Datadog vs Icinga comparison

Datadog and Icinga are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Datadog is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.7, while Icinga is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.7. Datadog holds a 3.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Icinga’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Datadog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Icinga users who would recommend it.

Datadog

Read 188 Datadog reviews

6,767 Views
4,411 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Icinga

Read 17 Icinga reviews

3,466 Views
3,080 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Datadog

Icinga

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Datadog and Icinga are competitors in the infrastructure monitoring field. Datadog has an advantage with comprehensive cloud integration and user-friendly dashboards, making it preferable for those seeking robust data handling and cloud compatibility.

Features: Datadog offers extensive integration capabilities, including cloud providers such as AWS, Docker, and Splunk, and features sharable dashboards, automated alerting, and centralized monitoring. Icinga, as an open-source solution, supports a wide range of plugins, making it customizable and versatile, with strong community backing for infrastructure monitoring.

Room for Improvement: Datadog's pricing complexity and lack of cost transparency are notable drawbacks, alongside calls for enhanced logging and user experience. Icinga could improve its user interface, automate features more extensively, and streamline setup processes while expanding monitoring capabilities without needing external plugins.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Datadog is suitable for cloud deployments, offering proactive customer support with quick, knowledgeable responses. Though mostly deployed on-premises, Icinga is known for good customer service, though experiences with technical support speed and effectiveness vary.

Pricing and ROI: Datadog's pricing is premium, reflecting its monitoring capabilities, but cost management requires attention from users. Its ROI primarily results from reduced troubleshooting times. Icinga's appeal lies in its cost-effectiveness as an open-source software without licensing fees, though operational costs can mount, suitable for budget-sensitive projects with in-house expertise for customization.

To learn more, read our detailed Datadog vs. Icinga Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Datadog vs. Icinga

March 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Datadog

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

3rd

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

2nd

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

188

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (1st), Log Management (3rd), Container Monitoring (1st), AIOps (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (7th)

Icinga

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

17th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

16th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

14th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Datadog is 3.5%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Icinga is 3.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Kevin Palmer

DevOps/Security Principal at Raken

Useful log aggregation and management with helpful metrics aggregation

Datadog provides us value in three major ways: First, Datadog provides best-in-class functionality in many, if not all, of the products to which we subscribe (infrastructure, APM, log management, serverless, synthetics, real user monitoring, DB monitoring). In my experience with other tools that provide similar functionality, Datadog provides the largest feature set with the most flexibility and the best performance. Second, Datadog allows us to access all of those services in one place. Having to learn and manage only one tool for all of those purposes is a major benefit. Third, Datadog provides significant connectivity between those services so that we can view, summarize, organize, translate and correlate our data with maximum effect. Not needing to manually integrate them to draw lines between those pieces of information is a huge time savings for us.

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Harrison Bulley

Senior Infrastructure Engineer at Net Consulting

A stable, scalable and cost-effective solution that helps with inbuilt scripts for easy modification

I think the software is quite good, but we have had problems with getting it to recognize certain areas and amend certain checks, where we needed so we would have to create backend scripts for those checks. Though, being open source, it has the support to create backend scripts, it would be better to have these scripts in-built.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We have way more observability than what we had before - on the application and the overall system."

"The most valuable features of Datadog are the flexibility and additional features when compared to other solutions, such as AppDynamics and Dynatrace. Some of the features include AI and ML capabilities and cloud and analysis monitoring"

"We have been able to set very specific CPU and memory alerts, at the very base level, then we started to pull real business value, like 99th percentile response rates for our API calls."

"Straightforward to integrate and automate."

"The initial setup was straightforward from my own experience, helping integrate within the application and service levels."

"We've been able to glean from the monitors what servers are down, and can alert the team in Slack."

"The visibility into our network has allowed for quick diagnosis of failures, identification of underutilized or over-utilized resources, and allowed for cloud cost optimization opportunities."

"The solution is stable."

More Datadog pros

"This solution has a self-healing handler where if the service is down, it is automatically restarted."

"Macros and the ability to connect it to Google Maps are valuable features."

"Icinga has multiple automation and integration features. There is an API for everything and a web UI for configurations. The APIs enable you to automate tasks in Icinga. We can also use plugins to talk to the API. The Icinga Director talks to a database in the background, and you can import settings from the CMDB to all systems in Icinga."

"An affordable solution for small organizations to do basic network monitoring."

"There's a module called Icinga Director, which helps us configure the product using an intuitive interface through clicks instead of creating a text configuration. It's very helpful for us."

"Icinga does the job and is fairly stable."

"The apply rules feature saves a lot of time."

