# Datadog MCP Server vs New Relic MCP Server > New Relic scores 61 (C) to Datadog's 50.8 (D) for metrics and monitoring. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-new-relic - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-new-relic.md (~5,150 tokens) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - DNS: dig +short TXT .grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.. and .vs.. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data) - Updated: 2026-11-04 New Relic MCP Server scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Datadog MCP Server's 50.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Datadog MCP Server leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. Both do metrics and monitoring. - Datadog MCP Server: grade D, 50.8/100, rank #927 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/datadog-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/datadog-mcp.json - New Relic MCP Server: grade C, 61/100, rank #567 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/new-relic.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/new-relic.json - Best observability and incident tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/observability/index.md - All 49 observability comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/observability/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Datadog MCP Server (D) Good for: Agents that triage production issues across metrics, logs, traces and monitors in a Datadog org. sentry-mcp is narrower and deeper on errors, pagerduty-mcp covers on-call. Ahead on: - Schema & documentation, 60 against 51 - Agent ergonomics, 78 against 59 Also in its favour: - Runs on your own machine Watch for: Tools and parameters are removed the day they're announced, most recently `lookback` on three RUM tools on 9 October 2026 ### New Relic MCP Server (C) Good for: Agents investigating incidents, errors, deployments and performance in an existing New Relic account, where reads are enough. Ahead on: - Reliability, 60 against 33 - Payments & pricing, 30 against 20 - Maintenance & community, 80 against 68 - Transparency & trust, 81 against 69 Also in its favour: - Free to start without a card - No incidents deducted, where Datadog MCP Server loses 6 points for them Watch for: Tool input schemas are visible only through an authenticated session; the docs give one-line descriptions and no parameters ## Why the edge ### Reliability: New Relic MCP Server +27 - Datadog MCP Server (33): Scored as a hosted MCP server. status.datadoghq.com now answers robots.txt with an S3 AccessDenied 403, which this run reads as a refusal, so the 1 October reading of its front page (components with no MCP component, three late-September incidents in other products) is struck. Datadog's Acceptable Use Policy also bars robots from its sites, so nothing more was requested. With no component reading left, the status-page line is 0, and the 90-day incident history is unread (5). The changelog publishes a burst limit of 50 calls per 10 seconds and a monthly quota of 100,000 tool calls per organisation, doubled from 50,000 on 28 August (15). Read-only software-delivery calls are retried on transient failures and `get_datadog_k8s_manifest` explains what to do when rate limited, but no Retry-After or backoff guidance for MCP clients was found. The 5 is kept from 1 October as a partly met line (5). No SLA found (0). GA since 9 March 2026 on the stable /v1 URL since 20 July, with some toolsets still experimental, kept at 8 as partly met (8). 0+5+15+5+0+8 = 33. - New Relic MCP Server (60): Scored as a hosted MCP server. status.newrelic.com is an Atlassian Statuspage with 115 components across the US, EU and JP regions and no MCP component (20). history.rss holds seven incidents in the 90 days to 3 November 2026, among them delayed queries and alerts in the US for 49 minutes on 2 November, synthetics ping delays the same day, the JP entity platform unavailable for 67 minutes on 28 October, delayed US data and alerts from 19:24 to 22:04 UTC on 25 September, intermittent UI errors for two and a half hours the same night, a Salesforce support outage on 16 September and a 10-minute EU metric issue. Two regional incidents over an hour on the query and alert paths the server depends on, so one major (10). Published numbers, 2,000 tool calls an hour per user on the MCP server and 25 concurrent NerdGraph requests per user (15). NerdGraph answers 429 on concurrency with guidance to batch or pool, but no Retry-After is documented and nothing covers retries of MCP calls; the tools are reads, so idempotency doesn't arise (8). The pricing page lists support response SLAs, and the paid terms promise commercially reasonable efforts, so no availability SLA (0). Public preview on 4 November 2025, available to all accounts on 3 November 2026 with preview tools marked separately, but no dated GA notice was found (7). 