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reviewer2000487 - PeerSpot reviewer
Test Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Great for monitoring, helps with internal communication and offers improved visibility
Pros and Cons
  • "We've been able to glean from the monitors what servers are down, and can alert the team in Slack."
  • "The more tools that they can build that allow you to run AWX playbooks, or other similar fixes, would benefit clients greatly."

What is our primary use case?

We're moving towards the cloud yet still have several active data center contracts. As we move to the cloud, we are interested in knowing more about our services, and DataDog APM/logs should give us this perspective. 

We currently use the infrastructure monitoring part of DataDog. Still, I've really seen the advantage of moving more data into the cloud for comparison and being able to have one place where we can view all related pieces of information regarding a possible incident or potential issue.

How has it helped my organization?

We've been able to glean from the monitors what servers are down, and can alert the team in Slack. Knowing what we need to do next is what we would like to move to, so seeing the power of Notebooks is key. We also have several other services that we are underutilizing (logging, error tracking, etc.) that would be better housed in DataDog since it gives us more visibility into linking all of the things together into one cohesive picture.

What is most valuable?

Monitoring has been invaluable, and as we start to look to other products, bringing in logs and APM traces will create a full picture of what we need to do to resolve incidents. We're also interested in our users' perspectives and when things are slowing down for them.

Additionally, we are interested in the workflows announced today as an actionable decision tree that will allow our teams to see what is wrong and know what to do based on the connected runbook/notebook. I feel that this is the final piece that will make DataDog so much more valuable than its competition.

What needs improvement?

I have talked to vendors that mention that DataDog is drawing attention to an issue. However, you'll still need to take action on your own. The more tools that they can build that allow you to run AWX playbooks, or other similar fixes, would benefit clients greatly.

Buyer's Guide
Datadog
March 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for two years.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1996524 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Of Software Development at Major League Baseball
Real User
Good for monitoring and telemetry with helpful tracing capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "APM and tracing are super useful."
  • "We would like to see smaller or shorter tutorials and video sessions."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for monitoring and telemetry.

We use lots of log collections, log-based metrics, and dashboard visualization.  The logging, metrics, and APM are vital.  

How has it helped my organization?

My team focuses on the backend. Day-to-day monitoring includes observing metrics such as the CPU and memory until it gets too high. This solution provides an alert during the metric collection.  

What is most valuable?

APM and tracing are super useful. We use it for daily monitoring of CPU and memory. We can get alerts to tail to specific metrics.

We also find the tracing feature useful. We often run into bugs, and when a production issue happens, it is super useful to see the related services and sense where the problem is.

What needs improvement?

We would like to see smaller or shorter tutorials and video sessions. Also, the ability to provide a custom formula for monitoring is vital. Perhaps there can be more training materials on this. We often need to detect slow-running queries and slow network responses. We also focus a lot on the abuse of request limits. Having some form of rate limit features or metrics would be useful.  

Profiling could also be useful. Some services are CPU-intensive, and others are IO-intensive. Knowing where the bottleneck is, is crucial. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Datadog
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Datadog. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1915611 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Solutions Architect at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Provides great visibility, has good replay functionality, and helps with monitoring
Pros and Cons
  • "The dashboards and the performance of the software have been great."
  • "It could probably be a little bit of a better user experience."

What is our primary use case?

One of the things we use it for is the same thing that we use FullStory for, which is to replay customer interactions with our platform. However, it also does the monitoring. It's like monitoring cloud tools. We're really mostly monitoring our own software to make sure that everything is functioning properly. We can check a bunch of things, and we can even play back customer sessions. It’s basically monitoring our application.

How has it helped my organization?

It really provides a lot of visibility in terms of how our software is working. If there are any problems, it surfaces them right away. We get alerts in Slack. It's really an essential tool for a company that provides software as a service.

What is most valuable?

I really like the replay, the ability to replay sessions, as I'm in sales engineering, so I sometimes need to know what my prospects are doing during a proof of value. I can actually see all the mouse moving and clicking on buttons and stuff like that. I can actually tell what they've been doing. There’s a lot of the other monitoring stuff as well. The development team uses it for monitoring and finds it very helpful.

It’s been kind of in the middle of many different things. The dashboards and the performance of the software have been great.

What needs improvement?

I haven't really noticed anything that they could improve upon. Maybe they could add in some features to go both ways, to maybe make some configuration changes, etc. That's a little bit outside of what Datadog does, though. It's really very full-featured, so I don't really have any complaints.

I haven't really fully looked at the documentation as I know where I need to go and look at things. It could probably be a little bit of a better user experience. There are so many functions there that sometimes navigating your way around is a little bit hard. They have a really nice menu system. However, there's so much there. It's possible that I skipped a guided tour when I started.

