Open-source alternative
Replace Datadog with Grafana + Checkcle
The best open-source alternative to Datadog is Grafana or operacle/checkcle, self-hosted on Railway. Metrics, dashboards, and uptime you host. Datadog without the host SKU.
Estimated save $12,000 a year.
Open the stack Deploy on Railway
How Datadog compares
| Datadog | Grafana + Checkcle | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Host-metered observability | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | APM standalone $36/host/mo billed annually source | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Grafana
OSS dashboards and alerting
- operacle/checkcle
Go uptime checks
FAQ
- Is it free?
- The Grafana + Checkcle licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no Datadog seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from Datadog?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Grafana + Checkcle stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old Datadog links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Grafana + Checkcle stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Placeholder: Grafana + a metrics backend, and Checkcle for HTTP checks. Volumes for both. This is a second-wave template after Checkcle solo.
- What does this replace?
- Datadog. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $12,000 a year.
Related pages
Stack of the Week
Get one stack a week that replaces a SaaS bill.