Switch from Datadog to AllStak
A Datadog migration is mostly about untangling per-host, per-GB, and per-product billing — the observability itself maps cleanly. Here is the staged plan.
Why a Datadog migration is simpler than it looks
Teams that switch from Datadog usually are not unhappy with the product — they are unhappy with the invoice. Per-host infrastructure pricing, per-GB log ingestion, and separately priced APM, error tracking, and dashboards add up to a bill that grows faster than the system it monitors. The migration itself is more tractable than the pricing page: monitors become alert rules, APM traces become distributed traces, and the agent on your Linux hosts gets replaced by AllStak's agent.
AllStak covers the core of what most teams actually use in Datadog — error tracking, log management, distributed tracing, uptime, and infrastructure monitoring — in one platform with flat, predictable pricing in SAR or USD. This guide lays out the honest Datadog migration path: what maps directly, what you rebuild by hand, and why you should keep both running for a sprint before you cancel.
Why teams switch from Datadog
The pattern is consistent across teams planning a Datadog migration: the bill, the SKU sprawl, and the region.
Flat pricing instead of per-host and per-GB math
Datadog bills per host, per GB of logs, and per product, so autoscaling or a chatty service moves the invoice. AllStak plans are flat and predictable — you know the cost before the month starts.
One product, not a catalog of SKUs
Errors, logs, traces, uptime, infrastructure, and session replay ship together in AllStak. There is no separate line item to negotiate every time the team wants one more signal.
Saudi data residency and an Arabic dashboard
For KSA and GCC organizations, AllStak offers Saudi data residency, SAR pricing, and a fully bilingual Arabic/English dashboard — an operating fit global vendors do not offer.
How to switch from Datadog, step by step
Six steps, staged so production visibility never drops. The application side moves first; the infrastructure agent can follow host by host.
- 1
Create an AllStak project and copy the API key
Sign up at app.allstak.sa on the free tier — no credit card — create a project, and copy its API key. One key routes errors, logs, and traces from a service to the right project.
- 2
Disable the Datadog tracer and SDK init
Remove or disable the dd-trace init and any Datadog client libraries in the service you are migrating first. Leave the Datadog agent running on hosts for now — infrastructure cutover comes after the application side is proven.
- 3
Install the AllStak SDK for your stack
AllStak has 25+ SDKs with setup guides covering Node.js, Python, Java, Go, Laravel, React, and more. For a Node.js service it is a single npm install, and the SDK records errors, requests, and traces in one init.
terminalnpm install @allstak/js - 4
Set release and environment in the init
Pass release and environment so grouping and deploy tracking work from the first event — the equivalent of Datadog's version and env tags. For browser JavaScript, upload source maps so stack traces stay readable.
app.tsimport { AllStak } from '@allstak/js'; AllStak.init({ apiKey: process.env.ALLSTAK_API_KEY!, environment: process.env.NODE_ENV ?? 'production', release: process.env.ALLSTAK_RELEASE, tags: { service: 'worker' }, }); - 5
Recreate your monitors as notification rules
Export the list of Datadog monitors that actually page someone, and rebuild those as AllStak notification rules. Slack, email, webhooks, PagerDuty, Opsgenie, and Telegram are supported — and a migration is the perfect excuse to drop the monitors nobody acts on.
- 6
Run both for a sprint, then cancel Datadog
Keep Datadog collecting in parallel for one sprint. Compare errors, traces, host metrics, and alert behavior on real traffic, install the AllStak Linux agent on remaining hosts, then cancel the Datadog subscription when nothing is missing.
Datadog concepts, mapped to AllStak
The vocabulary changes less than you would expect — use this table when rewriting runbooks.
| Datadog | AllStak |
|---|---|
| Monitors | Alert rulesRouted through notification rules to Slack, email, webhooks, PagerDuty, Opsgenie, or Telegram. |
| APM traces | Distributed tracing |
| Log Management | Log managementIncluded in the platform — not billed per GB as a separate product. |
| Infrastructure | Infrastructure monitoring (Linux agent) |
| Error Tracking | Error tracking |
| Dashboards | Project dashboards |
Datadog migration FAQ
Can I import my historical Datadog data?
No. There is no automated importer — historical metrics, logs, and traces stay in Datadog. You start collecting fresh data when the AllStak SDK and agent go live, which is why running both in parallel during cutover is the recommended path.
Does AllStak replace the Datadog agent on my hosts?
For Linux hosts, yes: the AllStak agent collects CPU, memory, disk, processes, and container telemetry into the same platform as your errors and logs. Install it host by host during the parallel run rather than in one big switch.
How does AllStak pricing differ from Datadog's?
Datadog prices per host, per GB of ingested logs, and per product. AllStak uses flat plan pricing, in SAR or USD, that covers errors, logs, traces, uptime, and infrastructure together — so scaling hosts or log volume does not produce surprise invoices.
Will I lose any capability by leaving Datadog?
Be honest in your inventory: Datadog's catalog is broader. AllStak covers the core most teams use daily — errors, logs, tracing, uptime, infrastructure, session replay. If a niche Datadog product is load-bearing for you, verify the AllStak equivalent during the parallel sprint before canceling.
Do my Datadog dashboards transfer?
No — dashboards are rebuilt, not imported. AllStak ships project dashboards for errors, requests, logs, and hosts out of the box, so most teams find they recreate far fewer custom dashboards than they had.
Explore more
Plan your Datadog migration
Start free, move one service, and compare AllStak against Datadog on your own production traffic before you touch the rest of the fleet.