Quick Overview
- 1#1: Datadog - Comprehensive cloud monitoring and observability platform for infrastructure, applications, and logs.
- 2#2: New Relic - Full-stack observability platform that monitors infrastructure, applications, and digital experiences.
- 3#3: Dynatrace - AI-powered observability platform providing automatic discovery and monitoring of hybrid cloud infrastructure.
- 4#4: Splunk - Platform for real-time monitoring, searching, and analyzing machine data from IT infrastructure.
- 5#5: LogicMonitor - SaaS-based hybrid infrastructure monitoring platform with automated discovery and alerting.
- 6#6: Prometheus - Open-source monitoring system and time series database originally built at SoundCloud for metrics collection.
- 7#7: Grafana - Open-source platform for querying, visualizing, and alerting on metrics from infrastructure sources.
- 8#8: Zabbix - Enterprise-class open-source distributed monitoring solution for networks, servers, and applications.
- 9#9: Nagios - Comprehensive monitoring system for IT infrastructure, services, and applications with alerting.
- 10#10: SolarWinds - Hybrid IT infrastructure monitoring suite focused on network performance and server health.
Tools were selected based on robust feature sets, including coverage of hybrid/cloud infrastructures, automation capabilities, ease of use, scalability, and overall value, ensuring a balanced evaluation of quality and practicality.
Comparison Table
This comparison table examines top infrastructure monitoring software, including Datadog, New Relic, Dynatrace, Splunk, LogicMonitor, and more, to help readers understand key features, strengths, and ideal use cases. It breaks down differences across areas like scalability, integration options, and user experience, enabling informed choices for selecting the right tool for their environment.
| # | Tool | Category | Overall | Features | Ease of Use | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Datadog Comprehensive cloud monitoring and observability platform for infrastructure, applications, and logs. | enterprise | 9.4/10 | 9.8/10 | 8.7/10 | 8.2/10 |
| 2 | New Relic Full-stack observability platform that monitors infrastructure, applications, and digital experiences. | enterprise | 9.3/10 | 9.6/10 | 8.7/10 | 8.4/10 |
| 3 | Dynatrace AI-powered observability platform providing automatic discovery and monitoring of hybrid cloud infrastructure. | enterprise | 9.1/10 | 9.6/10 | 8.2/10 | 7.8/10 |
| 4 | Splunk Platform for real-time monitoring, searching, and analyzing machine data from IT infrastructure. | enterprise | 8.7/10 | 9.4/10 | 6.8/10 | 7.5/10 |
| 5 | LogicMonitor SaaS-based hybrid infrastructure monitoring platform with automated discovery and alerting. | enterprise | 8.7/10 | 9.2/10 | 8.0/10 | 7.9/10 |
| 6 | Prometheus Open-source monitoring system and time series database originally built at SoundCloud for metrics collection. | other | 9.2/10 | 9.5/10 | 7.4/10 | 10/10 |
| 7 | Grafana Open-source platform for querying, visualizing, and alerting on metrics from infrastructure sources. | other | 8.6/10 | 9.2/10 | 7.8/10 | 9.5/10 |
| 8 | Zabbix Enterprise-class open-source distributed monitoring solution for networks, servers, and applications. | other | 8.3/10 | 9.2/10 | 6.7/10 | 9.7/10 |
| 9 | Nagios Comprehensive monitoring system for IT infrastructure, services, and applications with alerting. | enterprise | 7.8/10 | 8.5/10 | 5.5/10 | 9.0/10 |
| 10 | SolarWinds Hybrid IT infrastructure monitoring suite focused on network performance and server health. | enterprise | 8.4/10 | 9.2/10 | 7.1/10 | 7.8/10 |
Comprehensive cloud monitoring and observability platform for infrastructure, applications, and logs.
Full-stack observability platform that monitors infrastructure, applications, and digital experiences.
AI-powered observability platform providing automatic discovery and monitoring of hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Platform for real-time monitoring, searching, and analyzing machine data from IT infrastructure.
SaaS-based hybrid infrastructure monitoring platform with automated discovery and alerting.
Open-source monitoring system and time series database originally built at SoundCloud for metrics collection.
Open-source platform for querying, visualizing, and alerting on metrics from infrastructure sources.
Enterprise-class open-source distributed monitoring solution for networks, servers, and applications.
