Datadog is the default observability platform for a reason: the product is broad and polished. The two complaints that push European teams to look for alternatives are just as consistent. First, per-GB pricing punishes you for logging more, which is exactly backwards during an incident. Second, for organisations bound by GDPR, NIS2, or DORA, hosting in a European region of a US provider is not the same thing as European jurisdiction over the data.
That second point is often misunderstood. Jurisdiction follows the provider, not the datacenter: US legislation such as the CLOUD Act can compel US companies to produce data they control regardless of where it is stored. Microsoft’s French subsidiary confirmed to the French Senate in 2025 that it could not guarantee French data would never be handed to US authorities. An EU region shortens latency; it does not change who can be compelled.
Why EU teams look for a Datadog alternative
- Per-GB pricing: the bill scales with verbosity, so cost control becomes log deletion, which is the opposite of what NIS2 and incident response need.
- Bill surprises: a chatty deployment or debug logging left on becomes a finance conversation.
- EU region is not EU jurisdiction: US providers remain subject to US legal process for data they control, wherever it is stored.
- Separately priced modules: log management, security monitoring, and APM add up to several line items.
- Compliance evidence: NIS2/DORA reporting is simpler when the platform itself is under EU jurisdiction with published subprocessors.
The alternatives
1. LogPulse
EU-hosted log management and SIEM on one engine, under EU jurisdiction by design: data in GCP Amsterdam, AI evaluation on Amazon Bedrock in an EU region, published subprocessors, GDPR by default. Flat monthly pricing (not per GB), sub-200ms search on ClickHouse, AI-assisted investigation, and a risk-based SIEM included on the Business plan rather than sold as a separate product.
Best for: EU teams that want logs plus security monitoring with a predictable bill and a clean jurisdiction story.
2. Better Stack
A fast-growing observability platform (logs, uptime, incident management) headquartered in the EU (Czech Republic), known for aggressive pricing versus Datadog and a polished developer experience.
Best for: Developer teams consolidating logs, uptime, and on-call in one affordable tool.
3. AppSignal
Dutch APM and error-tracking vendor with straightforward pricing and EU roots. Strongest on application performance monitoring for Ruby, Elixir, and JavaScript stacks; logging is part of the package rather than the core.
Best for: Product teams on supported stacks that want APM-first observability from an EU vendor.
4. SigNoz
Open-source observability (logs, metrics, traces) built on ClickHouse, self-hostable or cloud. Self-hosting gives you full data control at the cost of operating it; the company itself is US-based.
Best for: Teams that want OpenTelemetry-native observability and are comfortable self-hosting.
5. Axiom
US-based log and event platform with generous volume economics and a serverless architecture. Strong price-performance for log analytics; SIEM capability and EU jurisdiction are not the pitch.
Best for: Cost-driven engineering teams without EU-jurisdiction requirements.
6. Grafana Loki
Open-source log aggregation designed to pair with Grafana, indexing only labels rather than content, which keeps storage cheap but makes needle-in-haystack security investigation harder. Self-hosted or via Grafana Cloud (US company).
Best for: Kubernetes teams standardised on Grafana that mainly need operational log viewing.
Side-by-side comparison
| Alternative | Pricing model | SIEM included | Company jurisdiction | Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LogPulse | Flat per month | Yes (Business plan) | EU (Netherlands) | EU-only (GCP Amsterdam) |
| Better Stack | Usage-based, cheap | No | EU (Czech Republic) | EU/US options |
| AppSignal | Seat/usage | No | EU (Netherlands) | EU |
| SigNoz | Free self-host / cloud | No | US (self-host possible) | Wherever you run it |
| Axiom | Volume-based, cheap | No | US | US-centric |
| Grafana Loki | Free self-host / cloud | No | US (self-host possible) | Wherever you run it |