Monitoring

Free Datadog alternatives

Datadog (Monitoring and security platform for cloud apps) is a commercial product. These 3 tools do the same job and are free to use or to self-host.
Short answer: the best free alternatives to Datadog are Grafana, SigNoz and OpenObserve. Datadog starts at $15/host/mo. Self-hosting is free; you pay only for the server (a small VPS is about $4–6/mo). Licenses and prices checked 2026-10-01.
  1. 1
    Grafana

    Open-source dashboards and observability

    Dashboards and alerting; pairs with Prometheus and Loki.

    Open source (AGPL-3.0) ·details

  2. 2
    SigNoz

    Open-source observability: traces, metrics and logs on OpenTelemetry

    OpenTelemetry-native logs, metrics and traces.

    Open source (MIT (core)) ·details

  3. 3
    OpenObserve

    Open source observability built for petabyte scale

    Logs, metrics and traces with cheap storage.

    Open source (AGPL-3.0) ·▲ 39 upvotes on DevHunt · details

Want paid options too? See all Datadog alternatives or the full free alternatives list.

FAQ

Is there a free alternative to Datadog?+

Yes. Grafana, SigNoz and OpenObserve do the same job for free; Grafana, SigNoz and OpenObserve are open source.

What is the best open-source alternative to Datadog?+

OpenObserve is the most upvoted open-source option on DevHunt (39 upvotes). Logs, metrics and traces with cheap storage.

Open source: OSI-approved license. Free to self-host: the code is public and free to run yourself, with limits in the license.