Datadog is a broad, usage-based observability platform — infrastructure, APM, logs, RUM, and Synthetic Monitoring are all metered separately. If uptime and website monitoring is your main need, that pricing model can be a lot more than necessary.
Datadog and Upzilla solve different-sized problems — here's where they diverge for uptime specifically.
| Upzilla | Datadog | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 10 monitors, any type, no time limit | Free tier limited to 5 hosts, 1-day retention — no Synthetics on free |
| Pricing model | Flat plan pricing | Usage-based: billed per test run, per session, per host, per GB |
| Uptime/Synthetic cost | Included in every plan | Billed per test run (e.g. per 10,000 API test runs), scales with frequency and locations |
| Setup complexity | Add a URL, get a monitor running in a minute | Built for full-stack observability across many metered products |
| Best fit | Teams that just need uptime, server, and API monitoring | Teams already running full observability (APM, logs, infra) who want Synthetics alongside it |
Competitor pricing and plan details are based on publicly available information as of 2026 and can change — check the vendor's own pricing page for current terms before deciding.
Datadog is a different category of tool — this is about picking the right size for the job.
Datadog's Synthetic Monitoring is billed per test run, so cost scales with check frequency and the number of locations. Upzilla's monitoring is included in a flat plan.
Datadog's free tier covers basic infrastructure visibility (5 hosts, 1-day retention) but not Synthetic Monitoring. Upzilla's free plan includes 10 monitors of any type.
Datadog is built to be configured alongside APM, logs, and infrastructure monitoring. Upzilla is built to get a monitor running in about a minute.
If your team already has Datadog for logs, APM, and infrastructure, adding Synthetics there keeps everything in one pane of glass — that consolidation has real value for larger orgs.
Datadog's free tier covers basic infrastructure monitoring (5 hosts, 1-day retention) but does not include Synthetic Monitoring, based on Datadog's published pricing.
It's usage-based — billed per test run (for example, per 10,000 API test runs or per 1,000 browser test runs), so cost scales with check frequency and number of locations.
For teams that specifically need uptime, server, and API monitoring without the rest of a full observability stack, a dedicated tool with flat pricing is often simpler and more predictable to budget.
10 monitors free, any type, flat pricing, no card required.