"The drafts are easy but what I like about Icinga is that there are many add-ons that you can download."

More Icinga pros

Cons

"It can have a more modernized pricing mechanism. We're actually working with them to figure out how to become more modular and have a better and more modernized pricing mechanism. The issue with Datadog is that you have to buy the whole suite of different products, and you kind of get stuck in the old utilization of 40% of their suite. Most organizations today break down between application development, networking, and security. Therefore, there should be a way to break down different modules into just app dev, infosec, networking, etc. Customers have various needs across their business lines, and sometimes, they're just not willing to have tools that they're not using 100%. AppDynamics is probably a little bit better in terms of being modular."

"The product needs to have more enterprise approach to configuration."

"I'd like to see better pricing and more integration in the next release."

"They need to implement template variables into the message response body."

"Interactive tutorials could be a game changer."

"The setup was a bit complex."

"One area where the product could be improved is Application Performance Monitoring (APM)."

"I find the setup cost to be too expensive. The setup cost for Datadog is more than $100. I am evaluating the usage of this solution, however, it is too expensive."

More Datadog cons

"The solution lacks many features important to higher-level IT management and network support."

"One of the areas that are frustrating is remote monitoring for more than one machine."

"Icinga is a complex solution that's hard to learn. It's a powerful product for monitoring, but new users will have a hard time figuring out what to do."

"We have found some problems with Nagios, and support isn't very responsive."

"I think the software is quite good, but we have had problems with getting it to recognize certain areas and amend certain checks, where we needed so we would have to create backend scripts for those checks. Though, being open source, it has the support to create backend scripts, it would be better to have these scripts in-built."

"At this time, the layout of the website is a bit difficult. It should be more user-friendly for changing the background and logos."

"It needs Trap SNMP. I saw the documentation for Zabbix, that it has its own built-in product which handles SNMP traps, and there's nothing similar in Icinga or Nagios. I think this feature is most important for me."

"The tool currently fails to provide notifications to users."

More Icinga cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis."

"Pricing seemed easy until the bill came in and some things were not accounted for."

"Sometimes it's very hard to project how much it will cost for the monthly subscription for the next month when you add certain features. Having better visibility of the cost would give a better experience."

"The tool is open-source."

"It didn't scale well from the cost perspective. We had a custom package deal."

"Pricing and licensing are reasonable for what they give you. You get the first five hosts free, which is fun to play around with. Then it's about four dollars a month per host, which is very affordable for what you get out of it. We have a lot of hosts that we put a lot of custom metrics into, and every host gives you an allowance for the number of custom metrics."

"I am not satisfied with its licensing. Its payment is based on the exported data, and there was an explosion of the data for three or four weeks. My customer was not alerted, and there was no way for them to see that there has been an explosion of data. They got a big invoice for one or two months. The pricing model of Datadog is based on the data. The customer was quite surprised about not being alerted about this explosion of data. They should provide some kind of alert when there is an increase in usage."

"The price of Datadog is reasonable. Other solutions are more expensive, such as AppDynamics."

More Datadog pricing and cost advice

"It is cost-effective, and the return on investment can be very interesting because the price is low."

"The solution is free to use."

"The solution is cheap."

"This is an open-source solution with paid support."

"The product is inexpensive compared to other DBM products."

"We're using the free version of Icinga."

"Even though Icinga's financial cost is low, it is an expensive product regarding the resources required to maintain and operate it."

"It's an open-source solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

37%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Any advice about APM solutions?

There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...

See all answers

Datadog vs ELK: which one is good in terms of performance, cost and efficiency?

With Datadog, we have near-live visibility across our entire platform. We have seen APM metrics impacted several times lately using the dashboards we have created with Datadog; they are very good c...

See all answers

Which would you choose - Datadog or Dynatrace?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Datadog or Dynatrace network monitoring software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Dynatrace. Dynatrace offers network ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Icinga?

The best thing about the solution is how it highlights errors, the issues, and what needs my attention. The solution directs me to areas that I should look for first.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Icinga?

It is cost-effective, and the return on investment can be very interesting because the price is low. If you want to include this product in the services you offer to your customers, the return on i...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Icinga?

