diff --git a/data/comparisons/datadog-vs-sentry.mdx b/data/comparisons/datadog-vs-sentry.mdx index 6d4a75c6d..9484d5e84 100644 --- a/data/comparisons/datadog-vs-sentry.mdx +++ b/data/comparisons/datadog-vs-sentry.mdx @@ -1,243 +1,361 @@ --- -title: Datadog vs Sentry - Which Monitoring Tool to Choose? [2025 Guide] -slug: datadog-vs-sentry -date: 2025-01-02 -tags: [tools-comparison] +title: "Datadog vs Sentry - Which Monitoring Tool to Choose? [2025 Guide]" +slug: "datadog-vs-sentry" +date: "2025-08-04" +tags: [monitoring, tools-comparison] authors: [daniel] -description: Datadog is tailored towards application performance and full stack observability of systems while Sentry specializes in identifying and reporting application errors... -image: /img/blog/2024/04/datadog-vs-sentry-cover.webp -hide_table_of_contents: false -toc_min_heading_level: 2 -toc_max_heading_level: 2 -keywords: [datadog-vs-sentry, datadog, sentry, opentelemetry, open-source, monitoring-tools, signoz] +description: "Complete comparison of Datadog vs Sentry for 2025. Learn which monitoring tool fits your needs - error tracking specialist Sentry or full-stack observability platform Datadog." +keywords: [datadog vs sentry, datadog, sentry, error monitoring, apm, observability, monitoring tools, application monitoring, infrastructure monitoring, signoz] --- - - - +Choosing between Datadog and Sentry determines whether you get comprehensive observability or specialized error tracking. These platforms serve different purposes: **Datadog** offers full-stack observability across your entire infrastructure stack, while **Sentry** focuses specifically on error tracking and application debugging. -Datadog and Sentry are monitoring tools but with different use cases. Datadog is tailored towards application performance and full stack observability of systems while Sentry specializes in identifying and reporting application errors. - -In this post, I have compared Datadog and Sentry on important features like error monitoring, APM, log management, etc. - - - I instrumented a sample Python Application and sent data to both Datadog and Sentry to evaluate my - experience. Some takeaways are subjective and based on personal preference. - +The decision impacts your monitoring strategy and budget. Choose incorrectly, and you might face unexpected costs with Datadog's complex pricing model or find yourself limited when Sentry's focused scope can't meet broader observability needs. This guide provides a practical comparison based on real-world usage to help you decide.
- + Datadog vs Sentry comparison for monitoring tools
-## Datadog vs Sentry: Overview - -Here’s a quick overview of the overall platform features and functionality of Datadog and Sentry. - -| Features | Datadog | Sentry | -| ------------------------- | ------- | ------ | -| APM | ✅ | ✅ | -| Infrastructure Monitoring | ✅ | ❌ | -| Session Replay | ✅ | ✅ | -| Profiling | ✅ | ✅ | -| Open-Source Version | ❌ | ✅ | -| Application Security | ✅ | ❌ | -| Log Management | ✅ | 🟡 | -| Alerting | ✅ | ✅ | -| OpenTelemetry Support | 🟡 | 🟡 | -| Error Monitoring | ✅ | ✅ | -| Incident Management | ✅ | ❌ | -| Cloud SIEM | ✅ | ❌ | -| Real User Monitoring | ✅ | ❌ | -| Cron Monitoring | ❌ | ✅ | -| 14-days Free Trial | ✅ | ✅ | - -✅ - Available - -❌ - Not Available - -🟡 - Limited - -## Error Monitoring: Sentry - -### Datadog - -Datadog's error monitoring system provides detailed insights into error patterns, including the frequency, impact, and root causes. This aids in quicker and more effective troubleshooting, enabling the tracking, triage, and debugging of errors with ease. - -One of its key features is its error grouping capability. This allowed it to group similar errors coming from my application into a single issue for easy identification of important errors and noise reduction. It also allows for the creation of error tracking monitors which can alert you when an issue in your application starts. +## Quick Decision Framework + +Before exploring details, here's your decision guide: + +**Choose Sentry if you:** +- Need specialized error tracking and exception monitoring +- Want straightforward setup with minimal configuration +- Prefer open-source options with self-hosting capabilities +- Have budget constraints or need predictable pricing +- Focus primarily on application-level debugging + +**Choose Datadog if you:** +- Need full-stack observability (infrastructure + applications) +- Want unified monitoring across metrics, logs, traces, and security +- Have enterprise-scale requirements and complex architectures +- Need advanced incident management and automated alerting +- Can handle complex pricing and vendor dependencies + +## Platform Overview Comparison + +| Feature Category | Datadog | Sentry | +|------------------|---------|--------| +| **Core Focus** | Full-stack observability platform | Specialized error tracking | +| **Error Monitoring** | ✅ Good (part of broader APM) | ✅ **Excellent** (purpose-built) | +| **APM & Performance** | ✅ **Comprehensive** | 🟡 Limited but growing | +| **Infrastructure Monitoring** | ✅ **Full coverage** | ❌ Not available | +| **Log Management** | ✅ **Enterprise-grade** | 🟡 Basic event logging | +| **Session Replay** | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes (web applications) | +| **Distributed Tracing** | ✅ Advanced | 🟡 Basic | +| **Alerting & Incidents** | ✅ **Advanced** | ✅ Basic alerts | +| **Open Source** | ❌ No | ✅ **Available** | +| **Self-Hosting** | ❌ Cloud-only | ✅ **Full support** | +| **Pricing Model** | Complex (per-host + usage) | Simple (usage-based) | +| **OpenTelemetry Support** | 🟡 Partial (Beta) | 🟡 Limited | + +## Error Monitoring: Sentry Leads + +### Sentry's Error Tracking Excellence + +Sentry was designed specifically for error monitoring, which shows in its developer-focused features. It captures errors, unhandled exceptions, and crashes with precision, providing developers with actionable debugging information. + +**Key Sentry advantages:** +- **Intelligent error grouping** that reduces noise and identifies patterns +- **Detailed stack traces** with code context and breadcrumbs showing the path to errors +- **Session replay** displaying user actions leading to errors +- **Direct integration** with GitHub, Jira, and development workflows +- **Custom error fingerprinting** for better error categorization +- **Release tracking** to correlate errors with deployments
Error tracking for sample application in Datadog
- Error tracking for sample application in Datadog + Sentry's error monitoring provides developers with detailed context for debugging
-### Sentry +### Datadog's Error Tracking: Functional but Broad -Sentry performs error monitoring by capturing errors, uncaught exceptions, and unhandled rejections, as well as other types of errors that are displayed as issues. An error issue in Sentry is a grouping of error events. +Datadog includes error tracking as part of its broader APM suite. While it captures and analyzes errors, it lacks the specialized developer experience that makes Sentry stand out. -The Issues UI displays information about errors and performance problems in your application. It allows you to filter by properties such as browser, device, impacted users, or whether an error is unhandled. Selecting an issue provides you with details of that issue. For my application, it provided information on what the error message was, when it first occurred, tags, and more. +**Datadog error tracking features:** +- Error grouping and trend analysis +- Integration with APM traces and infrastructure logs +- Basic alerting on error rates and thresholds +- Error impact assessment across services
Comprehensive error monitoring of application
- Comprehensive error monitoring of application + Datadog's error tracking works well but focuses less on developer-specific needs
-Sentry excels better at error monitoring compared to Datadog. The reason for this is Sentry's primary focus on application-level error tracking and performance monitoring. It is specifically designed to capture, aggregate, and analyze errors and exceptions in real-time, providing developers with detailed insights into application issues. +**Winner: Sentry** - Purpose-built for error tracking with superior developer workflow integration. -## APM: Datadog +## Application Performance Monitoring: Datadog Dominates -### Datadog +### Datadog's Comprehensive APM -Datadog’s APM provides deep visibility into your applications, enabling you to identify performance bottlenecks, troubleshoot issues, and optimize your services. With distributed tracing, out-of-the-box dashboards, and seamless correlation with other telemetry data, Datadog APM helps ensure the best possible performance and user experience for your applications. +Datadog provides extensive application performance insights with advanced distributed tracing, service maps, and performance analytics designed for complex environments. + +**Datadog APM strengths:** +- **Advanced distributed tracing** with detailed flamegraph visualizations +- **Service dependency mapping** across complex microservices architectures +- **Real-time performance metrics** with anomaly detection and automated alerts +- **Correlation** between traces, logs, and infrastructure metrics in unified dashboards +- **Code-level profiling** for identifying performance bottlenecks +- **Database query analysis** and slow query identification
Insight into application performance metrics displayed in Datadog’s APM
- Insight into application performance metrics displayed in Datadog’s APM + Datadog's flamegraph visualization helps identify specific performance bottlenecks in request flows
