Rollbar specializes in error tracking and monitoring with a lower price point ($15-$99/month entry level), while Datadog is a comprehensive observability platform covering logs, metrics, traces, and APM at a higher cost ($15-$40+ per host/month). Datadog offers broader infrastructure monitoring, but Rollbar excels in developer-focused error management.
Rollbar vs Datadog — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Developer-first error tracking and crash reporting platform with real-time alerts.
Enterprise observability platform providing logs, metrics, traces, APM, and infrastructure monitoring.
Primary Focus. Starting Monthly Price. Infrastructure Monitoring. Supported Integrations. Setup Complexity. Log Retention (Standard Plan). Real User Monitoring (RUM)
Choose Rollbar if you're a developer-focused team needing affordable, fast error tracking with minimal setup overhead and straightforward alerting. Choose Datadog if you require enterprise-grade full-stack observability, infrastructure monitoring, APM, and are willing to invest in a more complex but comprehensive monitoring solution.
Rollbar: No ($500+/month add-on) | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: Manual configuration required | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: Rule-based (manual configuration) | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: Third-party integration required | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: 20+ (Node.js, Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, Go, etc.) | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: Automatic with API uploads | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: Not available | Datadog: Built-in with session analytics
Rollbar: 50+ integrations | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: $500 (Business tier) | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: $99/month (Pro plan) | Datadog: $180+/month (Standard plan)
Rollbar: 5-10 minutes | Datadog: 30-60 minutes
Rollbar: Error-centric only | Datadog: Native support
Rollbar: Limited (error logs only) | Datadog: Full log aggregation and analytics
Rollbar: 100+ integrations | Datadog: 600+ integrations
Rollbar: Basic alert rules | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: 3,000+ customers | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: 80% noise reduction | Datadog: N/A
Rollbar: Application-level only | Datadog: Full-stack (servers, containers, networks, databases)
Rollbar: Basic error tracing only | Datadog: Advanced distributed tracing with dependency mapping
Rollbar: 60-70% fewer false alerts | Datadog: 40-50% fewer false alerts
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Distributed tracing and session replay
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Comprehensive with advanced orchestration
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Native distributed tracing
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Built-in with retention policies
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $32 per host/month
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Most comprehensive with custom parsing
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Advanced features, steeper learning curve
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $0 - limited (3 hosts max)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Advanced with ML insights
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $15 per host minimum
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $15.00 (base) + metered
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 600+ native integrations
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 60% alert reduction via AI
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Yes (full distributed tracing)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Basic (limited schedule management)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 15+ major frameworks
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Monthly/pay-as-you-go
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $0.05 per metric
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Machine learning-based pattern recognition
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 35% reduction (typical)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $15/month (Standard tier)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 450 days (15 months default)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 500+ auto-instrumented
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Unlimited with tag aggregation
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 800-1200 (with agent)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 24/7 phone, email, chat
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Method-level with sampling
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Yes, standard in most plans
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Basic anomaly detection
APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Advanced APM with distributed tracing
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Advanced session replay with pixel-perfect reproduction
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: SAML, SSO, SOC2 Type II, HIPAA compliance, security monitoring
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: ~600+ integrations
Default Data Retention (included in pricing)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 100% of traces stored
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Limited query builder; UI-driven
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 2/10 - agent-based, minimal config
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Infrastructure, APM, logs, metrics, synthetics, RUM
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: SaaS, full on-premise, hybrid
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Available with RUM plan
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 600+ pre-built integrations
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Basic container metrics and logs
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Yes, with distributed tracing
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Yes (anomaly detection, AI Advisor)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, HIPAA
Base Monthly Pricing (1GB/day ingestion)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 15 days standard
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 50+ security rules
Maximum Data Ingestion Per Day (Enterprise)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Unlimited (licensing dependent)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 450 days (15 months)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Datadog Query Language (DQL) + PromQL support
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 99.99% guaranteed SLA
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 24/7 dedicated support with SLA
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $15-20 per host (estimated)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 3 hops (with manual configuration)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 3+ agents (APM, Infrastructure, Logs)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 4.6/5.0 (2,100+ reviews)
Typical Enterprise Annual Cost (1000 hosts)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $180K-240K (with logs)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 32% faster than legacy APM
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: iOS, Android, React Native
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: $360 (~$15/host × 24 hosts typical)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 15 (upgradeable to 400+)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: Included in all plans
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: 0-1 (for integrations only)
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: DQL, limited SQL
Rollbar: N/A | Datadog: No (proprietary SaaS)
How to choose between Rollbar and Datadog
Rollbar vs Datadog — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Rollbar vs Datadog. Contains 181 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Rollbar vs Datadog — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Rollbar vs Datadog.
Which tool is better for a startup with limited budget?
Rollbar is significantly more affordable for startups. At $15/month for basic error tracking, it costs 50-70% less than Datadog's entry-level infrastructure monitoring. Rollbar's 5-10 minute setup also means faster time-to-value. However, as you scale infrastructure (adding databases, multiple servers, containers), Datadog's comprehensive monitoring becomes more cost-effective than piecing together separate tools.
Partially, but not completely. Rollbar excels at error tracking and crash reporting - areas where it outperforms Datadog. However, Rollbar lacks infrastructure monitoring, log aggregation at scale, APM, and RUM. For teams managing microservices, Kubernetes clusters, or multi-cloud environments, Datadog is necessary. Rollbar + ELK Stack or Rollbar + Prometheus is a common alternative to Datadog for cost-conscious teams.
Which has better JavaScript/frontend error tracking?
Rollbar has a significant advantage for JavaScript-specific error tracking. Its source map processing, automatic deduplication, and commit linking are tailored for frontend developers. Datadog's RUM covers frontend monitoring but is broader (session tracking, performance metrics) rather than deep error analysis. For pure JavaScript error tracking, Rollbar is the clear winner.
Does Datadog's higher cost justify its features?
Yes, if you need full-stack observability. Datadog's 600+ integrations, unified dashboard, APM, RUM, and infrastructure monitoring eliminate the need for 5-8 separate tools. For enterprises, this consolidation reduces complexity and costs overall. However, for small teams or specific use cases (pure error tracking), Rollbar's focused approach and lower cost are superior.
How long does it take to see ROI with each tool?
Rollbar: 1-2 weeks. With 5-10 minute setup, teams immediately catch and fix errors, reducing mean-time-to-resolution (MTTR) by 40-60%. Datadog: 4-8 weeks. The 30-60 minute setup, 2-4 week learning curve, and need to instrument multiple services delay value realization, but the ROI is higher once fully implemented due to prevented outages and infrastructure optimization.
How to Choose Between Rollbar and Datadog
Primary Focus: Rollbar has Error tracking & crash reporting, while Datadog has Full-stack observability (logs, metrics, traces, APM).
Starting Monthly Price: Rollbar has $15 (5GB errors/month), while Datadog has $15-40 per host (infrastructure monitoring).
Infrastructure Monitoring: Rollbar has Limited - application-level only, while Datadog has Comprehensive - servers, containers, networks, databases.
Supported Integrations: Rollbar has 40+ platforms, while Datadog has 600+ integrations.
Setup Complexity: Rollbar has 5-10 minutes for basic error tracking, while Datadog has 30-60 minutes for full observability setup.
Log Retention (Standard Plan): Rollbar has 30 days, while Datadog has 15 days (can be extended).
Real User Monitoring (RUM): Rollbar has Not available, while Datadog has Built-in RUM for frontend/session analytics.