Datadog vs Scandock: monitoring setup, root-cause analysis and pricing

Datadog is a monitoring platform for metrics, logs and traces. For databases it offers Database Monitoring (DBM), which shows per-query performance and explain plans.

Scandock is a service focused on database monitoring. AI reads your tables and data to decide what to watch, and when something is off, it investigates the cause before telling you.

The difference is who builds the monitoring and who investigates the cause. In Datadog, people do. In Scandock, AI does. This page puts real screens from both side by side to show the difference.

In short

If you want database monitoring and root-cause investigation off your team's plate, we recommend Scandock.

Add a connection string, and AI designs the monitoring, investigates anomalies down to the cause and reports with evidence. You can start without a database expert, and it watches business data such as orders and payments too. If you need APM, logs and databases in one product and have people to build out monitoring, Datadog can be enough.

Comparison table

Item	Datadog DBM	Scandock
Designing monitors	You set up metrics and monitors	AI reads your tables and data and decides
Detecting anomalies	You choose the detection method and thresholds	AI judges from trends and past outcomes
Finding the cause	You read dashboards and explain plans	AI runs queries to investigate and reports with evidence
Remediation	Done by hand	Registered actions run after your approval
Setup	DB config changes, a monitoring user, the Agent	Add a connection string
Business data	Write custom_queries yourself (billed as custom metrics)	AI also watches orders, failed payments and more
Scope	Also covers APM, logs, infrastructure and more	Focused on databases, including business data
Price	¥15,300 per DB host per month (DBM and Infrastructure, monthly)	From ¥29,800/month (up to 3 databases)

What to watch: thresholds set by people, or by AI

Datadog

In Datadog, a person picks the detection method, the metric and scope, the aggregation and the values that trigger an alert for each monitor. It takes someone who knows which metrics matter to the business and keeps tuning the numbers.

Scandock

In Scandock, AI reads your tables and data and sets up monitors such as payment outcomes, failures by payment method, incoming orders and backed-up shipping jobs. Nobody has to set thresholds: AI judges anomalies from trends, marks them as fired, and moves straight on to investigating the cause.

Finding the cause: read the screens, or get the answer

Datadog

In Datadog, a person looks for suspicious queries by count and duration per normalized query, then opens the explain plan to work out where the time goes. It takes someone who knows what to look for.

Datadog Database Monitoring explain plan screen — Datadog: explain plan map (source: Datadog Docs, "Database Monitoring")

Scandock

In Scandock, when AI notices an anomaly, it investigates with read-only queries, summarizes what is happening with evidence, and sends it to Slack or email with a suggested fix. Nobody has to interpret screens. You read the report and decide whether to approve the fix.

Setup

Compared for a self-hosted PostgreSQL database.

Datadog

Load pg_stat_statements in postgresql.conf and restart the database
Create a datadog user and set up a schema, grants, extensions and functions in each database
Install the Datadog Agent (7.36.1 or later) on a machine that can reach the database
Add the host and dbm: true to the Agent's postgres.d/conf.yaml and restart the Agent

Scandock

Paste a connection string (with an admin user, a read-only monitoring user is created for you)
AI reads your tables and data, decides what to monitor and starts watching

Scandock installs nothing on the database server and changes no database settings. Private databases connect through Cloudflare Tunnel.

Pricing

Datadog grows with the number of database hosts. Scandock is flat in tiers of up to 3 and up to 10 databases.

Databases	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Datadog (DBM + Infrastructure)	15,300	30,600	45,900	61,200	76,500	91,800	107,100	122,400	137,700	153,000
Scandock	29,800	29,800	29,800	79,800	79,800	79,800	79,800	79,800	79,800	79,800

Datadog is calculated for self-hosted databases with the Agent installed on the database server. Each database host incurs Database Monitoring (¥12,600/month) plus Infrastructure Pro (¥2,700/month) for the host running the Agent, ¥15,300/month in total. Both are monthly list prices ($84 and $18) converted at ¥150 to the dollar. Other products such as Logs and APM are not included. Annual plans start at ¥12,750 per database host per month.
Scandock is Starter (¥29,800/month) for up to 3 databases and Business (¥79,800/month) for up to 10. Each plan limits the number of monitors and the check interval. Annual billing saves two months.

Which one to choose

Datadog can be enough for teams that

Need APM, logs, infrastructure and databases in the same product
Also need to monitor Oracle or MongoDB in the same product
Have database experts who can keep setting monitors, tuning thresholds and investigating causes themselves

Scandock fits teams that

Have no database expert, or no time to spare
Want to stop setting and tuning thresholds
Want anomalies in business data, like orders and failed payments, watched too
Want monitoring costs to stay flat as databases grow
Want alerts in Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat and more

With Datadog, people spend hours building monitors, tuning thresholds and reading screens at every incident, and those hours never show up on the price list. With Scandock, AI designs the monitoring and investigates the cause, and you just read the evidence and approve. It is free for 14 days and starts watching as soon as you add a connection string. Give it a try.

Sources

Datadog pricing, setup steps and screenshots were checked on its official site on November 3, 2026. See the official site for the latest. Datadog is a trademark of Datadog, Inc.