Application performance monitoring · November 2026 Edition
New Relic vs Datadog APM
Nine of fourteen models named New Relic first on the direct prompt; five named Datadog APM. Both were named by all fourteen models and New Relic carries 81 labels and Datadog APM 73, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in nine categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share61%18%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate19%26%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#2A position in a field of 14; printed, not drawn.
Labels8173A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, New Relic reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.New Relic vs Grafana Cloud · New Relic vs ManageEngine Applications Manager · New Relic vs Dynatrace
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the application performance monitoring page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
New RelicFirst choices, of fourteen modelsDatadog APM
Direct951 against New Relic · 1 against Datadog APM
Paraphrase83
Comparative29
Budget-constrained1205 against Datadog APM
Scale-constrained111 against New Relic · 1 against Datadog APM
Negative0013 against New Relic · 12 against Datadog APM
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, New Relic and Datadog APM were named in the same answer 201 times, of the 709 answers naming New Relic and the 219 naming Datadog APM. In those answers Datadog APM took the first choice twenty-seven times and New Relic fifty-six.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where New Relic and Datadog APM stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | | |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | | |
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | ||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
New Relic Datadog APM first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, New Relic on the left and Datadog APM on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where New Relic and Datadog APM stood in it.
Both were the first choice
2 of 14 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.Llama 4 MaverickDatadog APM, Dynatrace, New Relic
Muse Glimmer 30BDatadog APM, New Relic alternatives: IBM Instana, OpManager Nexus
New Relic first, Datadog APM an alternative
7 of 14 modelsDatadog APM was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniNew Relic alternatives: Datadog APM, Dynatrace
Gemini 3.5 FlashNew Relic alternatives: Datadog APM, Grafana Cloud, Honeycomb, Sentry, SigNoz
Mistral SmallNew Relic alternatives: Datadog APM, SigNoz
DeepSeek V4 FlashNew Relic alternatives: AppSignal, Datadog APM, Dynatrace, ManageEngine Applications Manager
Qwen 3.7 FlashNew Relic alternatives: Datadog APM, Grafana Cloud
Kimi K2New Relic alternatives: Atatus, ManageEngine Applications Manager, Site24x7
GPT-6 LunaNew Relic alternatives: Datadog APM, Grafana Cloud
Datadog APM first, New Relic an alternative
3 of 14 modelsNew Relic was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Perplexity SonarDatadog APM alternatives: ManageEngine Applications Manager, New Relic, Sentry
Grok 4.20Datadog APM alternatives: New Relic
MiniMax M2.5Datadog APM alternatives: AppDynamics, AppSignal
Neither was the first choice, one was named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.GLM 4.7 FlashXManageEngine Applications Manager alternatives: AppSignal, Datadog APM, New Relic, SolarWinds Observability
Neither was named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
New Relic leads by fifty-five points.
New Relic60%#1 of 14Datadog APM6%#4 of 14Mid-marketThe figures above
New Relic leads by forty-three points.
New Relic61%#1 of 14Datadog APM18%#2 of 14Enterprise
The order flips: Datadog APM leads at enterprise.
Datadog APM15%#2 of 10New Relic8%#3 of 10What the models said about New Relic
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of three in this category shown.
“Start with New Relic. It gives you the best balance of full-stack coverage, generous free tier for evaluation, user-friendly interface, and predictable pricing.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“New Relic: Excellent full-stack observability, usage-based pricing, strong AI, easy OTel support. Often praised for value and query flexibility.” Grok 4.20 · scale prompt · first choice
“For most budget-conscious companies, New Relic's free tier is the best starting point due to its generous limits and full feature access.” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about Datadog APM
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Powerful, but dangerous for anyone without deep pockets or rigorous cost monitoring. Avoid if you're a startup or mid-sized company.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“pricing (per-host + usage-based) can explode with scale... many teams end up overpaying or switching after 1–2 years.” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Several models suggest being cautious about or potentially avoiding Datadog APM.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“Datadog - offers the best balance of features, pricing flexibility, and ecosystem integrations that mid-market companies typically need.” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“Datadog: Best for cloud-native, fast-growing teams with budget who want breadth of integrations and real-time dashboards/analytics.” Muse Glimmer 30B · direct prompt · first choice
“widely considered the gold standard for DevOps teams who need to correlate app errors with server CPU spikes instantly” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
New Relic vs Grafana CloudNew Relic vs ManageEngine Applications ManagerNew Relic vs DynatraceNew Relic vs SigNozNew Relic vs Site24x7Datadog APM vs Grafana CloudDatadog APM vs ManageEngine Applications ManagerDatadog APM vs DynatraceDatadog APM vs SigNozDatadog APM vs Site24x7All twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full APM standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.