Splunk Observability Cloud vs. Datadog Comparison

Who should you choose and why?

🤔 Slightly consider Splunk over Datadog if

• You have a large enterprise environment with massive volumes of data but without the added complexity of being a hybrid installation.
• You have a scaled-up environment with many events, fields, or attributes to your data. Splunk Observability performs slightly better at scale on high cardinality analytics.

🤔 Strongly consider Datadog over Splunk if

• You want a solution that feels cohesive in its interface and tooling.
• You are sensitive to cost and want a relatively simpler pricing structure to work with. (Splunk Observability has grown through multiple acquisitions, and pricing is expected to be streamlined). DataDog is much cheaper than Splunk Observability, at about half the cost per host or CPU. On APM directly, DataDog's APM without the Code Profiler starts at $31/host a month and Splunk Observability's is at $55/host per month.
• You are considered a cloud-native company.
• You want logging support.

📝Other Notes

• Neither Splunk Observability Cloud nor Datadog is suitable for complex hybrid or on-premises environments compared to other options like Dynatrace or AppDynamics.
• Splunk does not offer any logging support and its code profiling support is limited to a shorter list of languages, like Java and C/C++.
• Splunk does not have metrics support for .NET.

1. "Gotchas"
2. Feature comparison
3. Integration with other services
4. Compliance concerns
5. Helpful links

• While Splunk Observability Cloud offers a bevy of tools that make it competitive with any observability solution, it was built through acquisitions of various scale-ups and startups. As a result, the user experience can feel severely disjointed at times.

Product Information

• Splunk Observability Cloud Product Page

Pricing Pages

• Datadog APM and Continuous Profiler Pricing Page
• Splunk Observability Pricing Page

Louis-Victor Jadavji (or "LV") is a recognized leader in the cloud services industry. He's helped 50+ digital native companies like ModusBox, Later, and NS1 choose the right cloud stack for their applications. His work has been featured in Forbes (30 Under 30 All-Star), HuffPost, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and Inc. Magazine.