Datadog Free Plan 2026: What's Included & What's Not
Honest breakdown of the free tier limits and features
Datadog costs Free to $41 per host/month as of June 2026, with 7 plans available including a free tier. Plans: Free (free), Infrastructure Pro at $18/host/month, Infrastructure Enterprise at $27/host/month, DevSecOps Pro at $27/host/month, DevSecOps Enterprise at $41/host/month, APM (Application Performance Monitoring) at $31/host/month, and Log Management at $0.1/host/month. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: Yes
Datadog offers 7 pricing tiers: Free, Infrastructure Pro, Infrastructure Enterprise, DevSecOps Pro, DevSecOps Enterprise, APM (Application Performance Monitoring), Log Management. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Infrastructure Pro at $18/host/month, Infrastructure Enterprise at $27/host/month, DevSecOps Pro at $27/host/month. The Infrastructure Pro plan is production monitoring.
Yes, Datadog offers a forever free plan as of June 2026. The free tier includes 3 features with limits on hosts and retention. Paid plans start at $0.1/GB ingested (Log Management). Pricing verified from 3 sources by CostBench.
Datadog's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit.
What's Included in the Free Plan
- Core collection and visualization
- Out-of-the-box dashboards
- 1,000+ integrations
What's NOT Included (Paid Only)
- Ingest, process and archive logs
- Live Tail for real-time debugging
- Log pattern analysis
- Compliance archiving
- Integrate with Infrastructure and APM
Free Plan Limits
| Limit | Free Plan | Paid Plans |
|---|---|---|
| hosts | 5 | Unlimited/Higher |
| retention | 1 day | Unlimited/Higher |
You'll Need to Upgrade When...
- You exceed the user limit
- You need features like Ingest, process and archive logs or Live Tail for real-time debugging
- You require premium support or SLA guarantees
- You need to remove branding or watermarks
- You need advanced integrations or API access
Hidden Restrictions on Free Plan
- Datadog branding may appear on your content or communications
- Support is limited to community forums or email with longer response times
- Export options may be restricted or include watermarks
- API access is typically limited or not available
- Advanced reporting and analytics require paid plans
Free vs Paid: Which Do You Need?
Free Plan is Enough If...
- You're an individual or very small team
- You need only basic features
- You don't mind usage limits
- Branding on output is acceptable
- Community support is sufficient
You Need Paid If...
- Your team is growing beyond limits
- You need advanced features
- Professional branding is required
- You need priority support
- Integrations/API access is critical
Free vs Log Management Plan Comparison
| Free $0 | Log Management $0.1/GB ingested | |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 3 included | 5+ included |
| Support | Community/Email | Priority Support |
| Branding | Datadog branding | Your branding |
| Best For | Getting started | Centralized log management for compliance and debugging |
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is Datadog free?
Yes, Datadog offers a forever free plan with 3 core features included. However, there are limits on hosts, retention that may require upgrading.
02 What's included in Datadog's free plan?
Datadog's free plan includes: Core collection and visualization, Out-of-the-box dashboards, 1,000+ integrations. Key limits include hosts: 5, retention: 1 day.
03 What's NOT included in Datadog's free plan?
The free plan excludes: Ingest, process and archive logs, Live Tail for real-time debugging, Log pattern analysis, Compliance archiving, Integrate with Infrastructure and APM. You'll also have Datadog branding and limited support options.
04 When should I upgrade from Datadog's free plan?
Consider upgrading when: you hit user or storage limits, need features like Ingest, process and archive logs or Live Tail for real-time debugging, require premium support, or want to remove branding. The cheapest paid plan starts at $0.1/GB ingested.
05 Is Datadog's free plan really free forever?
Yes, Datadog's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit. However, feature and usage limits may restrict what you can do without upgrading to a paid plan.