Real-time insights have uncovered issues and helped reduce unnecessary resource usage
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Datadog is application and portal monitoring.
For application or portal monitoring, we have several monitors set up that give us a heads up early when we believe there's a problem with end users getting to the applications that are available to them on the portal. Just yesterday, we were able to identify an error in code that was throwing thousands of errors a day, and it was very simple for us to actually find it using Datadog analytics on the error and the Watchdog alerts.
I don't have anything else to add about my main use case, other than the ease with which we were able to identify an issue that we previously, when we didn't have Datadog, might not even be aware of, but was consuming resources that it didn't need to.
What is most valuable?
In my opinion, the best features Datadog offers are flexibility and extensive support. It can be a little overwhelming since there are so many features that come with Datadog, and I'm just scratching the surface of that. I also appreciate the support that our representative has provided to us, coming on-prem, providing training, being available to answer questions, and the extensive knowledge base documentation that I have been referred to, which has been extremely helpful also.
The flexibility I mentioned shows up in my day-to-day work because traditionally, I was using SolarWinds to monitor infrastructure health, but the polling period is lengthier than we would like to see. Datadog specifically has real-time monitoring, and the alerts that we have configured are coming to us much quicker. We're able to address an issue sooner rather than later, and when it comes to reviewing .NET code or application configuration, I only had limited visibility, but with Datadog doing the analysis of the IIS logs and any other application logs, it's also opened up visibility to me so that I can assist a developer in identifying the area of concern or where a code could be more efficiently written.
Datadog has positively impacted my organization by helping us make our web portals more efficient. Our portals and integrations are extremely complex, and as we get the agent installed on more devices, it's really provided us visibility that we haven't had in my entire career with Ace Hardware.
I cannot provide specific numbers for the improved performance, but Datadog has identified issues that we have in our data source area. We have implemented additional indexes and have plans for breaking out complex queries that are pulling data across multiple data sources. We're in the crawl, walk, run phase, so right now we're identifying and prioritizing the things that need to be fixed. A few of the things that we've already addressed include adding additional resources to servers, and we have noticed improved performance. I know someone has the statistics; I just don't have them available to me at the moment.
What needs improvement?
At this point, I'm not sure how Datadog can be improved, but maybe some initial intense training from the vendor before setting us loose with the application is the only thing I can think of.
I think it would be helpful to have an administrative page right from the portal that gives us links to the application documentation. I have separate URLs to get to the various locations that I need to go to, but unless I'm just not seeing them, I have to go to separate URLs. I cannot get to some of the documentation and various other components from my company-specific portal.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Datadog for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Datadog is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Other than being restricted by cost, Datadog's scalability has been a little bit of a challenge to do the initial installation of the agent. We have upgraded all of our agents so that we can do the upgrades remotely, but the initial install is still a little time-consuming and a little clunky.
How are customer service and support?
I think the customer support is great. I love the ability to send flares directly from the machine or device that's having an issue, and my tickets are always opened promptly. I usually get links to documentation about the specific feature or function that I'm trying to implement, and when I have additional questions, the ticket is updated with actual recommendations or suggestions pointing me in the correct direction.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We continue to use SolarWinds, although I can see the infrastructure monitoring component of SolarWinds being replaced with Datadog. We also used Catchpoint to run synthetic scripts from various locations throughout the country, and we use Pingdom for our e-commerce solution. We're trying to phase out Pingdom at this time with the help of Datadog engineers, and we have ceased using Catchpoint because we have created those synthetic scripts within Datadog.
What was our ROI?
At this point, I'm leaving the return on investment metrics to my manager and director. I'm just focused on getting it up and running, installed, upgraded, and helping to train other folks to use it. I know they're trying to keep metrics on all of those questions, but I'm just not focusing on that at this time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I was not included in the pricing, setup cost, and licensing decisions, but I have needed to gain more information about licensing and individual feature cost projections. Everybody wants the agent installed, but we only have so many dollars to spread across, so it's been difficult for me to prioritize who will benefit from Datadog at this time.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We use
Azure for our hybrid cloud setup.
What other advice do I have?
I'm excited to learn more about the application and can't wait as my knowledge expands, all the exciting things that we might be able to do with the tool.
I rate Datadog an 8 out of 10, only because I haven't had the ability to explore everything that I intend to explore, and some of the more complex monitors that I want to create I'm just not able to intuitively do. But that might be on me and not the product. The complexity and my lack of knowledge related to all the features and how I can use them keep it from being a 10 for me.
I would advise others looking into using Datadog to do more training and become much more familiar with the product before going live with it. There are so many wonderful things that can be done with it that it's a little overwhelming to only attempt to configure those or investigate them when the product's already live.
I'm excited to continue to learn and explore the tool. It's giving me some insight into systems that I have not had for the past 17 years, so it's exciting to be able to see that and put it to use almost immediately.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Great Integration and Dashboards, but Pricing Is Unpredictable
What do you like best about the product?
Easy integration, power dashboards and visualization, smart alerts
What do you dislike about the product?
expensive and hard to predict cost, data retenntion and export limitation
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
1. Lack of Unified Observability
In modern environments, teams use dozens of tools—logs, metrics, traces, synthetic monitoring, network monitors, security scanners, etc.
Datadog consolidates metrics, logs, traces, security, and real-user monitoring in one place. This helps DevOps, SRE, security, and business teams collaborate with a single source of truth.
2. Troubleshooting is Hard and Slow
Distributed systems mean a single user action might trigger dozens of services.
Datadog provides distributed tracing, log correlation, and visualizations that allow you to trace requests end-to-end and pinpoint slow or broken parts of the system fast.
