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Upstat vs Datadog Incident Management

Keep the observability you love—swap the incident chaos for a focused platform.

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Executive Snapshot

Datadog excels at observability; Upstat focuses on incidents.

Datadog Incident Management lives inside the broader Datadog suite. If you're not fully committed to Datadog, you pay for modules you may not need—and still lack runbooks, automations, and status pages in one place.

Upstat integrates with Datadog alerts but delivers a dedicated incident operations platform with predictable pricing.

Not a one-to-one swap

Upstat keeps observability optional. Use Datadog if you love it, but run incidents, automations, runbooks, and communications in Upstat without a massive usage bill.

Capability comparison

Pricing model

Upstat

Predictable $29 / $49 per-user plans covering monitoring, incidents, automations, runbooks, status pages.

Datadog Incident Management

Usage-based pricing tied to metrics, logs, APM, and incident management modules; costs rise with data volume.

Monitoring scope

Upstat

Native uptime/API checks tuned for incident response.

Datadog Incident Management

Deep infrastructure and application monitoring; strong but overkill (and costly) when you just need incident coverage.

Incident Response

Upstat

Kanban/list views, timelines, assignments, automations, and runbooks ready out of the box.

Datadog Incident Management

Incident module integrated into Datadog dashboards—best for teams already all-in on Datadog UX.

Entity Intelligence

Upstat

Dashboards show ownership, dependencies, and impact using the same data model.

Datadog Incident Management

Service Catalog available, but operational context spans multiple Datadog products.

Status Communication

Upstat

Customer/internal status pages in sync with incidents and monitors.

Datadog Incident Management

No dedicated status page product—requires additional tooling or integrations.

Automations & Runbooks

Upstat

No-code workflows and runbooks included.

Datadog Incident Management

Automation largely reliant on notebooks, scripts, or external workflow tools.

Vendor footprint

Upstat

Focused on incident operations; integrates with your existing observability stack.

Datadog Incident Management

Locks you deeper into Datadog ecosystem; tool consolidation requires adopting Datadog across teams.

Focused incident operations, not another monitoring module

Predictable spend

Upstat pricing doesn't fluctuate with metrics or log volume. Datadog bills for every new data stream.

Incident-first workflow

Upstat timelines, automations, runbooks, and status updates live together. Datadog spreads them across dashboards, notebooks, and integrations.

Keep your observability stack

Feed alerts from Datadog or any other provider. Upstat handles response while letting your monitoring team keep the tools they love.

Learn more about Focused incident operations, not another monitoring module

Consolidate operations without losing observability

Use this migration checklist to move off Datadog's incident module without disrupting the alerts your teams rely on.

  • 1
    List Datadog monitors, incident workflows, and integrations currently in use.
  • 2
    Configure equivalent monitors in UpStat and map responders with entity dashboards.
  • 3
    Rebuild automation playbooks in UpStat, ensuring on-call, stakeholder updates, and status pages are linked.
  • 4
    Run shadow incidents to confirm timelines, notifications, and reporting meet expectations.
  • 5
    Transition responders, adjust Datadog alert routing, and sunset unused modules to reduce spend.

Migration checklist

Inventory alerts, configure Upstat monitors, rehearse incidents, and taper off Datadog modules once confidence is high.

Learn more about Consolidate operations without losing observability

Build the executive business case

Datadog's value comes from rich observability. But when you use it solely for incidents, you're paying enterprise-level prices for power you might not need. Upstat keeps response predictable.

Share the scenario below with finance to balance observability depth against operational costs.

Usage-based cost scenario

Datadog incident features are great—if you can afford the whole suite.

Consider a company ingesting moderate metrics/logs, paying for Datadog APM + Incident Management, and still using Slack/Docs for coordination.

Datadog stack: ~$25,500/year in Datadog modules (APM + Incident Mgmt) + ~$7,000 in engineer time configuring automations.

Upstat outcome: Consolidating incident tooling eliminates ~$25,500 in Datadog costs while reducing maintenance overhead by ~$7,000/year.

Tool costs

$25,500 → $0

Datadog Incident Management subscription + add-on tools vs. Upstat all-in-one platform.

Tool savings: $25,500/year

Downtime/maintenance impact

$7,000 → $0

40% faster MTTR from unified monitoring and incident workflows.

Maintenance saved: $7,000/year

Total annual savings

$32,500

Tool consolidation ($25,500) + reduced maintenance overhead ($7,000).

* Estimates assume moderate Datadog usage, two engineer-weeks/year for automation upkeep, and $7.5k in ancillary tools. Adjust to reflect your workloads and contracts.

Frequently asked questions

Teams considering alternatives to Datadog Incident Management ask about integration and cost control.

Can Upstat work alongside Datadog monitoring?

Yes. Many teams keep Datadog for deep observability while using Upstat for incident coordination, automations, runbooks, and status communication. Upstat provides its own monitoring for uptime and health checks, so you can reduce your dependency on external tools over time.

Why leave Datadog Incident Management?

Upstat delivers predictable pricing and the operational features teams expect—without requiring full adoption of Datadog's monitoring stack. It's a simpler, more focused incident platform.

Ready to simplify incident operations outside Datadog?

Launch Upstat, connect your Datadog alerts, and give responders a dedicated incident platform.

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