compare_providers
Datadog vs New Relic: observability, observed
Datadog leads on the Kin Score (77.6 to 71.0) with ten times the API surface. New Relic leads on developer ergonomics and operational transparency.
Datadog
Datadog scores 77.6 and New Relic 71.0, both exemplars and both agent-ready (49.6 against 45.7). Datadog’s lead is contract governance (45.5 against 31.8) and access clarity (85.5 against 60.5), across 186 APIs against New Relic’s 18.
New Relic wins four facets: discoverability (83.3 against 80.0), contract quality (80.6 against 67.4), developer ergonomics (87.5 against 78.0) and operational transparency (55.3 against 44.7). It also publishes more of the surrounding material, including SDKs, source code, a console, getting-started guides, JSON-LD and an APIs.json index. Datadog publishes OAuth scopes, which New Relic does not.
Only Datadog has a priced entry the catalog can read, from its own credit-based usage pricing, so it is named the cheapest entry by default. The split suits the two companies: Datadog has the broader, better-governed API with clearer pricing, and New Relic has the better-written contracts and the friendlier way in.
Facet by facet
The six Kin Score facets, 0 to 100. The facet leader is the one the tool names in facet_leaders. Each facet links to how it is measured.
| Facet | Datadog | New Relic | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discoverability | 80 | 83.3 | New Relic |
| Contract Quality | 67.4 | 80.6 | New Relic |
| Contract Governance | 45.5 | 31.8 | Datadog |
| Operational Transparency | 44.7 | 55.3 | New Relic |
| Developer Ergonomics | 78 | 87.5 | New Relic |
| Access Clarity | 85.5 | 60.5 | Datadog |
| Kin Score | 77.6 | 71 | Datadog |
| Agent readiness | 49.6 agent-ready | 45.7 agent-ready | Datadog |
Artifact coverage
Every artifact type either provider publishes, from the tool's artifact_matrix. Differences are listed first.
| Artifact | Datadog | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| APIsJSON | — | ✓ |
| Console | — | ✓ |
| GettingStarted | — | ✓ |
| JSONLD | — | ✓ |
| Resources | — | ✓ |
| SDKs | — | ✓ |
| Scopes | ✓ | — |
| SourceCode | — | ✓ |
| AgenticAccess | ✓ | ✓ |
| Arazzo | ✓ | ✓ |
| Authentication | ✓ | ✓ |
| Documentation | ✓ | ✓ |
| FinOps | ✓ | ✓ |
| GraphQL | ✓ | ✓ |
| JSONSchema | ✓ | ✓ |
| MCP | ✓ | ✓ |
| OpenAPI | ✓ | ✓ |
| Overlay | ✓ | ✓ |
| Plans | ✓ | ✓ |
| RateLimits | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rules | ✓ | ✓ |
| Security | ✓ | ✓ |
What it costs to get in
Each provider's economics as the tool returns them. Grade A is quoted on the provider's own pricing page, B is arithmetic on quotes, C a stated prior. Entry cost is the cheapest published paid tier — a floor on getting in, not the price of the API alone. Grades: A quoted on the provider's page, B arithmetic on quotes, C a stated prior.
| Datadog | New Relic | |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | business-product | — |
| Pricing basis | usage-other | — |
| Delivery | managed | — |
| Entry (per month) | $ 0.05 grade A · Flex Storage | not published |
| Marginal cost | $ 500 ÷ 500 credits grade B | — |
| Take rate | — | — |
| Source | pricing page read 2026-09-20 | — |
Cheapest published way in: Datadog. Priced 1 of 2.
