Datadog APM review

Datadog APM ranks first because it covers the widest set of production questions from one agent and one account. The base APM tier costs $31 per host per month billed annually when Infrastructure Monitoring is attached, or $36 on demand, and includes end-to-end distributed tracing, service dependency maps, deployment tracking with version comparisons and RED metrics computed on 100% of traffic with 15-month retention. Live trace search covers the last 15 minutes and historical search covers 15 days. APM Pro, at $35, adds Data Streams Monitoring with consumer lag and faulty queue detection, and APM Enterprise, at $40, adds Continuous Profiler for code-level CPU, memory, lock and I/O analysis. Traces link directly to logs, processes and network data, which shortens incident work. The trade-off is cost: per host pricing on top of Infrastructure Monitoring adds up across a large container fleet.

Who it is for

Production teams that want APM, logs and infrastructure in one platform

Price

APM from $31 per host per month billed annually with Infrastructure Monitoring attached, or $36 on demand.

APM Starting At $ 31 Per host, per month* Resolve issues faster with end-to-end distributed traces and service health metrics
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 12, 2026.

Key features

• RED metrics computed on 100% of traffic with 15-month retention
• 15-minute live trace search and 15-day historical search and analytics
• Universal Service Monitoring for automatic service discovery and dependency mapping
• Deployment Tracking compares performance metrics across versions
• APM Pro adds Data Streams Monitoring; APM Enterprise adds Continuous Profiler

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Traces correlate with metrics, logs, processes and network data in one account
• Strength: Three clear tiers at $31, $35 and $40 per host billed annually
• Strength: Continuous Profiler covers wall, lock, CPU and I/O time on APM Enterprise
• Weakness: Listed per host prices assume Infrastructure Monitoring is attached
• Weakness: On-demand rates run higher, $36 to $48 per host
• Weakness: No free APM tier is listed on the APM pricing page

Key facts

• Starting price: $31 per host per month, billed annually
• Trace search: 15-minute live, 15-day historical
• Metric retention: 15 months for RED metrics

Where it ranks

Datadog APM is No. 1 in our Best APM Tools verdict.