New Relic vs Datadog - APM and Observability Compared

New Relic and Datadog are two of the most popular APM and observability tools on the market. New Relic is a comprehensive platform that provides real-time insights into application performance, while Datadog is a monitoring and analytics platform that helps teams understand their cloud infrastructure.

New Relic offers a wide range of features, including automatic instrumentation, customizable dashboards, and alerting capabilities. Datadog, on the other hand, focuses on providing detailed metrics and logs for cloud infrastructure, network traffic, and application performance.

Both tools have their strengths and weaknesses, and the choice between them ultimately depends on your specific needs and use case. New Relic is ideal for teams that need a comprehensive APM solution, while Datadog is better suited for teams that want to focus on cloud infrastructure and network monitoring.

Both Datadog and New Relic offer Application Performance Monitoring (APM) features, but they approach it differently. Datadog provides more control, while New Relic focuses on simplicity.

Instrumenting a sample Java application and sending data to both platforms revealed that the steps are almost the same in both Datadog and New Relic, with New Relic having a few extra steps. You'll need to install their agent, as well as a programming language-specific agent, such as a Java agent.

Simplicity is key when it comes to APM tools. New Relic's onboarding flow is much better than DataDog's, making it easier to get started.

New Relic's traces page shows trace groups instead of a list of spans, which feels like a cleaner representation. This can be especially helpful when dealing with large trace groups.

New Relic has fewer options for correlation compared to DataDog, but it shows many more spans for the same call in your application. This can be beneficial for getting a more detailed view of your application's performance.

New Relic also offers auto-instrumentation of eight programming languages, making it a great choice for developers who work with multiple languages. This feature can save you a lot of time and effort in setting up your APM tool.

Here's a comparison of the two tools' features:

New Relic's simplicity and ease of use make it a great choice for developers who want to get started with APM quickly.

Both Datadog and New Relic offer a range of features for APM, but they differ in their approach. Datadog provides real-time monitoring, event logs, and third-party integrations, making it a great choice for businesses that need a high level of customization.

Datadog also offers features like FTP monitoring, user journey tracking, and browser testing, which can be particularly useful for e-commerce or online businesses. Additionally, it provides event-based notifications, which can help you stay on top of issues before they become major problems.

Here are some of the key features offered by Datadog and New Relic:

New Relic, on the other hand, offers features like synthetic monitoring, request tracing, and custom dashboards, which can be useful for businesses that need to monitor complex systems. However, its alert feature can be complex, making it harder to understand and respond to issues.

Ultimately, the choice between Datadog and New Relic will depend on your specific needs and preferences. If you need a high level of customization and real-time monitoring, Datadog may be the better choice. But if you prefer a more streamlined approach with a focus on simplicity, New Relic could be the way to go.

Log management is a crucial aspect of monitoring and troubleshooting applications. New Relic automatically collects logs from your application and displays them in the logs tab. It allows you to search logs using Lucene, an open-source search library, and query log data using NRQL, a SQL-like query language developed by New Relic.

New Relic's log management features automatically extract attributes from logs, provide a feature called patterns for log data discoverability, and offer tools to manage log data by optimizing storage with dropping filters.

DataDog also offers log management, but it requires more setup. Automatic log collection is disabled by default and needs to be enabled in the agent's config file, along with activating a Java integration for application logs collection.

DataDog identified patterns in my logs, while New Relic did not. DataDog provides more options to filter and visualize log data and allows the use of cloud storage for logs, useful for long-term storage.

Here's a comparison of the two services' log management features:

Ultimately, the choice between New Relic and DataDog for log management depends on your specific needs. If you need a quick-start log management system, New Relic is the better choice. However, if you require more control over filtering and visualizing logs, DataDog's log management provides more advanced options.

DataDog and New Relic both offer robust infrastructure monitoring features. DataDog provides a Host map to visualize all your hosts on one screen, and it also offers a container map and real-time monitoring of containers.

New Relic's infrastructure monitoring connects host performance with configuration changes, allowing you to troubleshoot performance issues more effectively. You can also connect your infrastructure account with your APM account for a more comprehensive view.

Both tools offer integrations to collect metrics for popular platforms, including AWS, GCP, Azure, and Kubernetes. However, it's worth noting that New Relic charges for user seats, which may impact the overall cost of the tool.

Infrastructure monitoring is a crucial aspect of ensuring the smooth operation of your applications and systems. DataDog's infrastructure monitoring allows you to see all your machines in the infrastructure list, with each machine/host having tags, aliases, and metrics attached to it.

DataDog's Host map is a valuable feature that visualizes all your hosts on one screen, giving you a clear overview of your infrastructure. This can be especially helpful when troubleshooting issues or planning upgrades.

DataDog also provides a container map and real-time monitoring of containers, which can help you identify and address potential issues before they become major problems.

New Relic's infrastructure monitoring, on the other hand, focuses on connecting host performance with configuration changes. This allows you to troubleshoot performance issues by linking server-side performance to application-side performance.

New Relic provides integrations to collect metrics for popular platforms like AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, etc., making it a versatile tool for infrastructure monitoring. However, its pricing structure is more complex, with a focus on user seats.

Here's a comparison of the key features of DataDog and New Relic's infrastructure monitoring:

Ultimately, the choice between DataDog and New Relic's infrastructure monitoring comes down to your specific needs and budget.

Network monitoring is crucial for ensuring the smooth operation of your infrastructure. New Relic provides comprehensive network monitoring solutions.

New Relic's pre-configured dashboards for popular cloud services like Azure, AWS, and GCP come with dynamic alerting. This means you can quickly identify and respond to issues before they impact your users.

DataDog and New Relic are both strong contenders for network monitoring. DataDog excels in granular data and multi-cloud environments, while New Relic shines with its extensive integrations.

New Relic integrates with over 100 services, including advanced Kubernetes monitoring. This allows you to correlate metrics from your application and infrastructure.

Here are some key features of New Relic's network monitoring: