Datadog alternative
Calibre vs Datadog
Datadog monitors your applications and infrastructure. Calibre monitors your website: how fast pages load for visitors, and how Google rates them.
Free for 15 days. No credit card required.
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How Calibre and Datadog differ
Updated
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Real User Monitoring | ||
| Session ID storage | A cookie, by default | sessionStorage, no cookies |
| Chrome UX Report (CrUX) | ||
| Google CrUX data | Not in Datadog’s docs | Every plan, no setup |
| Synthetic Monitoring | ||
| Lighthouse audits | Optional, desktop Chrome only | Every synthetic test, desktop and mobile |
| Lighthouse in pull requests | Not on CI-triggered runs | In every pull request review |
| Synthetic test history | Kept for 15 months | Kept for the life of your account |
| Plans and pricing | ||
| Billing | Separate charges for each product | One plan for RUM, CrUX and synthetic tests |
Calibre and Datadog both include
- Real User Monitoring
- RUM element attribution for LCP, CLS and INP
- RUM for single-page apps
- Deploy tracking
- MCP for coding agents
What’s in Calibre
Real User Monitoring
- LCP, INP, CLS and TTFB from your visitors, plus a UX Rating
- Subparts for LCP, INP and TTFB, so you can see which part is slow
- The element behind each slow LCP, CLS and INP
- Split by page, page group, device, browser, OS, country and city
- Every navigation type, including back/forward cache, prerender and soft navigations
- P50, P75, P95 and P98 for every metric
- Compare each deployment with the one before
- No cookies or localStorage, with optional EU and EEA exclusion
Chrome UX Report (CrUX)
- Google’s Core Web Vitals for your origin and each key page
- Pages found automatically by scanning your site
- History from the day you add a Site, charted up to 24 months
- Pass or fail against Google’s Core Web Vitals assessment
- The share of good, needs improvement and poor visits
- LCP subparts from real Chrome users
- UX Rating by country, device and navigation type
- Rank your site against competitors, with nothing to install
Synthetic Monitoring
- A full Lighthouse audit on every test: Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO
- 17 test locations, 12 device presets and 14 network speeds
- Hourly, daily or custom schedules, plus tests on demand
- Logged-in pages, with login forms, basic auth, cookies or headers
- Performance budgets on any metric, with email, Slack and webhook alerts
- A speed report in every pull request
- Filmstrip, long tasks and third-party impact for every test
- Results kept for the life of your account
Teams and automation
- SAML single sign-on with SCIM, self-serve on the Team plan
- Enforced SSO, verified domains and passkeys
- Audit log streaming to your SIEM, on the Company plan
- Admin, User and Viewer roles
- CLI, Node.js API and GraphQL API on every plan
- An MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor and other coding agents
- Webhooks, plus Slack, GitHub, Netlify and Zapier integrations
- Export metric history as CSV
Switching from Datadog
We’ll help you move
Set it up on a call with our founder, or script it yourself. Either way, your Core Web Vitals history is there from day one.
Set up on a call
Book a call with Ben, Calibre’s founder. We’ll add your Sites, recreate your budgets, install the RUM snippet and connect GitHub and Slack with you.
Book a setup call →Script the setup
Create Sites, pages and Test Profiles from code with the Calibre CLI, Node.js API or GraphQL API. This is useful when you have many Sites to move.
Read the CLI docs →Start with your history
Calibre pulls Google CrUX history as soon as you add a Site. Your Core Web Vitals trends are there from the first day, with no wait to build history.
Learn about CrUX Monitoring →“Calibre’s RUM dashboard was instantly attractive thanks to the negligible impact on page weight, support for CWV, and thoughtful metrics presentation.”
Built for websites
See your site the way visitors and Google do
Real User Monitoring, Google CrUX data and Lighthouse tests for every page, on one plan.
Google CrUX data, ready on day one
Add a Site and Calibre finds its key pages and pulls their Chrome UX Report data straight away, then charts up to 24 months of history. No BigQuery, no script to install.
Learn about CrUX Monitoring →A 9 KB, secure and privacy-first script
The script is signed, so supporting browsers won’t run it if it has been tampered with. It uses no cookies or localStorage and collects no personal data.
Learn how RUM protects visitors →Rank your site against competitors
Add competitor sites to a Team and Calibre ranks every site by UX Rating, LCP, CLS and INP on CrUX data. Nothing to install on their sites.
Learn about competitor benchmarking →Questions about switching from Datadog
Can I use Calibre alongside Datadog?
Yes. Calibre monitors your website: page speed, Core Web Vitals and how Google rates your pages. Keep Datadog for your applications, logs and infrastructure.
Is Calibre a good Datadog RUM alternative?
Yes, if what you need to monitor is a website. Calibre collects Core Web Vitals from your visitors without cookies, adds Google CrUX data, and runs Lighthouse on every synthetic test.
How is Calibre priced?
From $75 a month. Team is $150 a month with 10 seats, 10,000 RUM sessions and 15,000 synthetic tests, and extra RUM is $75 per 100,000 sessions. CrUX data is on every plan. Datadog bills RUM sessions, session replays and synthetic test runs separately.
Does Calibre RUM use cookies?
No. Calibre RUM uses no cookies or localStorage and stores no personal data. A random session ID lives in sessionStorage and is removed when the tab closes.
Can I automate Calibre?
Yes. Every plan includes the CLI, the Node.js API and the GraphQL API, so you can run tests from CI, manage Sites and pull data into your own reports. The Calibre MCP server lets Claude Code, Cursor and other coding agents read your monitoring data.
Can I try Calibre before switching?
Yes. Start a free 15-day trial, no credit card required, and run Calibre alongside Datadog while you decide. Synthetic results will differ a little, since each tool tests from its own locations and devices.
Need help to dial in your new speed system?
Our friendly, knowledgeable team will help you establish a system that works efficiently or answer any questions. We’re here to support you in your web performance journey. Contact support.
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Fast website, happy customers
Start a free 15-day trial, or book a setup call and we’ll move you across.