-The Trace Explorer facilitates real-time search and analysis of your traces, allowing me to locate root causes, and resolve errors. It also lets you correlate related logs and metrics for a thorough understanding of any issue. +### Sentry's Performance Monitoring: Expanding Scope + +Sentry has expanded beyond error tracking to include performance monitoring, but it remains focused on application-level insights rather than comprehensive APM. + +**Sentry performance features:** +- Transaction performance tracking with user experience focus +- Slow query identification and performance issue categorization +- Basic distributed tracing for request flows +- Performance regression detection linked to releases +- User-centric performance metrics like Core Web Vitals
Trace information with flamegraph visualization
- Trace information with flamegraph visualization + Sentry's performance monitoring focuses on user experience but lacks deep APM capabilities
-### Sentry +**Winner: Datadog** - Comprehensive APM platform with enterprise-grade distributed tracing and profiling. -Sentry tracks an application's performance by identifying slow code and tracing slow transactions to problematic API calls or database queries. +## Log Management: Datadog's Enterprise Advantage -The Performance UI offers a comprehensive overview of the metrics and transactions being monitored against your application. It was able to detect and categorize common performance issues in my application into manageable issues for improved resolution. +### Datadog: Full-Featured Log Management -It also allows users to set alarms on the latency issues affecting the most users, so you can fix what’s urgent faster. +Datadog offers "Logging without Limits," a sophisticated log management platform that separates ingestion from indexing, allowing cost-effective log storage and analysis at scale. + +**Datadog log management features:** +- **Live tail** for real-time log streaming and debugging +- **Advanced filtering and search** with custom query language +- **Log correlation** with traces and metrics for comprehensive context +- **Log-based alerts and automated monitors** for operational incidents +- **Flexible retention and archiving** with different storage tiers +- **Log parsing and structured logging** support
Performance metrics of sample application
- Performance metrics of sample application + Datadog's log management provides comprehensive insights with real-time streaming capabilities
-Unlike Datadog, Sentry is essentially built for error tracing and exception monitoring with APM capabilities. Datadog which is built for APM offers better APM capabilities. +### Sentry: Event-Focused, Not Traditional Logs - +Sentry doesn't provide centralized log management. Instead, it captures application events and errors in a format optimized for debugging rather than operational log analysis. -## Log Management: Datadog +**Sentry logging limitations:** +- No centralized log collection from infrastructure or applications +- Event-based capture rather than continuous log streaming +- Limited search and filtering capabilities for operational use +- Not designed for operational logging or compliance requirements -### Datadog +**Winner: Datadog** - Enterprise-grade log management versus Sentry's event-only approach. -By default, the Datadog Agent does **not** collect logs. This has to be configured manually by editing the Datadog agent config file. After configuration, Datadog immediately picked up my application logs and I could monitor them in real-time through its live tail feature. +## Pricing: Predictability vs. Complexity -Datadog allows for filtering and searching of logs to help users quickly find the information they need. especially in environments where large volumes of log data are generated. It also provides different visualization options for viewing logs. +### Datadog: Complex and Potentially Expensive -Datadog has what it calls “Logging without Limits”, which ensures that users can cost-effectively collect, store, and analyze log data by decoupling log ingestion from indexing. This feature empowers organizations to capture all relevant log data, regardless of volume or complexity, enabling comprehensive monitoring and analysis for better insights and decision-making. +Datadog's pricing model includes multiple SKUs with per-host pricing that can lead to unexpected costs as your infrastructure scales. -
- Live streaming of application logs -
- Live streaming of application logs -
-
