Splunk excels in log aggregation and SIEM with deeper historical data retention, while Datadog provides superior real-time infrastructure monitoring and APM with faster deployment. Splunk costs more at scale but offers stronger compliance features, whereas Datadog has lower baseline costs and tighter cloud-native integration.
Splunk vs Datadog — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Enterprise data platform for log aggregation, SIEM, and compliance monitoring
Cloud monitoring and observability platform with integrated APM and infrastructure monitoring
Primary Strength. Data Retention (Default). Setup Time. Cost Model. APM (Application Performance Monitoring). SIEM Capabilities. Kubernetes Support
Choose Splunk if you need enterprise-grade security monitoring, deep historical data analysis, or strict compliance requirements (PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2). Choose Datadog if you prioritize rapid deployment, real-time cloud infrastructure monitoring, integrated APM, or prefer lower baseline costs with cloud-native environments.
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 15 months
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 18+ regions
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Distributed tracing and session replay
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Comprehensive with advanced orchestration
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Native distributed tracing
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Built-in with retention policies
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $32 per host/month
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Most comprehensive with custom parsing
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Advanced features, steeper learning curve
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $0 - limited (3 hosts max)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $231/month
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 1-3 seconds
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 40+ languages
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 100+ GB
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Advanced with ML insights
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 99.99%
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 7 days
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $15 per host minimum
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: No, SaaS only
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 250K+ users
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $15.00 (base) + metered
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 600+ native integrations
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 90 days
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 60% alert reduction via AI
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 72% faster
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Yes (full distributed tracing)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 4-8 weeks
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Basic (limited schedule management)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $180+/month (Standard plan)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 30-60 minutes
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Full log aggregation and analytics
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $15/month
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 15+ major frameworks
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 600+ integrations
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 200 metrics
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Monthly/pay-as-you-go
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $0.05 per metric
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Machine learning-based pattern recognition
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 35% reduction (typical)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $15/month (Standard tier)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 0.5 hours
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 450 days (15 months default)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 500+ auto-instrumented
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Unlimited with tag aggregation
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 800-1200 (with agent)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 24/7 phone, email, chat
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Native support
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $15-25
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Method-level with sampling
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 4.5/5.0
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 2,800+
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Yes, standard in most plans
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Basic anomaly detection
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 15-30 minutes
APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Advanced APM with distributed tracing
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Advanced session replay with pixel-perfect reproduction
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: SAML, SSO, SOC2 Type II, HIPAA compliance, security monitoring
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 3.5 weeks
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: ~600+ integrations
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 1-5 seconds
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Leader
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 1-2 weeks
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $4,000-6,000
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 5-15 days
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 2-5 minutes
Default Data Retention (included in pricing)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 100% of traces stored
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 0 (add-on only)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 19,000+ (2024)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 0.5-1 day
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $12,000-$18,000
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $0.10-$0.50
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 0.1-0.3 FTE
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Limited query builder; UI-driven
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 2/10 - agent-based, minimal config
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 15 days
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Infrastructure, APM, logs, metrics, synthetics, RUM
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: SaaS, full on-premise, hybrid
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $50k-$200k+
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Available with RUM plan
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 600+ pre-built integrations
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 10 seconds
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 5-7 days
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Basic container metrics and logs
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $15-32
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Yes, with distributed tracing
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Not available
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Yes (anomaly detection, AI Advisor)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, HIPAA
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $28,200-38,400
Base Monthly Pricing (1GB/day ingestion)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $600-$900
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 300-800ms
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 15 days standard
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 50+ security rules
Maximum Data Ingestion Per Day (Enterprise)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Unlimited (licensing dependent)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $150-$550
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 450 days (15 months)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Datadog Query Language (DQL) + PromQL support
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 99.99% guaranteed SLA
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 24/7 dedicated support with SLA
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 30 days
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $15-20 per host (estimated)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 3 hops (with manual configuration)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 3+ agents (APM, Infrastructure, Logs)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 4.6/5.0 (2,100+ reviews)
Typical Enterprise Annual Cost (1000 hosts)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $180K-240K (with logs)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 32% faster than legacy APM
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 5-10 seconds
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: iOS, Android, React Native
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Hosts, containers, Kubernetes, cloud services, databases
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $10,000-$50,000+
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $360 (~$15/host × 24 hosts typical)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 15 (upgradeable to 400+)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 22,000
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: Included in all plans
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $231-400
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $480,000-$720,000
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: 0-1 (for integrations only)
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: DQL, limited SQL
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: $0.05-$0.15
Splunk Enterprise: N/A | Datadog: No (proprietary SaaS)
How to choose between Splunk Enterprise and Datadog
Splunk vs Datadog — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Splunk vs Datadog. Contains 148 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Splunk vs Datadog — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Splunk vs Datadog.
Which platform is better for security and compliance?
Splunk is the clear winner for security-focused organizations. It offers enterprise-grade SIEM capabilities, behavioral threat detection, and compliance certifications including PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, and FedRAMP. Datadog has basic security monitoring but lacks the depth needed for regulated industries. If you're in finance, healthcare, or require strict audit trails, Splunk is the better choice.
Which is cheaper for small to medium teams?
Datadog is significantly cheaper for smaller deployments. Its ingestion costs are 40-50% lower ($0.10-$0.32/GB vs $0.25-$0.50/GB), and it deploys 3-4x faster, reducing consulting costs. For teams with <5GB/day ingestion, Datadog typically costs $2,000-$5,000/month vs Splunk's $5,000-$12,000+. However, Splunk's unlimited retention may justify higher costs if you need historical forensics.
Is Datadog better for cloud-native infrastructure?
Yes. Datadog was built cloud-first and includes native integration with AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, and Docker. It auto-discovers infrastructure without manual configuration and provides unified monitoring from servers to containers to serverless. Splunk requires additional add-ons (Splunk Connect for Kubernetes) and more manual setup. For DevOps teams, Datadog's cloud-native approach saves 1-2 weeks of configuration time.
Which platform is better for application performance monitoring (APM)?
Datadog provides superior APM as a native, integrated feature with automatic service dependency mapping, distributed tracing, and profiling. Splunk APM requires separate licensing and integrates less seamlessly. If you need real-time application monitoring with end-to-end visibility, Datadog delivers faster insights with less configuration overhead.
Splunk supports retention from 30 days to 7+ years depending on your configuration and storage backend. Datadog defaults to 15 days but can be extended through hot/cold storage tiers. For long-term forensics and compliance audits, Splunk's flexible retention architecture handles multi-year data requirements better. Datadog is optimized for recent, actionable data.
How to Choose Between Splunk Enterprise and Datadog
Primary Strength: Splunk Enterprise has Log aggregation, SIEM, compliance, while Datadog has Real-time monitoring, APM, cloud infrastructure.
Data Retention (Default): Splunk Enterprise has 30-90 days (configurable to 7+ years), while Datadog has 15 days standard (configurable).
Setup Time: Splunk Enterprise has 10-14 days typical, while Datadog has 2-4 days typical.
Cost Model: Splunk Enterprise has $0.25-$0.50/GB ingested, while Datadog has $0.10-$0.32/GB ingested.
Consider: APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
APM (Application Performance Monitoring): Splunk Enterprise has Available but requires separate licensing, while Datadog has Native, integrated with monitoring.
SIEM Capabilities: Splunk Enterprise has Enterprise-grade threat detection, CIS benchmarks, while Datadog has Basic detection, cloud-focused.
Kubernetes Support: Splunk Enterprise has Good (requires Splunk Connect for Kubernetes add-on), while Datadog has Native, auto-discovery built-in.