The full compare_providers response
{"providers":[{"slug":"datadog","name":"Datadog","band":"exemplar","composite":77.6,"trend":"flat","delta":0,"api_count":186,"api_count_basis":"split","artifact_types":["MCP","Security","Rules","Plans","RateLimits","FinOps","Scopes","AgenticAccess","Arazzo","Overlay","OpenAPI","Documentation","Authentication","GraphQL","JSONSchema","Reference"],"industries":["data-analytics","developer-tools"],"regions":[],"facets":{"discoverability":80,"contract_quality":67.4,"contract_governance":45.5,"operational_transparency":44.7,"developer_ergonomics":78,"access_clarity":85.5},"facet_gap":{"discoverability":3.3,"contract_quality":13.2,"contract_governance":0,"operational_transparency":10.6,"developer_ergonomics":9.5,"access_clarity":0},"agent_readiness":{"score":49.6,"band":"agent-ready"},"economics":{"audience":"business-product","pricing_basis":"usage-other","delivery":"managed","entry_usd_month":{"usd":0.05,"grade":"A","plan":"Flex Storage","from":"$ 0.05","unit":null,"formula":null},"marginal_usd":{"usd":1,"grade":"B","plan":"AI Credits","from":"$ 500 ÷ 500 credits","unit":"credit","formula":"monthly price / included quota — an UPPER bound: assumes the quota is fully used"},"take_rate":null,"fetched":"2026-09-20","source":"https://www.datadoghq.com/pricing/"}},{"slug":"new-relic","name":"New Relic","band":"exemplar","composite":71,"trend":"flat","delta":0,"api_count":18,"api_count_basis":"split","artifact_types":["MCP","Security","Rules","Plans","RateLimits","FinOps","AgenticAccess","Arazzo","Overlay","OpenAPI","Documentation","Authentication","APIReference","JSONSchema","JSONLD","SDKs","GettingStarted","GitHubRepository","Console","Resources","GraphQL","APIsJSON"],"industries":["data-analytics","developer-tools"],"regions":[],"facets":{"discoverability":83.3,"contract_quality":80.6,"contract_governance":31.8,"operational_transparency":55.3,"developer_ergonomics":87.5,"access_clarity":60.5},"facet_gap":{"discoverability":0,"contract_quality":0,"contract_governance":13.7,"operational_transparency":0,"developer_ergonomics":0,"access_clarity":25},"agent_readiness":{"score":45.7,"band":"agent-ready"},"economics":null}],"artifact_union":["APIsJSON","AgenticAccess","Arazzo","Authentication","Console","Documentation","FinOps","GettingStarted","GraphQL","JSONLD","JSONSchema","MCP","OpenAPI","Overlay","Plans","RateLimits","Resources","Rules","SDKs","Scopes","Security","SourceCode"],"artifact_matrix":{"APIsJSON":{"datadog":false,"new-relic":true},"AgenticAccess":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"Arazzo":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"Authentication":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"Console":{"datadog":false,"new-relic":true},"Documentation":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"FinOps":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"GettingStarted":{"datadog":false,"new-relic":true},"GraphQL":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"JSONLD":{"datadog":false,"new-relic":true},"JSONSchema":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"MCP":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"OpenAPI":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"Overlay":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"Plans":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"RateLimits":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"Resources":{"datadog":false,"new-relic":true},"Rules":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"SDKs":{"datadog":false,"new-relic":true},"Scopes":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":false},"Security":{"datadog":true,"new-relic":true},"SourceCode":{"datadog":false,"new-relic":true}},"facet_leaders":{"discoverability":{"provider":"new-relic","score":83.3},"contract_quality":{"provider":"new-relic","score":80.6},"contract_governance":{"provider":"datadog","score":45.5},"operational_transparency":{"provider":"new-relic","score":55.3},"developer_ergonomics":{"provider":"new-relic","score":87.5},"access_clarity":{"provider":"datadog","score":85.5}},"best_overall":"datadog","cheapest_entry":"datadog","economics_basis":{"stamp_generated":"2026-10-17","priced":1,"of":2,"note":"Entry cost is the cheapest published paid tier — a floor on getting in, not the price of the API alone. Grades: A quoted on the provider's page, B arithmetic on quotes, C a stated prior."},"unknown":[]}
Result read 2026-10-27. Scores move as providers publish; run it yourself for today's numbers.
Run this comparison yourself
Everything above came from one call to compare_providers. Swap in any two of the catalog's providers (three or more works too) and you get the same answer for your own shortlist. It is an Understanding tool, included in the Understanding and Influence plans, or pay per call.
https://apis.io/mcp:
{"name": "compare_providers", "arguments": {"providers": ["datadog","new-relic"]}}
Over the REST API:
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/compare?providers=datadog,new-relic" \
-H "X-API-Key: $APIS_IO_KEY"
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