# CtrlB vs Datadog: What Your Observability Data Really Costs

Datadog meters logs twice — once to ingest and again to index for search — while CtrlB charges a single predictable rate of $0.20 per GB with 30-day retention and 100% indexing included. This page compares the models and includes a volume calculator.

## Metadata

- **Canonical HTML**: https://ctrlb.ai/datadog-alternative
- **Last updated**: 2026-08-26

## Pricing model (summary)

| Side | How you pay |
|------|-------------|
| CtrlB | Volume × $0.20/GB; 30-day retention and full indexing included |
| Datadog | Full volume × $0.10/GB ingest + indexed share × $2.50/GB (30-day). Under the page assumption 1M events = 1 GB, that index rate equals $2.50 per million events |

## Assumptions used in the calculator

- 1 TB = 1,000 GB
- 1M events = 1 GB (so Datadog indexing at $2.50/GB = $2.50 / M events)

## Next steps

- [Book a demo](https://ctrlb.ai/contact)
- [Start free](https://flow.ctrlb.ai/auth/sign-up)
- [CtrlB pricing](https://ctrlb.ai/pricing)