Datadog vs New Relic for Database Monitoring

Quick verdict

Datadog is a SaaS observability platform. Its Database Monitoring (DBM) product uses the Datadog Agent to collect normalized query metrics, query samples, explain plans and database metrics, and can link them to Datadog APM traces. It is billed separately from Datadog's infrastructure and APM products.

New Relic is also a SaaS observability platform. For databases it offers two angles. On the database side, the infrastructure agent's on-host integrations for MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server include query performance monitoring, which New Relic announced as generally available on 22 July 2025. On the application side, New Relic APM agents report database calls and slow query traces from inside transactions. New Relic prices by data ingested and by user type rather than by host.

Side by side

Key differences

Supported engines and managed services

Datadog documents DBM for self-hosted and managed versions of eight engines. Examples from its setup pages: Postgres 9.6 to 18 on self-hosted, Amazon RDS, Aurora, Google Cloud SQL, AlloyDB, Azure, Heroku and Supabase; MySQL 5.6 to 9 and MariaDB 10.5 to 13 on self-hosted, RDS, Aurora, Cloud SQL and Azure; SQL Server 2012 to 2025 on self-hosted, RDS, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance and Cloud SQL. For managed services the Agent runs on a separate host that can reach the database.

New Relic's query performance monitoring is documented for MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server. The MySQL integration requires MySQL 5.7 or later (8.0 or later recommended) or MariaDB 10.x (10.5 or later recommended). New Relic's GA announcement mentions AWS Aurora and RDS compatibility, and its PostgreSQL integration documentation includes configuration for RDS, Aurora and Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server. New Relic has other database integrations, but query-level monitoring for Oracle, MongoDB or ClickHouse is not part of this feature as documented.

Query samples, explain plans and waits

Datadog groups queries into normalized queries (parameters stripped) and tracks metrics for the top 200 per database host, keeping query metrics for 15 months. Query samples show individual executions with attribution; Datadog notes that the samples page is a snapshot of running and recently finished queries, not every query. Explain plans show cost and duration for the current sample and averages and p90 across snapshots. Database host pages show active connections, blocking queries, schemas and calling services, and DBM monitors can alert on waiting queries, long-running queries or explain plan cost changes.

New Relic's integrations collect slow queries (execution counts, CPU and elapsed times, disk I/O), wait event analysis, execution plans and blocking sessions as events, shown in a query performance dashboard. Collection is switched on with ENABLE_QUERY_MONITORING, and only queries above QUERY_MONITORING_RESPONSE_TIME_THRESHOLD (1 ms by default) are sent, so very fast queries may need a lower threshold. Both tools read the engine's own statistics; on PostgreSQL that is the pg_stat_statements extension, which both require:

-- PostgreSQL 13 and later: top statements by total execution time
SELECT calls,
       round(total_exec_time::numeric, 1) AS total_ms,
       round(mean_exec_time::numeric, 2)  AS mean_ms,
       left(query, 80)                    AS query
FROM pg_stat_statements
ORDER BY total_exec_time DESC
LIMIT 10;

Integration with APM traces

Datadog's DBM and APM link through SQL comment propagation. In full mode the tracer sends trace information to the database so you can open the APM trace behind a query sample; in service mode only the service name is sent, which still shows which services drive load. Supported tracer languages vary by engine (for Postgres and MySQL: Go, Java, .NET, Node.js, PHP, Python and Ruby; for SQL Server: Go, Java and .NET). This needs Agent 7.46 or later.

In New Relic, the APM side shows database operations, throughput and response time per service, and slow query traces taken from transaction traces, which can include the query plan where the agent supports it. SQL capture is controlled by each agent's record_sql setting: obfuscated by default in agents such as Ruby and PHP, and off by default in the Node.js agent, in which case slow queries are not captured. New Relic presents its newer query performance monitoring as usable without APM agents, so database teams can work from database-side data alone. See Database Monitoring vs APM for how the two views complement each other.

Pricing models

This is the biggest practical difference. Datadog charges per database host for DBM, separately from infrastructure hosts and APM, so cost tracks the number of databases you monitor. New Relic charges for data ingested beyond a free allowance and for full platform and core users, with no per-host charge, so cost tracks how much telemetry you send and how many people need full access. Turning on query-level monitoring in New Relic adds events and therefore ingest. Neither vendor's model is cheaper in general; model both with your own host count, ingest estimate and user count. Exact prices are in the pricing section below.

Pricing and licensing

Datadog. Listed on the vendor's pricing page in October 2026 (USD): Database Monitoring is $70 per database host per month billed annually, or $84 billed month-to-month or on demand. Datadog's billing documentation says each database host includes 200 normalized queries, with more billed by the number tracked. Infrastructure Monitoring and APM are separate products (for example, Infrastructure Pro is $15 per host per month billed annually). Example: monitoring 10 database hosts with DBM on annual billing lists at 10 x $70 = $700 a month for DBM alone, before any infrastructure or APM charges. Datadog offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card.

New Relic. Listed on the vendor's pricing page in October 2026 (USD): the free tier includes 100 GB of data ingest a month, one full platform user and unlimited basic users. Data beyond 100 GB costs $0.40 per GB on the Original Data option or $0.60 per GB on Data Plus (which adds extended retention and governance features). Core users are $49 per user per month. Full platform users are $10 for the first user and $99 for each additional user (up to five) on Standard, and $349 per user per month on Pro with an annual commitment or $418.80 pay as you go; Enterprise is priced by sales. Example: 300 GB of ingest in a month on Original Data is (300 - 100) x $0.40 = $80 for data, before user charges. A compute-based option is offered for Pro and Enterprise through sales.

Pricing checked on the vendors' official pages on 7 October 2026. Prices change; confirm before buying.

Where each one leads

Limitations

When to choose each

When neither is right

• A DBA team runs a SQL Server estate and wants dedicated DBA tooling: see Datadog vs Redgate Monitor and Redgate Monitor vs SQL Sentry.
• Monitoring data must stay on your own servers: see Datadog vs SolarWinds DPA and Redgate Monitor vs SolarWinds DPA.
• You want open source tools you run yourself: see Prometheus vs Datadog and the best open source database monitoring tools.

Final recommendation

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Datadog docs: Database Monitoring
• Datadog docs: Setting up Postgres DBM
• Datadog docs: Setting up MySQL DBM
• Datadog docs: DBM data collected
• Datadog docs: Correlate Database Monitoring and traces
• Datadog docs: Billing and pricing
• Datadog pricing list
• New Relic docs: Query performance monitoring
• New Relic docs: MySQL integration
• New Relic docs: PostgreSQL integration
• New Relic docs: View slow query details
• New Relic pricing

Checked October 2026.

How we research comparisons: our editorial method.