Comparison · Updated May 2026
The honest Datadog alternativefor teams that don't want to budget around per-host pricing.
SecureNow gives you everything most engineering teams actually use Datadog for — distributed traces, logs, errors — plus a real-time IP firewall and AI-powered forensics that Datadog only sells as add-ons. Pay-as-you-go ($5/TB), free tier, OpenTelemetry-native, no proprietary agent.
Trusted by indie devs, SOC teams, and startups migrating off Datadog because the bill grew faster than the company.
3–10×
Cheaper for typical mid-sized SaaS workloads (per-TB beats per-host once you hit scale).
≤ 5 min
Time to first trace + first blocked malicious IP. npm install securenow and one preload flag.
0 lock-in
Pure OpenTelemetry — point your collector somewhere else any time. No proprietary DSL or agent.
SecureNow vs Datadog — feature matrix
| Feature | Datadog | SecureNow | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| APM (traces, latency, errors) | OpenTelemetry under the hood — no proprietary agent. | ||
| Logs | Auto-captured via the same `-r securenow/register` preload. | ||
| Real-time IP firewall (built-in) | Datadog markets ASM but enforcement still depends on your WAF. | ||
| AI-powered incident forensics | Add-on (Bits AI) | Included on every plan. | |
| Free tier with real data | 14-day trial only | 1 GB/month forever | |
| Pay-as-you-go pricing | Per-host + per-feature | $5 / TB scanned | Up to 10x cheaper for high-cardinality, low-host workloads. |
| Self-host option | Roadmap | Bring-your-own-ClickHouse for sovereignty / GDPR. | |
| Setup time | Hours (agent install, integrations) | ≤ 5 min | `npm install securenow` + 1 line. |
| Lock-in | Custom DDog agent + DSL | Pure OpenTelemetry — portable |
Pricing — the actually-honest version
Datadog
- • APM: $0.07–$0.31 per host / hour
- • Logs: $0.10/GB ingest + $1.70/M indexed events
- • ASM: $17/host/month (extra)
- • Bits AI assistant: extra
- • Custom metrics, RUM, synthetics — all separate line items
A 30-host deployment with logs + ASM + APM pencils out to ~$2.5–4k/month before you touch a dashboard.
SecureNow
- • $5 / TB scanned — everything included.
- • Free tier: 1 GB/month, every feature on, no credit card.
- • Firewall, AI forensics, dashboards, alerting — same price.
- • No per-host charges. Run 1 instance or 1,000.
- • Bring-your-own-ClickHouse on Enterprise (zero data leaves your VPC).
Same 30-host deployment scanning 200 GB/month: ~$1/month.
Migrating from Datadog in an afternoon
- 1. Install.
npm install securenow - 2. Preload. Add
-r securenow/registerto your start command, ornpx securenow initfor Next.js / Nuxt. - 3. Sign in.
npx securenow login— pick or create the app you're migrating. - 4. Verify.
npx securenow doctorchecks collector reachability, span emission, and firewall sync. - 5. Cancel Datadog.Or run them side-by-side for a week to compare. We're fine either way.
FAQ
Why is SecureNow cheaper than Datadog?
Datadog charges per host per hour ($0.07–$0.31 for APM alone) plus separate line items for logs, traces, ASM, and CIEM. Pricing scales with your fleet size, even when traffic is flat. SecureNow charges $5 per TB of data actually scanned — the bill grows with usage, not with infrastructure. For a typical mid-sized SaaS this is 3–10× cheaper.
Does SecureNow replace Datadog APM?
Yes for most teams. SecureNow uses OpenTelemetry (the same standard Datadog now supports), so your traces, spans, latency histograms, and error rates work exactly the same. The difference is we add a real-time firewall and AI forensics layer that Datadog only sells as separate ASM/Bits AI add-ons.
Is migrating from Datadog hard?
If you already use OpenTelemetry, switch one env var. If you use the Datadog agent, run `npm install securenow` and add `-r securenow/register` to your start command. We auto-detect Express, Next.js, NestJS, Fastify, Koa, Hono, Hapi, Restify, Polka, and Feathers. Most migrations take an afternoon.
Will my Datadog dashboards transfer?
Dashboards don't transfer (different query languages), but most popular charts have one-click equivalents in SecureNow. We include a Datadog-style starter dashboard so the muscle memory carries over.
Is there a free tier?
Yes — 1 GB scanned/month, every feature unlocked, forever. No credit card. Use it for side projects, staging environments, or a pilot before committing.
What about logs and metrics retention?
Standard plans retain 30 days of full-fidelity data; logs and traces are queryable across the whole window with no extra rehydration fee (Datadog charges to rehydrate cold logs). Custom retention available on Enterprise.
Related comparisons & guides
Stop budgeting around your APM bill.
Free tier covers most side projects. $5/TB covers most production. Try it side-by-side with Datadog — keep what works.