+**Datadog pricing challenges:** +- **Custom metrics overage:** ~$5 per custom metric beyond included limits +- **Per-host infrastructure pricing:** Costs scale directly with infrastructure size +- **Unpredictable billing:** Difficult to forecast costs as usage patterns change +- **No self-hosting option:** Complete vendor dependency with no alternatives +- **Complex SKU structure:** Multiple products with separate pricing tiers + +**Example pricing:** +- Infrastructure monitoring: $15/host/month +- APM and profiling: $31/host/month +- Log management: $1.27/million log events +- Custom metrics: $0.05 per custom metric + +### Sentry: Transparent and Predictable + +Sentry offers straightforward, usage-based pricing that's easier to predict and budget for, especially for development teams. + +**Sentry pricing advantages:** +- **Generous free tier:** 5,000 errors/month at no cost +- **Predictable usage-based billing:** Pay for events processed, not infrastructure size +- **No host-based pricing:** Costs don't increase with infrastructure scaling +- **Self-hosting option:** Full open-source version available for complete cost control +- **Simple pricing tiers:** Clear feature boundaries between plans + +**Sentry pricing tiers:** +- Developer: $0/month (free tier) +- Team: $26/month (up to 50K errors monthly) +- Organization: $80/month (up to 200K errors monthly) + +**Winner: Sentry** - More predictable and cost-effective pricing with self-hosting options. + +## OpenTelemetry Support: Room for Improvement + +### Datadog's OpenTelemetry Integration + +Datadog offers native OpenTelemetry support in beta for Pro and Enterprise customers, but their ecosystem remains primarily focused on proprietary agents and integrations. + +**Datadog OpenTelemetry features:** +- OTLP endpoint support for traces and metrics +- OpenTelemetry collector integration +- Limited to beta availability for higher-tier plans + +### Sentry's OpenTelemetry Support + +Sentry provides basic OpenTelemetry integration, mainly for error and performance data ingestion, but with limited scope compared to dedicated observability platforms. + +**OpenTelemetry limitations for both:** +Both platforms offer limited OpenTelemetry support compared to platforms built natively on OpenTelemetry standards, which can cause vendor lock-in and integration challenges. -### Sentry +## Real-World Use Cases -Sentry doesn’t exactly perform log management. It integrates with your existing application logging infrastructure and enhances it with additional insights without replacing the need for traditional logs. It captures events and stores them in a way that is optimized for error tracking and debugging. +### Choose Sentry When: -Datadog performs better at log management since it has a log management service. +1. **Development-focused error tracking:** + - Small to medium development teams prioritizing code quality + - Applications with complex error patterns requiring detailed debugging + - Integration with development workflows (GitHub, Jira, Slack) -## Pricing: Sentry +2. **Budget and cost control:** + - Predictable pricing requirements + - Self-hosting capabilities for data sovereignty + - Cost-effective specialized error monitoring -### Datadog +3. **Open source and flexibility:** + - Data sovereignty and compliance requirements + - Custom deployment and integration needs + - Community-driven development preferences -Datadog utilizes an SKU pricing model with each Datadog product varying in price. This model can lead to unpredictable costs, especially in situations where your data volume changes over time. Without the ability to accurately predict the cost for a given month, your Datadog bill may experience unexpected spikes. +### Choose Datadog When: -Also, Datadog charges for additional monitoring requirements like the [creation of custom metrics](https://signoz.io/blog/datadog-pricing/#datadogs-custom-metrics-pricing-can-get-out-of-control-quickly) (\$0.05 per custom metric) and enabling error tracking (additional charges based on event volume). +1. **Enterprise observability requirements:** + - Multiple teams needing unified monitoring across infrastructure and applications + - Complex distributed systems requiring comprehensive correlation + - Advanced incident management and automated response capabilities -### Sentry +2. **Infrastructure-heavy environments:** + - Microservices architectures with complex service dependencies + - Multi-cloud deployments requiring unified visibility + - Infrastructure monitoring alongside application performance -Sentry operates on a pricing model structured around user seats and monthly rates, featuring various tiers, with the developer tier available at a starting price of \$0 per month (free trial). The team and business tiers are priced at \$20 and \$80 monthly while the enterprise tier requires contacting the Sentry team. +3. **Comprehensive security and compliance:** + - SIEM capabilities and security monitoring requirements + - Advanced alerting, automation, and workflow