Comprehensive monitoring system for IT infrastructure, services, and applications with alerting.
Hybrid IT infrastructure monitoring suite focused on network performance and server health.
Datadog
enterpriseComprehensive cloud monitoring and observability platform for infrastructure, applications, and logs.
Watchdog AI for autonomous anomaly detection and root cause analysis across metrics, traces, and logs
Datadog is a comprehensive cloud monitoring and observability platform that provides real-time insights into infrastructure, applications, logs, and security across multi-cloud and hybrid environments. It collects metrics, traces, and logs from thousands of integrations, enabling unified visibility with customizable dashboards, AI-powered alerts, and automated anomaly detection. Ideal for dynamic DevOps workflows, it scales effortlessly from small deployments to enterprise-grade operations.
Pros
- Extensive ecosystem with 750+ integrations for broad coverage
- Powerful unified dashboards and AI-driven insights like Watchdog
- Scalable for high-volume data with real-time APM and log management
Cons
- High costs that scale quickly with usage and hosts
- Steep learning curve for advanced customizations
- Complex billing model can lead to unexpected expenses
Best For
Large enterprises and DevOps teams managing complex, multi-cloud infrastructures needing full-stack observability.
Pricing
Starts at $15/host/month (Pro) or $23/host/month (Enterprise); usage-based for logs ($0.10/GB), APM ($31/host/month), with custom enterprise pricing.
New Relic
enterpriseFull-stack observability platform that monitors infrastructure, applications, and digital experiences.
Entity explorer with contextual correlation of infrastructure metrics to apps, logs, and traces in a unified platform
New Relic is a comprehensive observability platform specializing in infrastructure monitoring for servers, containers, Kubernetes, and multi-cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP. It collects high-resolution metrics, logs, events, and traces to provide real-time visibility into resource utilization, performance bottlenecks, and health status. Advanced features like custom dashboards, NRQL querying, and AI-driven anomaly detection enable proactive infrastructure management and troubleshooting.
Pros
- Extensive integrations with hundreds of infrastructure and cloud services for seamless monitoring
- Powerful NRQL query language for custom metrics and deep analysis
- Scalable architecture handles petabyte-scale data with low-latency querying
Cons
- Usage-based pricing can become expensive at high data volumes
- Steep learning curve for advanced features and NRQL
- Free tier limits (100GB/month) may not suffice for production environments
Best For
Enterprises and DevOps teams managing complex, hybrid/multi-cloud infrastructures requiring full-stack observability and AI-powered insights.
Pricing
Free tier with 100GB/month ingest; usage-based paid plans start at ~$0.30/GB for data ingest, $49/user/month for Pro features, scaling with volume.
Dynatrace
enterpriseAI-powered observability platform providing automatic discovery and monitoring of hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Davis Causal AI for precise, context-aware root cause analysis without manual thresholds
Dynatrace is an AI-powered observability platform specializing in full-stack monitoring, including infrastructure, applications, microservices, and cloud environments. It automatically discovers hosts, containers, networks, and dependencies, providing real-time metrics, logs, traces, and topology maps. Leveraging Davis AI, it detects anomalies, performs root cause analysis, and offers predictive insights to minimize downtime.
Pros
- AI-driven Davis engine for automated root cause analysis and anomaly detection
- OneAgent for seamless, auto-instrumented monitoring across hybrid and multi-cloud setups
- Comprehensive coverage of infrastructure metrics, logs, traces, and topology mapping
Cons
- High pricing that scales with consumption, often prohibitive for SMBs
- Steep learning curve due to extensive features and customization options
- Agent deployment can be resource-intensive on smaller infrastructures
Best For
Large enterprises managing complex, hybrid cloud-native infrastructures requiring deep, AI-enhanced observability.
Pricing
Usage-based pricing starting at ~$0.04/hour per host equivalent, with full-stack plans custom-quoted for enterprises (often $100K+ annually).
Splunk
enterprisePlatform for real-time monitoring, searching, and analyzing machine data from IT infrastructure.
Search Processing Language (SPL) for complex, ad-hoc queries on unstructured machine data in real-time
Splunk is a powerful data platform that collects, indexes, and analyzes machine-generated data from infrastructure, applications, and security sources to provide real-time monitoring and insights. As an infrastructure monitoring solution, it excels in log management, metrics visualization, and trace analysis, enabling correlation across hybrid environments for proactive issue detection. Its Observability Cloud suite offers unified views with AI-powered alerting and root cause analysis.