It’s not intuitive to everyone. There are a lot of technical features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve been using the solution for the last five months. However, the company may have used it for a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has been stable and reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven’t had a problem with scalability. It’s been good.

We have 25 to 30 users on it currently. Our entire organization is under 60 people. Although not everyone is on it, a lot of our staff are. The sales, engineering, and customer success teams are all on it.

We may increase usage. No doubt that will come naturally with time. We’re hiring more people, and likely new hires will use it.

How are customer service and support?

I have not had occasion yet to reach out to support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We’ve also been using FullStory.

How was the initial setup?

I wasn’t part of the implementation. The one thing I will say is that when they added the functionality to review sessions, it made our use of another product, FullStory, almost obsolete. I'll have to see if we will continue using FullStory or if we can rely completely on Datadog.

What other advice do I have?

I am a customer and end-user.

We’re on the most recent version and keep it updated.

I’d rate it nine out of ten. The user experience could be slightly better.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1652517 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager, Cyber Digital Transformation at a security firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Insightful and easy to use solution that makes application performance monitoring easy
Pros and Cons
  • "The infrastructure monitoring capabilities are really valuable. You can just log on and see everything that is happening within an IT environment."
  • "Their security features could be improved. We looked at their Security Monitoring feature but it was early in its development. Datadog are just getting into the security space so I'm sure this will improve in the future."

What is our primary use case?

We have used this solution primarily for application performance monitoring. To do this, we needed to make sure we had the right data in the system so that people could be able to monitor their applications end-to-end.

What is most valuable?

The infrastructure monitoring capabilities are really valuable. You can just log on and see everything that is happening within an IT environment.

What needs improvement?

Their security features could be improved. We looked at their Security Monitoring feature but it was early in its development. Datadog are just getting into the security space so I'm sure this will improve in the future.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution. 

What other advice do I have?

To get started with this solution, I would recommend front-loading it with some sort of data or process and filter out to view only the information you need.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
reviewer2004177 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at a retailer with 51-200 employees
Real User
Good logs, analytics and dashboards
Pros and Cons
  • "We can handle debugging and find out why things are breaking in our applications."
  • "The documentation leaves a lot to be desired for new users."

What is our primary use case?

I am using the solution for monitoring metrics, logs, traces, etc. It's mainly for making dashboards as well as monitoring our services. 

We also use Datadog to help centralize our incident management to show the logs, where issues spiked, and some metrics. 

We use Datadog to do troubleshooting in Kubernetes, specifically in our Azure Kubernetes service. Beyond that, we are looking to use open telemetry in tandem with Datadog to further our log-tracing efforts. In the future, this may be expanded.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution improves our organization as now we have higher visibility into our application that we otherwise would not have. 

Since the Datadog agent comes in three forms, agentless, scraping, and through the API, it is very flexible. It is this flexibility in how to report our logs that keeps our logs centralized and organized. 

One major drawback of Datadog is the cost. Sometimes we set up flows in place to monitor resources that end up logging more than we thought, and the bill is too high.

What is most valuable?

Dashboards have been marrying the most valuable parts of Datadog. Dashboards use metrics that are very helpful for monitoring services. I recently used metrics to monitor the number of pods in Kubernetes, the spikes in requests in Kubernetes, and overall CPU and memory usage in our Kubernetes clusters. 

We can also use log analytics to further our understanding. We can handle debugging and find out why things are breaking in our applications. 

The log portion of Datadog has robust features to debug the applications we are running. I really appreciate the ability to use facets to par down the logs.

What needs improvement?

The documentation leaves a lot to be desired for new users. The documentation is way too much text and has no real information just to help get people started. Sometimes it doesn't help to read an entire essay just to get a grasp on how the logs or metrics work.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two years.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2003616 - PeerSpot reviewer
Production engineer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Real User
Offers great flexibility with useful APM traces and logging for debugging
Pros and Cons
  • "The flexibility to create notebooks and dashboards and fully customize them gives us a lot of power to track the exact services and endpoints we are working on."
  • "We need more visibility into the error tracking dashboard."

What is our primary use case?

We have deep integration with Datadog for observability and monitoring.

We use everything from APM, logs, and RUM to monitor and dashboards for tracking system health. 

We are trying to move from many different solutions for error tracking/observability to a single platform (Datadog).

We are currently in the process of setting up logging in Datadog in order to maintain our logs better. We are looking to create more insights into the real user flows by using real user monitoring (RUM) too.

How has it helped my organization?

We use Datadog quite extensively. I primarily work with APM traces and logs to debug issues and unblock myself in my day-to-day role. I have found the traces and spans most useful in providing details about why certain services are performing poorly.

