Datadog

Cloud monitoring and observability platform

Fastly

Real-time CDN and edge computing for high-performance apps

Datadog vs Fastly: Full Comparison (2026)

Pricing, features, scores, and a clear verdict on which one is right for you.

The bottom line

Datadog positions itself as "cloud monitoring and observability platform" while Fastly goes after "real-time cdn and edge computing for high-performance apps" — so the right pick depends on which problem you're actually solving. Both use usage-based pricing, but Datadog charges per host while Fastly charges per gb — a meaningful difference for larger teams.

At a glance

	Datadog	Fastly
Our score	85/100	76/100
Starting price	$15/mo	$50/mo
Free tier	No	No
Best for	Cloud monitoring and observability platform	Real-time CDN and edge computing for high-performance apps

Pricing comparison

Datadog

No free tier

Infrastructure Pro$15/mo

Infrastructure Enterprise$23/mo

APM Pro$31/mo

Pricing verified 2026-04-16

Fastly

No free tier

Pay-as-you-go$50/mo

Enterprise$null/mo

Pricing verified 2026-04-16

Calculate your cost

How many developers?10

1500

DatadogUnknown

Contact sales

FastlyUnknown

Contact sales

Visit Datadog →Visit Fastly →

Feature comparison

core

Feature	Datadog	Fastly
Infrastructure monitoring	Yes	No
APM/tracing	Yes	No
Log management	Yes	No
Synthetic monitoring	Yes	No
Dashboards	Yes	No
CDN	No	Yes
DDoS protection	No	Yes
Instant cache purge	No	Yes
WAF	No	Yes
Real-time analytics	No	Yes

advanced

Feature	Datadog	Fastly
Security monitoring	Yes	No
Serverless monitoring	Yes	No
Database monitoring	Yes	No
Network monitoring	Yes	No
Error tracking	Yes	No
Compute@Edge (Wasm)	No	Yes
Image optimization	No	Yes
Origin shielding	No	Yes
Custom VCL	No	Yes
Bot management	No	Yes

integrations

Feature	Datadog	Fastly
AWS	Yes	Yes
GCP	Yes	Yes
Azure	Yes	No
Kubernetes	Yes	No
Terraform	Yes	Yes
PagerDuty	Yes	No
Fastly CLI	No	Yes
GitHub Actions	No	Yes

Ratings breakdown

Datadog

Ease of use

7/10

Value for money

5/10

Features

10/10

Support

8/10

Fastly

Ease of use

6/10

Value for money

5/10

Features

9/10

Support

8/10

What the data tells us

Key capabilities you'd miss

Choosing Datadog means going without CDN, DDoS protection, Instant cache purge (which Fastly offers). Choosing Fastly means losing Infrastructure monitoring, APM/tracing, Log management. These are the features that typically drive the final decision — check whether your workflow depends on any of them before committing.

What company size tells you

Fastly (501-1,000 employees) has the engineering bench to ship features across many fronts but may iterate slower on individual requests. Datadog (5,000+ employees) typically ships faster on its core product but may lag on peripheral features. Consider which matters more for your roadmap.

Choose Datadog if...

You're ready to invest from $15/mo
You value powerful features over simplicity
You need enterprise-grade capabilities

Visit Datadog →

Choose Fastly if...

You're ready to invest from $50/mo
You value powerful features over simplicity
You need enterprise-grade capabilities

Visit Fastly →

Frequently asked questions

Is Datadog or Fastly better?

Datadog scores 85/100 compared to Fastly's 76/100 on VendorVS. However, the best choice depends on your needs — Datadog excels at ease of use (7/10) while Fastly scores 6/10.

How much does Datadog cost compared to Fastly?

Datadog starts at $15/mo. Fastly starts at $50/mo. Datadog is the more affordable option.

Does Datadog or Fastly have a free plan?

Neither Datadog nor Fastly offers a free tier. Datadog starts at $15/mo and Fastly at $50/mo.

Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through our links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This does not influence our rankings or recommendations.