There is room for improvement in multi-tenancy. It's not perfect, not even really good. It's average, but it should be improved. For instance, multi-tenancy for monitoring the virtual infrastructur...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs Datadog

Compared 13% of the time

Azure Monitor vs Datadog

Compared 12% of the time

AWS X-Ray vs Datadog

Compared 5% of the time

New Relic vs Datadog

Compared 5% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Datadog

Compared 4% of the time

More Datadog Competitors

Zabbix vs Icinga

Compared 47% of the time

Nagios Core vs Icinga

Compared 23% of the time

Checkmk vs Icinga

Compared 11% of the time

Nagios XI vs Icinga

Compared 3% of the time

LibreNMS vs Icinga

Compared 2% of the time

More Icinga Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Datadog

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Icinga

March 2025

Download Icinga product report

Also Known As

No data available

Icinga Cloud Monitoring

Overview

Datadog is a comprehensive cloud monitoring platform designed to track performance, availability, and log aggregation for cloud resources like AWS, ECS, and Kubernetes. It offers robust tools for creating dashboards, observing user behavior, alerting, telemetry, security monitoring, and synthetic testing.

Datadog supports full observability across cloud providers and environments, enabling troubleshooting, error detection, and performance analysis to maintain system reliability. It offers detailed visualization of servers, integrates seamlessly with cloud providers like AWS, and provides powerful out-of-the-box dashboards and log analytics. Despite its strengths, users often note the need for better integration with other solutions and improved application-level insights. Common challenges include a complex pricing model, setup difficulties, and navigation issues. Users frequently mention the need for clearer documentation, faster loading times, enhanced error traceability, and better log management.

What are the key features of Datadog?

Graphs and Dashboards: Visualizes servers and infrastructure with customizable views.
Metrics: Offers deep insights into system performance and user behavior.
Log Management: Provides powerful analytics for logs and seamless log aggregation.
Unified Tagging: Facilitates organization and retrieval of metrics and logs.
APM and RUM: Enables application performance monitoring and real user monitoring for comprehensive insights.
Synthetic Testing: Allows the simulation of user interactions to test application performance.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

System Reliability: Helps ensure uptime and performance across cloud environments.
Proactive Issue Resolution: Assists in identifying and resolving issues before they impact users.
Operational Efficiency: Streamlines monitoring and log management tasks.
Flexible Integrations: Adapts to various cloud services and infrastructure setups.
Real-Time Alerts: Provides timely notifications to address problems swiftly.

Datadog is implemented across different industries, from tech companies monitoring cloud applications to finance sectors ensuring transactional systems' performance. E-commerce platforms use Datadog to track and visualize user behavior and system health, while healthcare organizations utilize it for maintaining secure, compliant environments. Every implementation assists teams in customizing monitoring solutions specific to their industry's requirements.

Datadog

Icinga monitors systems, network devices, infrastructure, and services, helping manage and analyze server resources. It automates ticket incidents and alerting, providing oversight of client Windows and Linux systems.

Icinga offers comprehensive monitoring of servers including CPU utilization and RAM space, facilitating automated incident management and alerting. Frequently deployed on-premises, this monitoring tool is key for managed services providers and organizations to oversee and ensure optimal performance of various environments, including applications like databases and web servers. It provides extensive features for creating custom plugins, stabilization, scalability, and high customization capabilities suitable for different infrastructure needs.

What are the key features of Icinga?

Event Handler: Facilitates automatic self-healing of systems.
Extensive Plugin Library: Offers a wide range of plugins for monitoring.
Ease of Use: Simplifies user experience with an intuitive interface and Icinga Director for easy configurations.
Open-Source Nature: Free to use, modify, and distribute.
Automation Capabilities: Integrates with APIs and Ansible Collections for automation.
Custom Plugins: Users can create and integrate their own plugins.
Stability and Scalability: Provides reliable performance across different scale infrastructures.

What are the benefits or ROI to look for when evaluating Icinga?

Critical Issue Highlighting: Effectively identifies and notifies about critical problems.
High Customization: Offers flexibility for diverse monitoring needs.
Automated Alerting: Reduces manual effort and improves response times.
Extensive Integration: Works seamlessly with other tools and platforms.

Icinga implementations span multiple industries, providing essential monitoring for IT infrastructure in healthcare, finance, and education. Managed services providers utilize Icinga to maintain and monitor client systems across various environments while ensuring optimal performance and compliance. It is highly valued in these sectors for its ability to customize monitoring, improving operational efficiency and reducing downtime.

Icinga

Sample Customers

Adobe, Samsung, facebook, HP Cloud Services, Electronic Arts, salesforce, Stanford University, CiTRIX, Chef, zendesk, Hearst Magazines, Spotify, mercardo libre, Slashdot, Ziff Davis, PBS, MLS, The Motley Fool, Politico, Barneby's

Puppet Labs, Audi, Spacex, Debian, Snapdeal, McGill, RIPE Network Coordination Centre

Buyer's Guide

Datadog vs. Icinga

March 2025

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