Datadog provides a lot of value in terms of adding monitoring and observability to our app. There are so many different solutions, it is sometimes difficult to gauge where to start, and I sometimes miss a lot of functionality (such as the very useful error-tracking dashboard mentioned in my review above).

What is most valuable?

As I mentioned above, we use Datadog quite extensively. In my day-to-day role, I primarily work with APM traces and logs to debug issues and unblock myself. 

I have found the traces and spans most useful in providing details about why certain services are performing poorly.

Additionally, the flexibility to create notebooks and dashboards and fully customize them gives us a lot of power to track the exact services and endpoints we are working on.

Furthermore, we are also using monitoring to page us if things break, and the Slack integration provides us instantaneous feedback on how things are performing.

What needs improvement?

We need more visibility into the error tracking dashboard. I only learned about it during a demo at Dash Con. That said, it seems to be a very useful tool.

Additionally, we want to export our dashboards and monitors to source control, and there doesn't seem to be any easy way to do so.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for four years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

For logging, we are moving from LogDNA to Datadog to have access to everything in one place. Also, searching and traversing through logs seems easier in Datadog

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not evaluate others, however, my team probably did.

What other advice do I have?

Datadog provides a lot of value in terms of adding monitoring and observability to our app. There are so many different solutions; it is sometimes difficult to gauge where to start, and I sometimes miss a lot of functionality. For example, the very useful error-tracking dashboard that I just discovered.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2003238 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Good elastic container service and IAM with useful flexibility
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature I have found is the elastic container service."
  • "ECS could be improved by including more tutorials for beginners to reduce the barriers to entry."

What is our primary use case?

After a security incident, we needed to find and migrate to a different cloud provider, and after evaluating different competitors and the skill set of the team, we decided to move to AWS. AWS also enables the team to have finer control over how our apps are deployed and how security and access are managed. By leveraging AWS's functionality, we have increased our application's security and sped up the deployment process. We've even been able to handle higher workloads due to AWS's auto-scaling functionality.

How has it helped my organization?

Elastic container services have improved our organization by allowing us to deploy our application. While this problem was not solved by using the elastic container service since we had a previous solution on a different provider, the ease and flexibility of deploys have greatly benefited the ops team and the overall engineering organization. It is easy to use. However, there are many out-of-the-box features like metrics and seeing task definitions that make life easier.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature I have found is the elastic container service. That is where our apps get deployed. This feature is really important to us since, without it, we would not be able to deploy our apps the way we wanted to and would have to use a different vendor. 

This service is also valuable to our team as we have a lot of familiarity with it and adapting to the services from our previous one was fairly seamless. 

Another feature that is very valuable for our team is the IAM. It allows us to control security.

What needs improvement?

ECS could be improved by including more tutorials for beginners to reduce the barriers to entry. It would help to ensure understanding and learning in terms of how to use a cloud provider. Besides this, there are not any other areas of improvement needed since the service is very straightforward and there is ample documentation.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for one year.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Co-Founder at Exeo IT
Real User
Easy to use with good stability and very good monitoring capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "We find they have a very helpful alert system."
  • "It would be ideal if the product offered a bit more monitoring from our dashboard."

What is our primary use case?

We're in the process of doing a Proof of Concept with the solution right now.

What is most valuable?

One of the solution's greatest aspects is its overall simplicity. It is very easy to use. It's easier to handle than other brands we have access to.

The monitoring capabilities that the solution provides are very good.

We find they have a very helpful alert system.

The product has been very stable. We've liked the performance provided.

The initial setup is simple and easy to handle. It's not hard at all.

The experience we've had with technical support has been very positive so far. They are helpful.

The integration capabilities have been pretty good overall. We have no complaints.

What needs improvement?

We haven't used the solution too much yet to assess what features it is missing or would improve. The support in Latin American is a point that would mark as a point to improve

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the solution is excellent. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's very reliable in terms of performance.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support has been helpful overall. They are knowledgeable and responsive. We are quite satisfied with the level of service they provide to our company. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are actually still using actually Elasticsearch and Kibana, however, we prefer to use Datadog due to the fact that it is very simple. We really enjoy how it operates

How was the initial setup?

We found the initial setup to not be overly complex. It's rather straightforward and easy to execute. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm not sure if the license is expensive or cheap. It's managed by the customer and we've recently come on board.

What other advice do I have?

I am an end-user and customer. I don't have any business relationship with the product itself. We work with clients on the infrastructure and IT developer infrastructure mostly. We work with a variety of solutions, including Dynatrace, Datadog, Elasticsearch, etcetera.

In general, due to its simplicity and ease of use, I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We've been very satisfied with the solution overall.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Datadog Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Datadog Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.