Verdict
Both Datadog APM and Prometheus are excellent observability platforms. Datadog APM edges ahead with a score of 9.1/10, particularly excelling in APM and Log Management.
