Comparison
Datadog DBM vs Obsfly: side-by-side feature and pricing breakdown
The honest comparison — pricing, feature parity, deployment models, and what Datadog does better. Includes the 3 places Datadog DBM is the right answer in 2026.
We get this question on every demo: “OK, what’s actually different between you and Datadog DBM?” Here’s the side-by-side without the vendor spin — including what Datadog does better.
On this page
TL;DR
- Price: Obsfly $39/DB/mo (Team) vs Datadog DBM ~$105/DB/mo. ~63% lower.
- Coverage: Both cover the same 9 databases (Postgres, MySQL, Mongo, Redis, ClickHouse, Oracle, SQL Server, Cassandra, Elasticsearch).
- BYOC / Sovereign: Obsfly ships customer-VPC and air-gapped builds; Datadog DBM is SaaS-only.
- AI:Both have AI features. Datadog’s Bits AI runs against their data lake; Obsfly’s AI works in BYO-LLM mode for regulated customers.
- Infra observability: Datadog DBM is part of a larger Datadog ecosystem (APM, infra, logs, RUM, security). Obsfly is database-only by design.
Pricing, with public list numbers
| Item | Obsfly | Datadog DBM |
|---|---|---|
| Per-DB host (small Postgres) | $39 / mo (Team) | ~$70 / DB-host + ~$23 infra |
| Per-DB host (with AI insights) | $89 / mo (Business) | Add Bits AI (priced separately) |
| Required APM / infra to use DBM? | No | Yes — APM + Infra are prerequisites |
| 50 databases / 30 hosts | ~$1,950 / mo | ~$5,490 / mo |
| BYOC | $5k platform + $59 / DB | Not offered |
| Sovereign / air-gapped | $80k–$300k+ / yr | Not offered |
Feature parity
| Capability | Obsfly | Datadog DBM |
|---|---|---|
| Top normalized queries | Yes — pg_stat_statements + per-DB equivalents | Yes |
| EXPLAIN plan capture + diff | Yes — auto on regression | Yes |
| Activity / wait events @ 1Hz | Yes | Yes |
| Lock chain visualization | Yes — recursive graph | Partial (shown as samples) |
| Anomaly detection (per-metric) | Yes — Prophet + BOCPD | Yes — proprietary |
| Forecast bands | Yes | Yes |
| Schema change tracking | Yes — full timeline | Partial |
| AI plan narration | Yes — Claude / BYO LLM | Yes — Bits AI |
| Index recommendations grounded in workload | Yes | Yes |
| Slow query trace correlation w/ APM | Limited (APM is separate) | Yes — native |
| Multi-region cluster topology view | Yes | Yes |
Deployment models
| Mode | Obsfly | Datadog DBM |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS (US / EU / APAC region) | Yes | Yes |
| BYOC — data plane in customer VPC | Yes — same binaries, env-flagged | No |
| Sovereign / on-prem / air-gapped | Yes — Helm + offline-validated license | No — SaaS-only |
| Single-binary agent | Yes — 15 MB Go static binary | Python agent (~150 MB) |
Where your data lives
For regulated industries (fintech, healthcare, gov), this is the deciding factor. Datadog DBM ingests raw query text — including literal values like email addresses, account numbers, tokens — into Datadog-managed storage. The legal team has to sign off on data egress before any deployment.
Obsfly BYOC keeps all telemetry inside the customer’s VPC. The control plane (UI, auth, billing, AI) talks to a data-plane proxy via mTLS. Raw query text never leaves the customer’s perimeter. This is the pattern that makes Obsfly deployable in environments Datadog can’t bid for.
What Datadog does better
The fairness section. Datadog DBM is genuinely better in three places:
- Trace correlation.If you’re already a Datadog APM customer, DBM stitches a slow query directly to the trace span that issued it. We can’t do that — we’re database-only. If trace correlation matters more than price, stay on Datadog.
- One pane for everything.Datadog gives you APM + infra + logs + DBM + RUM + Security + dozens more in one tool. We don’t. If your workflow is “one URL for everything”, we’re a regression.
- Maturity of ecosystem.Datadog has been at this since 2010, has integrations with every cloud and every framework, and a community of thousands of engineers writing dashboards. We’re catching up — fast — but parity in third-party integrations is a 2027 conversation.
When to switch
- Your DBM bill is over $5k/mo and database performance is your top observability problem (not infra, not RUM).
- Compliance is forcing BYOC, on-prem, or air-gapped — Datadog can’t bid; we can.
- You don’t use Datadog APM, so trace correlation isn’t a feature you lose.
- You want database monitoring built by people who think about databases all day, not one product line of fifty.
FAQ
How long does migration take?+
Can we run both during evaluation?+
What about Datadog APM trace → DBM?+
How does the AI compare?+
Keep reading
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