integration + - Enterprise-grade security and audit features -Sentry's pricing is based on the number of user seats and monthly fees, offering different tiers. The developer tier is accessible at no cost. It has a 14-day free trial for free access. The other tiers are priced at \$20 and \$80 per month. +## Using Both Tools Together -Between both tools, Datadog’s pricing is more expensive. +Many organizations adopt a complementary approach: +- **Datadog** for infrastructure monitoring and broad application observability +- **Sentry** for specialized error tracking and developer workflow integration -## Choosing Between Datadog and Sentry +This combination provides comprehensive coverage but increases tool complexity and total cost of ownership. -Choosing between Datadog and Sentry depends on your monitoring and observability needs. +## SigNoz: A Compelling Alternative -Here’s a use-case-based guide to help you: +SigNoz serves as a strong alternative to both Datadog and Sentry, offering comprehensive observability built natively on OpenTelemetry standards while addressing key limitations of both platforms. -- If you want full visibility into your application performance, choose Datadog. -- If you want to track errors in your applications, choose Sentry. -- If you want a better correlation between your telemetry signals, choose Datadog. -- If you want more control, flexibility, and insights into your infrastructure, application, and services, choose Datadog. -- If your use case is real-user monitoring, then choose Datadog. +### Why SigNoz Outperforms Datadog -If you are still not satisfied with both tools, there are a ton of good options in the market. A really good contender to both Datadog and Sentry you can check out is [SigNoz](https://signoz.io/). +**Transparent Pricing:** Unlike Datadog's complex per-host pricing with custom metrics fees that can lead to bill shock, SigNoz offers predictable, usage-based pricing with no hidden costs or special charges for custom metrics. SigNoz provides up to 9x more value than Datadog for comparable workloads. -## SigNoz: A Better Alternative to Datadog and Sentry +**OpenTelemetry-Native:** While Datadog offers limited OpenTelemetry support in beta, SigNoz is built from the ground up on OpenTelemetry, ensuring seamless integration with industry-standard observability frameworks and avoiding vendor lock-in. -SigNoz excels in providing a holistic approach to observability, seamlessly integrating Metrics, Logs, and Traces into a single, unified platform. +**Deployment Flexibility:** Datadog locks you into their cloud-only SaaS model, while SigNoz provides multiple deployment options including SigNoz Cloud, self-hosted enterprise, and Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) arrangements. -Here are the notable features: +**No Vendor Lock-in:** SigNoz's open-source foundation and OpenTelemetry compatibility ensure you're never locked into proprietary ecosystems or data formats. -- It’s open-source -- It’s OpenTelemetry-native -- No hidden pricing or special pricing for custom metrics -- No user-based or host-based pricing +### How SigNoz Compares to Sentry -SigNoz uses Clickhouse as its underlying database, ensuring rapid data ingestion and efficient data aggregation. +**Exception Monitoring:** SigNoz provides robust exception tracking with automatic recording of exceptions across languages like Python, Java, Ruby, and JavaScript. It links errors to specific traces within distributed systems, offering contextual debugging similar to Sentry. However, **Sentry remains the superior choice for teams whose primary focus is error tracking**, as it offers more specialized features like advanced session replay, sophisticated error grouping algorithms, and deeper development workflow integration. -Additionally, the platform simplifies the creation of custom dashboards, enabling users to tailor their monitoring to specific needs and preferences. +**Comprehensive Observability:** While Sentry excels at error tracking, SigNoz provides full-stack observability including metrics, traces, logs, and exceptions in a unified platform. This eliminates the need for multiple tools when you need both error tracking and broader system insights. + +**Self-Hosting and Deployment:** Both SigNoz and Sentry offer self-hosting options, but SigNoz provides more deployment flexibility with its cloud, enterprise self-hosted, BYOC, and community edition options. + +### When to Choose SigNoz + +Choose SigNoz when you: +- Want full-stack observability with native OpenTelemetry compatibility +- Need predictable pricing without custom metrics penalties +- Require flexible deployment options (cloud, self-hosted, BYOC) +- Want to avoid vendor lock-in while maintaining enterprise features +- Need unified metrics, traces, logs, and error monitoring in one platform +- Value transparency and control over your observability infrastructure + +**For teams primarily focused on error tracking and development workflow optimization, Sentry remains the specialized choice. For broader observability needs with cost predictability and deployment flexibility, SigNoz presents a compelling alternative to both Datadog's expensive complexity and Sentry's narrow focus.