Migrate from Datadog to Elastic with Expert-Led Services
Why Transition from Datadog to Elastic
Datadog is popular for quick adoption, but many teams encounter issues as operations and environments grow.
Elastic offers open ingestion, flexible retention policies, and a unified search layer across logs, metrics, traces, and profiles.
Datadog Limitations
- High per-host pricing, rising with telemetry growth
- Proprietary query language and storage system
- Vendor lock-in with closed ecosystem
- Costly retention extensions
- Complexity in scaling and visibility
Elastic Solutions
- Horizontal scaling on commodity hardware or cloud-native infrastructure
- OpenTelemetry, Elastic Agents, and Beats for flexible ingestion
- Open platform with ES
- ILM and searchable snapshots for efficient lifecycle and tiered storage
- Unified dashboards in Kibana with AI/ML-based anomaly detection
Datadog Limitations
- High per-host pricing, rising with telemetry growth
- Proprietary query language and storage system
- Vendor lock-in with closed ecosystem
- Costly retention extensions
- Complexity in scaling and visibility
Elastic Solutions
- Horizontal scaling on commodity hardware or cloud-native infrastructure
- OpenTelemetry, Elastic Agents, and Beats for flexible ingestion
- Open platform with ES
- ILM and searchable snapshots for efficient lifecycle and tiered storage
- Unified dashboards in Kibana with AI/ML-based anomaly detection
Migrating from Datadog to Elastic unlocks flexibility, visibility, and control Datadog users often struggle to achieve. Observata ensures these capabilities translate into operational value through expert-led migration and ongoing lifecycle management.
Elastic Advantages for Growing Teams
Horizontal scaling
Queryable cold & frozen tiers
Open Telemetry-first ingestion
Native profiling
Elastic Common Schema (ECS)
Flexible separation of ingestion, storage, & compute
Embedded AI/ML capabilities
Centralized dashboards through Kibana
Embedded AI/ML capabilities
Centralized dashboards through Kibana
Ensuring a Smooth Migration to Elastic
We use a readiness framework that assesses architecture, data mapping, security, and workload dependencies before cutover.
With Observata, you migrate from Datadog to Elastic confidently. Minimal downtime, no data loss, and complete operational control.
- Prepare Your Datadog Inventory for a Smooth Transition
- How to Move Data from Datadog to Elastic Efficiently
- Optimizing Your Data Pipelines and Schema for Elastic
- Managing Production Systems During
Migration - Ensuring Security and Compliance Throughout the Migration
Datadog Telemetry Inventory
Identify all active metrics, logs, traces, dashboards, and integrations currently collected within Datadog.
Data Volume Assessment
Review telemetry ingestion rates, retention policies, and historical data requirements.
Dashboards & Monitors
Capture critical dashboards, monitors, and alert conditions required for operational continuity.
API & Integration Review
Audit Datadog integrations, API dependencies, and data export mechanisms.
Access Controls & Permissions
Review user roles, API keys, and access permissions before migration begins.
Historical Data Export and Ingestion
Export relevant historical telemetry and ingest it into Elastic through Logstash or Elastic Agent pipelines.
Parallel Data Streaming
Route telemetry to both Datadog and Elastic during migration to validate ingestion accuracy.
Metric and Log Conversion
Translate Datadog metrics, tags, and log formats into Elastic-compatible structures.
Query and Dashboard Validation
Recreate and validate dashboards in Kibana to maintain operational visibility.
Schema Alignment
Map Datadog telemetry fields and tags to Elastic Common Schema (ECS).
Ingestion Pipeline Design
Configure ingestion pipelines to process metrics, logs, and traces efficiently.
Data Enrichment
Apply contextual enrichment such as service names, environments, and infrastructure metadata.
Index Lifecycle Management
Define index templates, retention policies, and tiering strategies for scalable storage.
Migration
Dual-Run Monitoring
Operate Datadog and Elastic in parallel during the migration phase.
Performance Validation
Monitor ingestion throughput, query performance, and dashboard behaviour.
Gradual Cutover
Transition services incrementally once Elastic ingestion and analysis are validated.
Encryption and Secure Transfer
Ensure all telemetry transfers use encrypted transport protocols.
Role-Based Access Control
Align access policies between Datadog and Elastic environments.
Compliance and Audit Logging
Maintain audit trails and governance controls during migration.
