CloudWatch wins on cost and AWS-native simplicity; Datadog wins on UX, APM, and multi-cloud coverage. Most teams run both, using CloudWatch for collection and Datadog for dashboards.
| Feature | Amazon CloudWatch | Datadog |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud coverage — Datadog wins for multi-cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP/hybrid); CloudWatch is AWS-only | — | — |
| Cost for AWS-only workloads — CloudWatch typically 5-10x cheaper | — | — |
| APM and distributed tracing — Datadog wins with unified APM; CloudWatch is fragmented | — | — |
| Zero-config AWS integration — CloudWatch captures AWS metrics automatically | — | — |
| Dashboard UX and polish — Datadog Dashboards richer than CloudWatch Dashboards | — | — |
| Feature | Amazon CloudWatch | Datadog |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud & Infrastructure | ||
| Cloud coverage | AWS only (native) | AWS, Azure, GCP, hybrid, on-prem |
| AWS service integration | Zero-config automatic | Integration installed per service |
| Cross-account observability | Built-in via AWS Organizations | Via agent deployment to each environment |
| Agent deployment | CloudWatch Agent for custom apps only | Datadog Agent on Linux/Windows/K8s/serverless |
| Observability Capabilities | ||
| Log management | CloudWatch Logs + Logs Insights | Datadog Logs with fine-grained query |
| APM and tracing | ServiceLens + X-Ray (fragmented) | Unified Datadog APM |
| Real user monitoring | Not available natively | Native Datadog RUM |
| Synthetic monitoring | Basic via CloudWatch Synthetics | Full synthetics suite |
| Pricing & Access | ||
| Billing model | Per metric, per GB log, per alarm, per query | Per host + usage add-ons per SKU |
| Free tier | 10 metrics, 10 alarms, 5GB logs | 5 hosts, 1-day retention |
| Access control | AWS IAM native | Datadog users + SAML SSO on paid tiers |
| Starting price | $0.01/month additional-usage | $0.75 per host per month |
Cloud coverage
AWS service integration
Cross-account observability
Agent deployment
Log management
APM and tracing
Real user monitoring
Synthetic monitoring
Billing model
Free tier
Access control
Starting price
CloudWatch wins on cost and AWS-native simplicity; Datadog wins on UX, APM, and multi-cloud coverage. Most teams run both, using CloudWatch for collection and Datadog for dashboards.
This verdict is based on general use cases. Your specific requirements, existing tech stack, and team expertise should guide your final decision.
Yes, and many teams do. The common pattern is CloudWatch Metric Streams forwarding AWS-native metrics to Datadog via Kinesis Data Firehose. This gives you Datadog's dashboards and APM on top of CloudWatch's zero-config AWS collection.
Partially. AWS X-Ray handles distributed tracing and CloudWatch ServiceLens provides a unified view, but the experience is fragmented across three consoles. Datadog APM handles distributed tracing in a single surface with deeper language-runtime instrumentation.
CloudWatch is almost always cheaper for AWS-only workloads, often by a factor of 5-10x. Datadog's per-host pricing plus per-feature SKUs stacks up quickly. However, if Datadog replaces 2-3 other tools, the consolidated total can come out cheaper.
Yes, though it's usually additive rather than replacement. You install the Datadog Agent or forward via Metric Streams, replicate dashboards and alarms, run parallel for 2-4 weeks to validate alarm parity, then decommission CloudWatch alarms.
Datadog Logs has better search UX and a more expressive query language. CloudWatch Logs Insights is serviceable and significantly cheaper at low query volume. For heavy log analytics neither is the strongest option.