Pros
- Extensive data ingestion from thousands of sources including cloud, on-prem, and containers
- Advanced analytics with machine learning for anomaly detection and forecasting
- Highly scalable for enterprise-grade deployments handling petabytes of data
Cons
- Steep learning curve due to proprietary Search Processing Language (SPL)
- High costs driven by data ingest volume licensing model
- Resource-intensive requiring significant compute for optimal performance
Best For
Large enterprises with complex, hybrid IT environments needing deep operational intelligence and security monitoring.
Pricing
Usage-based pricing starting at ~$1.80/GB ingested per day for Splunk Cloud, with annual commitments scaling to tens of thousands per month for enterprise volumes.
LogicMonitor
enterpriseSaaS-based hybrid infrastructure monitoring platform with automated discovery and alerting.
LM Envision AIOps platform for AI-powered anomaly detection and automated root cause analysis
LogicMonitor is a SaaS-based infrastructure monitoring platform designed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, providing end-to-end visibility into servers, networks, applications, containers, and cloud services. It leverages AI-powered analytics for anomaly detection, predictive insights, and root cause analysis to minimize downtime. The solution features automated discovery, customizable dashboards, and robust alerting to streamline IT operations management.
Pros
- Comprehensive monitoring across on-prem, cloud, and hybrid setups with agentless options
- AI-driven AIOps for proactive alerting and root cause analysis
- Highly customizable dashboards and out-of-the-box integrations for 2000+ technologies
Cons
- Pricing can be expensive for smaller teams or low-scale deployments
- Steep learning curve for advanced configuration and custom scripting
- Limited free tier; relies on demos or trials for evaluation
Best For
Mid-sized to enterprise organizations managing complex, hybrid IT infrastructures requiring deep observability and automation.
Pricing
Custom quote-based pricing starting at around $20-50 per device/host per month, with tiers based on scale and features; annual contracts common.
Prometheus
otherOpen-source monitoring system and time series database originally built at SoundCloud for metrics collection.
PromQL: a flexible, expressive query language for multi-dimensional time series data
Prometheus is an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit designed for reliability and scalability in dynamic environments like Kubernetes. It collects metrics from configured targets at given intervals, stores them as time series data in a multi-dimensional model, and offers PromQL, a powerful dimensional query language for analysis and alerting. Originally developed at SoundCloud, it's now a CNCF project with a vast ecosystem including integrations for visualization via Grafana and long-term storage solutions.
Pros
- Exceptionally powerful PromQL for querying and alerting on metrics
- Reliable pull-based model with automatic service discovery
- Highly scalable through federation and a massive open-source ecosystem
Cons
- Steep learning curve for configuration and PromQL mastery
- Local storage has limited retention without additional remote write setups
- Lacks built-in UI for visualization and log/tracing support
Best For
DevOps and SRE teams managing containerized infrastructure who need robust, metrics-focused monitoring.
Pricing
Completely free and open-source; optional commercial support via partners like Grafana Labs.
Grafana
otherOpen-source platform for querying, visualizing, and alerting on metrics from infrastructure sources.
Unmatched flexibility in dashboard creation with a vast library of community plugins and visualization panels
Grafana is an open-source observability and monitoring platform renowned for its powerful data visualization and dashboarding capabilities. It integrates with numerous data sources like Prometheus, InfluxDB, Loki, and Elasticsearch to query, visualize, and alert on metrics, logs, and traces for infrastructure monitoring. While it excels at presentation and exploration, it relies on external tools for data collection and storage.
Pros
- Highly customizable and interactive dashboards with hundreds of panel plugins
- Extensive ecosystem of integrations with popular monitoring backends like Prometheus
- Strong open-source community and free core version
Cons
- No built-in data collection; requires external sources and setup
- Steep learning curve for advanced configurations and provisioning
- Alerting and enterprise features need paid upgrades for full robustness
Best For
DevOps and SRE teams with existing time-series databases who need advanced visualization and exploration for infrastructure metrics.
Pricing
Free open-source edition; Grafana Cloud free tier available, Pro at $8/user/month, Enterprise licensing for on-prem with advanced features.
