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Datadog OpenObserve / SigNoz

hard

Datadog bills can hit $50k/mo for mid-size teams. OpenObserve and SigNoz are open-source, OTel-native and run on object storage for cheap retention.

Estimated: 8-20h · 6 steps
Progress0%
Step 1: Pick the target

OpenObserve: Rust-based, very cheap S3 storage. SigNoz: more polished UI, ClickHouse-backed. Both speak OTLP.

Step 2: Deploy backend

Helm chart on K8s or docker-compose on a VPS. SigNoz Cloud and OpenObserve Cloud also available if you want managed.

Step 3: Switch instrumentation to OTel

Replace Datadog SDK calls with OpenTelemetry SDK. Most languages: dd-trace → @opentelemetry/sdk-node + auto-instrumentations.

Step 4: Point exporters at new backend
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=https://your-collector:4318
Step 5: Recreate dashboards and alerts

Datadog dashboards must be rebuilt. SigNoz has dashboard-as-code; OpenObserve uses Grafana under the hood for dashboards.

Step 6: Cut over and decommission
Logs, metrics, traces all flowing to new backend. Datadog usage zero for one billing cycle before cancel.