Datadog pricing: how to reduce the cost of your subscription

How much does Datadog cost?

SaaS companies are notorious for their lack of pricing transparency, but Datadog is one of the rare few that lists all of its costs upfront. In fact, it provides clear pricing for all of its different products and add-ons.

Datadog pricing plans

Datadog offers three standard tiers for its flagship product, Infrastructure Monitoring, each of which provides a varying set of features and allowances per host. In this context, Datadog notes that a “host” refers to any OS that will be monitored by the software — be this a server, node, or App Service Plan.

1. Free

Datadog’s free version provides users with a taste of its potential, albeit with limited functionality. Up to five hosts can be monitored with the core collection and visualization features offered by the service, including events metrics and dashboards with over 600 integrations, such as Amazon Web Services and Google Workspace.

2. Pro

The standard paid option offered by Datadog costs $15 per host, per month. In addition to the suite of free features, the plan offers unlimited alerts and a set number of additional feature uses for each host, to help IT teams to monitor their software portfolio. This subscription is billed annually or available for $18 on-demand.

3. Enterprise

The advanced version of Datadog’s Infrastructure Monitoring product is listed at $23 per host, per month. This version offers premier administrative controls and more additional feature usage per host for tools such as container monitoring and custom metrics. The cost is billed annually or available for $27 on-demand with a 100-host minimum.

Does Datadog discount its pricing?

The list prices for many SaaS tools aren’t necessarily the prices you have to pay. This is particularly true for Datadog.

In fact, not only does Datadog stipulate that volume discounts are available for plans requiring provisions for over 600 hosts per month, but our own data backs this up by highlighting that Datadog has a ‘high discount possibility’, even for smaller plans.

So, what should you do to secure this discount?

How to negotiate a better deal on your Datadog subscription

Vertice is highly experienced in negotiating deals across a range of software fields. We know that SaaS prices are rarely set in stone, and there are almost always ways to reduce subscription costs. With that in mind, let’s discuss some of the top SaaS negotiation strategies that will ensure you get the best value for money when bargaining with software vendors.

Avoid one-time discounts

When negotiating, vendors may offer one-off discounts that on face value can seem too good to be true. And this is because they usually are — though they can save you money upfront, customers will often invest in a lower monthly rate at the cost of inflexible contract terms.

As a result, many find themselves locked into longer payment plans that are subject to price uplifts further down the line, or subject to other unfavorable subscription terms such as auto-renewal clauses. In the long run, this can mean that you end up paying even more than the original price that you were quoted prior to negotiation.

Instead, make sure that you interrogate the contract terms of your negotiated plan and avoid one-time discounts that could incur hidden fees.

Use competitor comparisons

The key to negotiating your SaaS contract with leverage is to come equipped with insights into what other vendors are offering. There are a variety of terms that can be negotiated beyond just price, so approach negotiations holistically with information about the terms of alternative contracts.

As well as the billing cost, consider what your chosen vendor and their competitors are each offering in terms of:

• Renewal clauses
• Notice period length
• Level of customization
• Maintenance

Negotiating with these variables can help you to achieve a bespoke deal tailored to your business needs, often at a better price point than originally offered.

In fact, many software vendors will often offer discounted rates in exchange for certain criteria being met, for example, a minimum-term agreement or commitment to add-on purchases.

Find out what other companies are paying

As we’ve already mentioned, Datadog typically has a high willingness to discount. But knowing what other companies are paying and using it as a frame of reference can really bolster your chances of getting the best deal possible.

How Vertice can secure you the best possible contract terms

When it comes to gaining the leverage you need for negotiations, it can be difficult knowing where to start.

At Vertice, we can help with that. In fact, we not only have access to the pricing points and transactional data for thousands of global software vendors, but we also have an experienced team of negotiators who are able to achieve the best possible deals when buying and renewing SaaS.

Why not see for yourself how much we can save you with our free cost savings analysis.