Data Retention Governance
Validate retention policies to meet regulatory and operational requirements.
Datadog Telemetry Inventory
Identify all active metrics, logs, traces, dashboards, and integrations currently collected within Datadog.
Data Volume Assessment
Review telemetry ingestion rates, retention policies, and historical data requirements.
Dashboards & Monitors
Capture critical dashboards, monitors, and alert conditions required for operational continuity.
API & Integration Review
Audit Datadog integrations, API dependencies, and data export mechanisms.
Access Controls & Permissions
Review user roles, API keys, and access permissions before migration begins.
Historical Data Export and Ingestion
Export relevant historical telemetry and ingest it into Elastic through Logstash or Elastic Agent pipelines.
Parallel Data Streaming
Route telemetry to both Datadog and Elastic during migration to validate ingestion accuracy.
Metric and Log Conversion
Translate Datadog metrics, tags, and log formats into Elastic-compatible structures.
Query and Dashboard Validation
Recreate and validate dashboards in Kibana to maintain operational visibility.
Schema Alignment
Map Datadog telemetry fields and tags to Elastic Common Schema (ECS).
Ingestion Pipeline Design
Configure ingestion pipelines to process metrics, logs, and traces efficiently.
Data Enrichment
Apply contextual enrichment such as service names, environments, and infrastructure metadata.
Index Lifecycle Management
Define index templates, retention policies, and tiering strategies for scalable storage.
Dual-Run Monitoring
Operate Datadog and Elastic in parallel during the migration phase.
Performance Validation
Monitor ingestion throughput, query performance, and dashboard behaviour.
Gradual Cutover
Transition services incrementally once Elastic ingestion and analysis are validated.
Encryption and Secure Transfer
Ensure all telemetry transfers use encrypted transport protocols.
Role-Based Access Control
Align access policies between Datadog and Elastic environments.
Compliance and Audit Logging
Maintain audit trails and governance controls during migration.
Data Retention Governance
Validate retention policies to meet regulatory and operational requirements.
Specialized Workflows
Cost Segmentation
Phased Migration
Running both platforms can be effective when guided by a structured migration strategy. For a deeper dive into hybrid strategies, explore our dedicated blog here.
Scenarios where Datadog and Elastic work together
When to Run Both Platforms
Observata enables hybrid Datadog-Elastic architectures with integrated pipelines and lifecycle management.
When to Run Both Platforms
Not every migration involves a complete cutover. Some teams choose to run Datadog alongside Elastic, either as part of a phased migration or to meet specific use cases.
Cost Segmentation
Scenarios where Datadog and Elastic work together
Specialized Workflows
Cost Segmentation
Phased Migration
Use Datadog’s application-centric monitoring in parallel with Elastic’s broader observability and enterprise search.
Keep high-frequency metrics in Datadog while storing long-term logs and traces in Elastic for compliance and analytics.
Teams gradually shift workloads to Elastic while continuing to monitor critical services
in Datadog.
Scenarios where Datadog and Elastic work together
Observata enables hybrid Datadog-Elastic architectures with integrated pipelines and lifecycle management.
Our Unique Observata Credit Model
Service Credits
Freely Utilize Credits
Clear Reporting
Our Unique Observata Credit Model
Service Credits
GB of RAM is the most accurate representation of observability resource consumption and is managed by Observata to ensure predictable usage and cost.
Service Credits
Freely Utilize Credits
Clear Reporting
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Many organisations operate both platforms during transition. Observata configures dual-ingestion pipelines so telemetry flows to Datadog and Elastic simultaneously, allowing validation and operational continuity before final cutover.
Elastic provides distributed tracing, application performance monitoring, and OpenTelemetry support. Observata configures Elastic APM to unify logs, metrics, and traces under a single schema for consistent analysis across services.
Historical data can be exported and ingested into Elastic through controlled pipelines. Observata handles extraction, schema mapping to Elastic Common Schema (ECS), and re-indexing to preserve timestamps and data integrity.
Yes. Observata reviews existing dashboards and monitors, recreating them in Kibana while preserving operational intent. Alerts are validated during a dual-run phase to ensure thresholds and behaviour remain consistent.
Through the HYPR Vision service, Observata manages the Elastic environment post-migration, including pipeline optimisation, performance tuning, lifecycle management, and governance to maintain long-term observability performance.