3. Cloud Complexity
Cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP) change constantly—instances spin up/down, containers come and go, etc.
Datadog offers real-time monitoring and auto-discovery to keep up with these ephemeral environments.
4. Siloed Teams & Tools
Dev, Ops, Security, and Business teams often use different tools and speak different "languages".
Datadog’s platform allows shared dashboards, alerts, and insights, helping teams align on problems and priorities.
5. Proactive Monitoring Instead of Reactive Firefighting
Teams often only react after customers are impacted.
Powerful and User friendly Observability Platform
What do you like best about the product?
Datadog is very easy to use and provides a unified platform for monitoring, metrics, logs, and traces. I really like the Log Explorer, it’s powerful and flexible, especially when building complex queries to filter and analyze data. The Metric Explorer and APM features are excellent for tracking performance and identifying bottlenecks across different services. User management is straightforward, and setting up monitors is quick and reliable. Integration is also straightforward, in our case, we use it with Microsoft Teams and Azure without any issues. Their customer support has always been responsive and helpful whenever we’ve needed assistance. Overall, it’s a powerful and easy-to-use observability platform that provides deep visibility across systems and applications.
What do you dislike about the product?
Dashboards can feel limited at times, building more advanced or highly customized visualizations isn’t always straightforward.
Another drawback is the cost as Datadog can become extremely expensive if not managed carefully, especially when log volumes or monitored hosts grow quickly.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Datadog helps us centralize monitoring across all our infrastructure and applications. We use it to collect logs, metrics, and traces in one place, making it much easier to detect and troubleshoot issues before they impact users. With APM and monitors, we can quickly identify performance bottlenecks and track down root causes. The integration with Azure and Microsoft Teams allows us to get alerts and insights directly where we collaborate, improving response times. Overall, Datadog gives us better visibility, faster incident resolution, and a clearer understanding of system health across environments.
Datadog with best observability tool
What do you like best about the product?
The user interface is very user-friendly, and the dashboard offers greater flexibility compared to other tools I have used. Implementation is straightforward and uncomplicated.
What do you dislike about the product?
So far, based on my past experience, I have not encountered any drawbacks.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Datadog is very helpful for root cause analysis, and I find the dashboards particularly useful. They allow us to proactively monitor our servers and applications, making it easier to identify and address issues as they arise.
Datadog : All in one observability
What do you like best about the product?
The user interface is excellent, and I appreciate the simplicity of the user experience. It offers full stack observability, allowing me to monitor both the technology stack and the application environment effectively. They have knowledge tech support and supports many third party integration.
What do you dislike about the product?
Everything is up to date, and there is nothing more to add. The documentation is thorough, and there are clear paths available to troubleshoot any queries.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Datadog can help you identify and resolve application bugs. Sometimes, application teams are unsure about the exact location of a bug, which line is causing the application to fail, or where the failure rate is originating. They may also struggle to determine which endpoint is making the application slow. With Datadog, you can monitor all of these aspects in a single observability platform.
Powerful monitoring and observability platform
What do you like best about the product?
Datadog offers a comprehensive set of monitoring tools that make it easy to visualize, alert, and analyze performance metrics in real time. I particularly like how seamlessly it integrates with various cloud platforms and services. The dashboards are customizable and give great visibility into system health, which helps our team react faster to issues.
What do you dislike about the product?
Datadog can get expensive as usage scales, especially with multiple integrations and high data ingestion. The pricing model isn't always transparent, and configuring some advanced features can be a bit complex without strong technical knowledge or documentation.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Datadog helps us monitor infrastructure, applications, and logs in real time, all in one place. It reduces downtime by alerting us quickly to issues and provides visibility across distributed systems. This centralized observability improves team efficiency and helps us deliver better performance to end users.
Great product, but pricing pushed us away
What do you like best about the product?
The breadth of integrations and ease of setup - Datadog makes it simple to get visibility across infrastructure, applications, and logs in one place
What do you dislike about the product?
The pricing model - costs scale quickly and unpredictably, especially with logs and additional features
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Datadog gave us strong visibility into infrastructure, applications, and logs in a single platform. It helped us detect issues faster, reduce downtime, and improve performance monitoring across teams
Reliable monitoring tool with powerful dashboards
What do you like best about the product?
Datadog provides an excellent all-in-one monitoring solution that gives complete visibility into infrastructure, applications, and logs. The customizable dashboards make it easy to track performance metrics in real time, and the alerting system ensures quick detection of issues. Its wide range of integrations with cloud services, databases, and tools makes it very flexible. The user interface is intuitive and easy to navigate even for new users.
What do you dislike about the product?
While Datadog is very powerful, the pricing can become expensive for small or growing teams as costs increase with the number of metrics and hosts. The initial setup of dashboards and integrations can also feel overwhelming due to the wide range of features available. Additionally, some advanced queries require a learning curve.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Datadog helps us monitor applications, servers, and cloud infrastructure in real time, which allows us to quickly detect and resolve performance issues before they impact end users. It centralizes logs, metrics, and traces in one platform, making troubleshooting much faster. The alerting system has reduced downtime and improved overall system reliability, while the dashboards give clear insights for both technical and business teams.
great cross-platform observability
What do you like best about the product?
unified observability view and observability backend features
What do you dislike about the product?
need cost-effective solution and need better documentation
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
aggregate observability data from various platforms
Exp here
What do you like best about the product?
The dashboard demo, the service map, and the people here
What do you dislike about the product?
The front desk did not have my registration data when I arrived this morning
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The niche market data analysis, log data analysis, and alert messages to customers
