Cloudways vs Datadog
Compare Cloudways and Datadog on features, pricing, and buyer fit using the same researched criteria.
Cloudways
Managed cloud hosting — Flexible from $11/mo DigitalOcean Standard; Autonomous WordPress autoscaling separate line.
Best for
- • Teams that want managed hosting on a chosen cloud VM without buying a panel licence
- • Agencies running WordPress plus other apps on one Cloudways account
- • Buyers who will actually use hourly Flexible billing and the $11 DigitalOcean Standard floor
Starting from $11.00/user/mo
No free plan
VS
Our verdict
No universal winner. Choose based on which criteria matter most for your team.
Cloudways is better for
- ✓ Starting pricing
Datadog is better for
- ✓ Free plan
- ✓ Integrations
- ✓ Security & admin
Choose Cloudways if: Teams that want managed hosting on a chosen cloud VM without buying a panel licence
Choose Datadog if: SRE/platform teams needing unified infra + APM + logs
Datadog
Observability suite — infrastructure, APM, logs, and security signals with consumption/host pricing; Infrastructure Pro from $15/host/mo annual.
Best for
- • SRE/platform teams needing unified infra + APM + logs
- • Cloud-native orgs with AWS/Azure/GCP estates
- • Teams that can model multi-module observability TCO upfront
Starting from $15.00/user/mo
Free plan available
Comparison scorecard
Criterion-by-criterion results for Cloudways and Datadog. Numeric bars appear only when both products have approved scores.
- Cloudways
Starting pricing
Published floor price and what that floor actually includes.
Cloudways publishes a lower researched starting floor ($11/mo vs $15/mo for Datadog). Confirm currency, renewals, and add-ons — not a total TCO winner.
CloudwaysStrongerDatadogWeaker - Datadog
Free plan
Whether a usable free plan is published, and what it gates.
Cloudways does not research a free plan; Datadog researches a free plan.
CloudwaysWeakerDatadogStronger - Depends
User / licence minimum
Seat floors, per-employee minimums, and small-team pricing traps.
Check seat, agent, or licence minimums for Cloudways and Datadog on current vendor packaging.
CloudwaysDependsDatadogDepends - Datadog
Integrations
Important third-party integrations.
Datadog leads on integrations (8/10 vs 9/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.
Cloudways8/10Datadog9/10 - Datadog
Security & admin
Admin controls, access, compliance posture, and security packaging.
Datadog leads on security admin (7/10 vs 9/10) from approved SoftwareGlimpse editorial assessments — not hands-on lab testing.
CloudwaysWeakerDatadogStronger
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