Rollbar vs Datadog

by Gralio Feb 09, 2025

Rollbar and Datadog address different needs within software development. Rollbar excels in focused error tracking and debugging, providing detailed insights for developers to quickly fix code issues. Datadog offers a broader suite of monitoring and observability features, catering to organizations that require a comprehensive view of their infrastructure, applications, and security posture.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 958 reviews and 60 websites, saving 5 hours, 49 minutes of reading.

About

Rollbar helps software teams find and fix errors in their code. It tells you about errors as they happen, helps you understand how important they are, and gives you the information you need to fix them quickly. It also helps track these errors over time so your team can improve the software and prevent similar errors. Teams use Rollbar to keep their software running smoothly and avoid problems for their users.
Datadog is a cloud-based software platform that gives you a complete view of your company's technology systems, from websites and apps to servers and databases. It helps you monitor performance, analyze data, and improve security, all in one place. Datadog is designed for companies of all sizes and is used by various teams, including IT, development, and security. It helps businesses ensure their technology runs smoothly, efficiently, and securely.

Summary

Main difference
Rollbar is a specialized error tracking and debugging tool ideal for development teams focused on code quality and rapid issue resolution. Datadog offers a broader range of observability features encompassing infrastructure monitoring, security logs, and application performance monitoring, making it suitable for organizations seeking a comprehensive platform.

Relative strengths of Rollbar (compared to Datadog)

  • Superior error tracking and debugging capabilities with detailed stack traces and context.

  • Easy integration with development tools like Jira, streamlining workflows.

  • More affordable and transparent pricing compared to Datadog, especially for error tracking needs.

Relative weaknesses of Rollbar (compared to Datadog)

  • Limited scope compared to Datadog, primarily focusing on error tracking rather than broader observability.

  • Smaller community and fewer integrations than Datadog, potentially restricting extensibility.

  • Less comprehensive platform for infrastructure monitoring and security logging compared to Datadog.

Who should use Rollbar VS. Datadog

Rollbar is error tracking software that helps developers identify and resolve code errors quickly. It provides real-time alerts and detailed error information, including stack traces and user context. Users praise its easy integration with various languages and frameworks, while some find the UI slow and error grouping inaccurate.

Datadog is a comprehensive monitoring and security platform ideal for technology-driven companies of all sizes, especially those with cloud infrastructure. Users praise its intuitive dashboards and seamless cloud integrations but express concerns about unpredictable costs and customer support. Datadog offers real-time insights into application and infrastructure performance, enabling enhanced observability.

  • Best for small, mid-sized, and enterprise companies.

  • Ideal for Software, IT, Telecommunications, and other industries.

  • Ideal for small, medium, and large enterprises.

  • Best fit for Software, IT & Telecommunications.

Rollbar and Datadog features

Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need
  • Observability
    Partially supported

    Rollbar focuses on application error monitoring and integrates with observability platforms for broader visibility.

    Supported

    Datadog monitors infrastructure health and performance providing end-to-end visibility.

  • Digital Experience Monitoring
    Not supported

    Rollbar primarily focuses on error monitoring, not digital experience monitoring.

    Supported

    Datadog supports digital experience monitoring with features like RUM and synthetic monitoring.

  • Software Delivery
    Supported

    Rollbar streamlines software delivery by integrating with CI/CD tools to monitor errors and track deployments.

    Supported

    Datadog streamlines software development and deployment with CI/CD pipeline visibility, DORA metrics, and test optimization.

  • Real-time monitoring
    Partially supported

    Rollbar offers real-time error monitoring and can track slow transactions for performance insights.

    Supported

    Datadog supports real-time server and application performance monitoring with features like custom dashboards and alerts.

  • Customizable dashboards
    Partially supported

    Rollbar offers customizable dashboards, but their focus is on error tracking, not general log data visualization.

    Supported

    Datadog allows creation of custom dashboards to visualize log data.