** ## Getting Started with SigNoz - +You can choose between various deployment options in SigNoz. The easiest way to get started with SigNoz is [SigNoz cloud](https://signoz.io/teams/). We offer a 30-day free trial account with access to all features. + +Those who have data privacy concerns and can't send their data outside their infrastructure can sign up for either [enterprise self-hosted or BYOC offering](https://signoz.io/contact-us/). + +Those who have the expertise to manage SigNoz themselves or just want to start with a free self-hosted option can use our [community edition](https://signoz.io/docs/install/self-host/). ## Frequently Asked Questions -**Q: What is the difference between Datadog and Sentry in terms of their primary use cases?** +### What is the main difference between Datadog and Sentry? -**A:** Datadog is a comprehensive monitoring and analytics platform that provides insights into infrastructure, applications, and security. It's designed to monitor everything from servers and databases to applications and services, offering a wide range of metrics and alerts. Sentry, on the other hand, is primarily focused on application monitoring and error tracking. It specializes in real-time error tracking that gives developers insight into production deployments and information to reproduce and fix crashes. +Datadog is a comprehensive full-stack observability platform covering infrastructure, applications, logs, and security, while Sentry specializes in error tracking and application debugging with developer-centric features. -**Q: What are the benefits of using Datadog and Sentry together for observability?** +### Which tool is more cost-effective? -**A:** Combining Datadog and Sentry can provide a more comprehensive view of an organization's operations. Datadog's infrastructure and application monitoring capabilities can complement Sentry's error tracking and application performance monitoring, offering a holistic approach to observability. This integration can help teams identify and resolve issues more efficiently by correlating infrastructure problems with application errors. +Sentry is generally more cost-effective with its predictable usage-based pricing and generous free tier. Datadog's complex per-host pricing with custom metrics overages can lead to unexpectedly high costs, especially at scale. ---- +### Can I use both Datadog and Sentry together? + +Yes, many organizations use both tools together - Datadog for infrastructure and broad application monitoring, and Sentry for specialized error tracking. However, this increases complexity and costs. + +### Which tool has better error monitoring? + +Sentry excels at error monitoring with specialized features like intelligent error grouping, detailed stack traces, session replay, and direct integration with development workflows. Datadog includes error tracking but as part of its broader APM suite. + +### Do both tools support self-hosting? + +Sentry offers a full open-source version for self-hosting, while Datadog is cloud-only SaaS with no self-hosting options. This makes Sentry more attractive for organizations with data sovereignty requirements. + +### Which tool is better for microservices? + +Datadog is better suited for microservices architectures with its comprehensive distributed tracing, service dependency mapping, and infrastructure monitoring. Sentry focuses primarily on application-level error tracking. + +### What about OpenTelemetry support? -**Related Content** +Both tools offer limited OpenTelemetry support. Datadog has native support in beta for Pro/Enterprise customers, while Sentry has basic integration mainly for error and performance data. Neither matches dedicated OpenTelemetry-native platforms like SigNoz. -[SigNoz - Open-Source Alternative to DataDog](https://signoz.io/blog/open-source-datadog-alternative/) +Hope we answered all your questions regarding choosing between Datadog and Sentry. If you have more questions, feel free to join and ask on our [slack community](https://signoz.io/slack/). -[Comparing The Top 9 Datadog Alternatives in 2024](https://signoz.io/blog/datadog-alternatives/) +You can also subscribe to our [newsletter](https://newsletter.signoz.io/) for insights from observability nerds at SigNoz — get open source, OpenTelemetry, and devtool-building stories straight to your inbox. \ No newline at end of file