Zabbix
otherEnterprise-class open-source distributed monitoring solution for networks, servers, and applications.
Zabbix Proxies for secure, distributed monitoring of remote sites without VPNs or direct internet exposure
Zabbix is a mature, open-source enterprise-class monitoring platform that tracks the performance and availability of IT infrastructure, including servers, networks, cloud services, virtual machines, and applications. It collects metrics via agents or agentless methods, supports complex alerting through triggers and actions, and provides visualization via customizable dashboards and graphs. Designed for scalability, Zabbix excels in large environments with features like auto-discovery, templating, and distributed proxies.
Pros
- Fully free and open-source with no licensing costs
- Highly scalable with support for thousands of devices and proxies
- Extensive auto-discovery, templating, and integration ecosystem
Cons
- Steep learning curve and complex initial setup
- Outdated web interface lacking modern polish
- Requires significant configuration for advanced use cases
Best For
DevOps teams and large enterprises needing a customizable, cost-free monitoring solution for complex, distributed infrastructures.
Pricing
Core software is completely free and open-source; optional professional support and services available from Zabbix SIA starting around €1,000/year depending on scale.
Nagios
enterpriseComprehensive monitoring system for IT infrastructure, services, and applications with alerting.
Modular plugin architecture supporting over 3,000 community plugins for monitoring virtually any infrastructure component
Nagios is a veteran open-source infrastructure monitoring solution that tracks the availability, performance, and health of hosts, services, networks, and applications through active and passive checks. It leverages a vast ecosystem of plugins for extensibility, enabling monitoring of virtually any IT component, and supports alerting via email, SMS, and other channels. The commercial Nagios XI edition enhances this with a polished web interface, advanced reporting, dashboards, and capacity planning tools.
Pros
- Extensive plugin library for broad monitoring coverage
- Highly customizable through configuration files and scripts
- Strong community support and free open-source core (Nagios Core)
Cons
- Steep learning curve with manual configuration editing
- Outdated web interface in Core version
- Limited built-in visualization and modern integrations compared to newer tools
Best For
Experienced sysadmins and on-premises IT teams seeking a flexible, cost-effective monitoring platform with deep customization.
Pricing
Nagios Core is free and open-source; Nagios XI starts at $1,995 for 7 nodes (perpetual license) with annual support from $575, scaling up for more nodes and features.
SolarWinds
enterpriseHybrid IT infrastructure monitoring suite focused on network performance and server health.
PerfStack for interactive, timeline-based cross-correlation of metrics from multiple sources
SolarWinds Orion Platform is a comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring solution that provides real-time visibility into networks, servers, applications, virtualization, and cloud environments through modular tools like Network Performance Monitor (NPM) and Server & Application Monitor (SAM). It features automated discovery, customizable dashboards, intelligent alerting, and advanced reporting to help IT teams detect and resolve issues proactively. The platform supports hybrid and multi-vendor setups, making it suitable for complex enterprise infrastructures.
Pros
- Extensive monitoring coverage for networks, servers, apps, and cloud
- Highly customizable dashboards, maps, and reports
- Scalable architecture with strong integration capabilities
Cons
- Steep learning curve and complex initial setup
- Expensive per-element licensing that scales poorly for very large environments
- High resource consumption on the central polling engine
Best For
Enterprise IT operations teams managing large-scale, hybrid infrastructures that require deep, customizable monitoring and alerting.
Pricing
Perpetual licenses start at ~$2,995 for NPM (100 elements) plus ~20% annual maintenance; subscription options from $1,500/year; scales by monitored elements.
Conclusion
The reviewed infrastructure monitoring tools each offer unique strengths, but Datadog stands as the top choice, combining comprehensive cloud monitoring, observability, and coverage across infrastructure, applications, and logs. New Relic and Dynatrace follow, excelling in full-stack visibility and AI-driven automation respectively, making them excellent alternatives for specific needs. Regardless of the selection, the top tools highlight the importance of robust infrastructure monitoring to drive efficiency and reliability.
Begin your journey with Datadog to leverage its industry-leading capabilities—explore its platform and unlock the power of seamless, comprehensive infrastructure oversight for your needs.
Tools Reviewed
All tools were independently evaluated for this comparison