Datadog vs Grafana

Datadog is a paid monitoring service with a free tier [S1]. Grafana is an open-source project on GitHub under the GNU Affero General Public License Version 3 [S2]. In our reading, the two do not cover the same set of features, so this page compares price and license only. We checked every figure on this page against the vendors' own pages on 16 Oct 2026. Prices on this page are list prices as of that date.

Datadog vs Grafana at a glance

What is Grafana?

Grafana's code is on GitHub at grafana/grafana. Its LICENSE file is the "GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 19 November 2007" [S2]. The repo had 77,757 stars on 8 Nov 2026 [S3]. It is not archived, and the last push was on 8 Nov 2026 [S3].

Datadog vs Grafana pricing

Datadog's free Infrastructure tier covers up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention [S1]. The Pro tier starts at US$15 per host a month, billed annually [S1]. On demand, it is US$18 per host a month [S1].

Grafana's code is free to download under AGPL-3.0 [S2]. Grafana paid plans are not documented on the pages we read. In our reading, a self-hosted Grafana costs you the server and the time to run it.

What this page does not compare

In our reading, Grafana and Datadog are different kinds of product. We have no sourced feature list for either side. Check each vendor's documentation for the features you need before you choose.

Datadog is the better fit when

• You monitor 5 hosts or fewer and 1-day metric retention is enough [S1].
• You want a hosted plan priced per host [S1].

Grafana is the better fit when

• You want the code under the GNU AGPL Version 3 [S2].
• You want a project with recent activity. The repo had a push on 8 Nov 2026 [S3].

Run Grafana on Railway

Railway lists a community template by André Lademann for Grafana (railway.com/deploy/grafana) [S4]. Railway shows it as unverified [S4]. Railway verifies a template only when the maker of the technology "becomes a partner and reviews the template" [S6]. The template had 349 projects on 16 Oct 2026 [S4]. Read the template page and its source before you deploy.

The template stores Grafana data on a volume at /var/lib/grafana [S4]. Check that your plan has room for that volume.

Affiliate disclosure: Forkshelf earns a commission if you sign up for Railway through the links marked "Paid link" on this page. This does not change the order or content of any comparison here.

To get started, create a Railway account (Paid link). The Free plan allows up to 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB RAM per service, with 0.5 GB of volume storage per volume [S5]. The Hobby plan has a US$5 minimum usage per month, with US$5 of monthly usage credits included [S5][S7]. It allows up to 5 GB of volume storage per volume [S5].

Railway is one option. Pricing on Railway is as of 16 Oct 2026.

Other Datadog alternatives

Forkshelf lists 45 tools with open-source alternatives. See the Datadog alternatives page for the open-source options we list for Datadog.

What it is and who should self-host

Datadog is a paid monitoring service; Grafana is an open-source project under the GNU AGPL Version 3. The two are different kinds of product, so the page compares price and license only. Self-hosting Grafana suits a team that will pay for a server and spend time running it instead of paying per host.

GitHub stats

• Grafana (grafana/grafana): 77,757 GitHub stars (8 Nov 2026)
• Last code push: 8 Nov 2026
• Archived: no (8 Nov 2026)
• License: "GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3", SPDX AGPL-3.0 (as shown on the page; vendor pages checked 16 Oct 2026)

From the projects

• Grafana README: "Grafana allows you to query, visualize, alert on and understand your metrics no matter where they are stored." (source, captured 19 Oct 2026)

FAQ

Is Grafana free?
Its code is under AGPL-3.0 [S2]. Grafana paid plans are not documented on the pages we read.

Does Datadog have a free tier?
Yes. Infrastructure Free covers up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention [S1].

How much does Datadog Pro cost?
From US$15 per host a month billed annually, or US$18 on demand, as of 16 Oct 2026 [S1].

Is Grafana a full replacement for Datadog?
We make no feature-parity claim. Compare the features you need on each vendor's own documentation.

Is the Grafana repository archived?
No. As of 8 Nov 2026, it is not archived and its last push was on 8 Nov 2026.

What does running Grafana yourself cost?
Its code is free to download under AGPL-3.0. In our reading, you pay for the server and the time to run it.

Sources (all fetched 16 Oct 2026)

• [S1] https://www.datadoghq.com/pricing/
• [S2] https://github.com/grafana/grafana/blob/main/LICENSE
• [S3] https://api.github.com/repos/grafana/grafana
• [S4] https://railway.com/deploy/grafana
• [S5] https://railway.com/pricing
• [S6] https://docs.railway.com/templates/publish-and-share
• [S7] https://docs.railway.com/pricing/plans