  • Cloud environment support
    Supported

    Rollbar supports monitoring cloud-hosted applications and integrates with cloud services.

    Supported

    Datadog supports monitoring applications in cloud environments, including multi-cloud setups.

Qualities

  • Value and Pricing Transparency
    +0.5
    Rather positive sentiment
    -0.95
    Strongly negative sentiment
  • Customer Service
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.08
    Neutral sentiment
  • Ease of Use
    +0.64
    Rather positive sentiment
    +0.66
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Reliability and Performance
    +0.86
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.86
    Strongly positive sentiment
  • Ease of Implementation
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.26
    Neutral sentiment
  • Scalability
    No data
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
Rollbar and Datadog Pricing
No data

User sentiment

Rather positive
+0.5

See full Pricing page

Datadog offers various pricing plans based on the specific product and features needed. Contact sales for custom quotes on LLM Observability and App Builder.
Plans

User sentiment

Strongly negative
-0.95

See full Pricing page

Rollbar and Datadog review insights

944 reviews analysed from and

Users love

  • Easy integration with various languages and frameworks (Ruby, Python, JavaScript, etc.).
  • Real-time error tracking and notifications (email, Slack).
  • Detailed error information, including stack traces, user data, and context.
  • Helpful support and responsive team.
  • Customizable grouping rules and alerting.
  • Datadog’s intuitive dashboards make it easy to monitor systems.
  • Seamless integration with AWS and other cloud providers.
  • The vast number of integrations allows for extensive customization.
  • Real-time alerts help quickly identify and resolve issues.

Users dislike

  • Error grouping can be inaccurate and sometimes merges unrelated errors.
  • The user interface can be slow, laggy, and occasionally overwhelming.
  • RQL queries can be slow and time out.
  • Frontend error tracking can be noisy, reporting errors outside the application's scope (browser extensions, bots).
  • Limited customization for notification filtering.
  • Unpredictable costs make it difficult to budget for.
  • Log ingestion is very expensive.
  • Customer support can be slow and unresponsive.
  • Documentation can be out of date or difficult to find.

Rollbar and Datadog Ratings

  • G2
    4.5/5
    (171)
  • TrustPilot
    3.7/5
    (1)
  • Glassdoor
    4.4/5
    (17)
  • G2
    4.3/5
    (532)
  • Capterra
    4.6/5
    (242)
  • TrustPilot
    1.9/5
    (13)
  • Glassdoor
    3.9/5
    (1186)

Company health

Employee growth

11% decrease in the last year
36% increase in the last year

Web traffic

10% decrease in the last quarter
10% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

November 2019 - $18M
February 2020 - $148M

How do Rollbar and Datadog differ in handling frontend error tracking?

Rollbar users report frontend error tracking as sometimes overly sensitive, picking up noise from browser extensions and bots. While Datadog also offers frontend error tracking, user reviews don't mention similar noise issues. However, Datadog's pricing model, which charges per event, could become costly with noisy frontend error tracking if not carefully managed.

Which product provides more comprehensive observability, Rollbar or Datadog?

Datadog provides more comprehensive observability than Rollbar. While Rollbar focuses primarily on error tracking and reporting, Datadog offers a wider range of observability features including infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring (APM), digital experience monitoring, and log management. This broader scope allows Datadog to provide a more holistic view of system health and performance.

What are the advantages of Rollbar?

Rollbar specializes in error tracking and debugging, providing real-time error reporting, detailed stack traces, and integrations with development tools like Jira. Its focused approach to error management makes it advantageous for teams prioritizing code quality and rapid debugging. Users specifically praise Rollbar's ease of integration with various programming languages and frameworks.

What are the disadvantages of Rollbar?

Rollbar's error grouping can be inaccurate, leading to confusion. The user interface is sometimes slow and difficult to navigate. RQL queries can be slow and prone to timing out. Frontend error tracking is noisy, capturing irrelevant errors. Finally, notification filtering options are limited.

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Page co-authored by
MK
Michal Kaczor
CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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