20 + 10 + 15 + 8 + 0 + 7 = 60. ### Agent ergonomics: Datadog MCP Server +19 - Datadog MCP Server (78): More than 30 toolsets chosen with the `toolsets` parameter, `omit_tools` per the 30 September check, `whoami` and `toolsets` resources, and a core set trimmed by about 15 per cent in March. An `execute_code` toolset runs sandboxed TypeScript against the APIs instead of one tool per call. We couldn't count the default tools (20). `limit`, cursors, `custom_attributes`, token budgets and flattening on aggregates, and `exclude_fields` on Kubernetes manifests (19). The changelog shows a steady effort on actionable errors (15). OAuth read-only grants omit write tools, an org setting blocks MCP writes, and read-only calls retry automatically. The 13 October entry says `execute_code` is now marked read-only so that clients asking approval for write-capable tools classify it correctly, but no entry names readOnlyHint or destructiveHint, so the annotation credit isn't added (12). Official Datadog API clients in several languages and Python agent examples in the repository (12). - New Relic MCP Server (59): 40 tools in the default list, above the 30-tool line (5), with the `include-tags` header to load only named groups (add 10, so 15). Time windows on most tools, `convert_time_period_to_epoch_ms`, filters on incidents, errors and logs, and NRQL's own LIMIT and FACET; no documented page size (14). The troubleshooting page covers setup errors with fixes, and the docs say nothing about tool-level error bodies (8). Every tool is a read (query, list, fetch, analyse) and the gap tool reads files the client sends, so a retry is safe; no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint was confirmed because tools/list wasn't read (12). Natural-language prompts need no parameters from the user, and the API behind the server has official NerdGraph clients; nothing agent-specific beyond skills (10). 15 + 14 + 8 + 12 + 10 = 59. ### Maintenance & community: New Relic MCP Server +12 - Datadog MCP Server (68): Latest changelog entry 16 October 2026, 19 days before this check (30). 35 dated entries from 6 August to 16 October (20). Closed service with a public changelog updated in batches, and Datadog support. Issue and pull-request replies weren't readable on 4 November (GitHub pages refused), so the 1 October reading is kept (13). Not in the official MCP registry per the 1 October check, not re-read (0). Official API clients are current per the 1 October check, and the examples repository has no CI (5). 30+20+13+0+5 = 68. - New Relic MCP Server (80): Read as a closed service. The what's-new feed and press releases record changes through October 2026, the latest on 28 October (Change Tracking in GitHub Copilot), and docs llms.txt was regenerated on 3 November (30). More than three dated entries in 90 days, among them the Ground Truth CLI on 6 October, the CEO appointment on 1 October, OpenTelemetry AI monitoring in August and the ISO 42001 announcement (20). A support portal, in-app support and a community forum; the skills hub repository on GitHub, whose issue replies couldn't be read (10 of 15). com.newrelic/mcp-server in the official registry since 28 October 2025 under a DNS-verified namespace, still at 0.1.0 (15). No package to assess for a hosted server; NerdGraph has official clients (5). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 5 = 80. ### Transparency & trust: New Relic MCP Server +12 - Datadog MCP Server (69): The hosted server is closed with published terms, and the examples repository is MIT (18). Privacy policy, DPA and a trust centre exist, but we found nothing MCP-specific on what the server logs or keeps (18). The changelog labels breaking changes and deprecations, for example `get_datadog_spreadsheet_table_data` deprecated on 20 July, but removals ship the day they're announced, and nothing says whether the old /api/unstable/ URL still works (8). Since 1 October one removal had notice. `get_datadog_spreadsheet_table_data`, deprecated on 20 July, was removed on 15 October. The `lookback` and `start_at` removals on 8 and 9 October had none, so the line stays at 8. Datadog sites per region are documented. The subprocessor list sits behind the trust centre's request form (12). - New Relic MCP Server (81): Closed service with clear dated terms (paid 8 November 2022, unpaid 21 October 2021) naming New Relic, Inc. (15). A privacy notice of 14 September 2026, a data retention page with per-namespace periods, a security policy, and the MCP docs' statement that gap-analysis responses aren't stored; the master cloud agreement and the trust centre couldn't be read (22). End-of-life notices with dates (REST API keys, 2025) and a pre-release policy that says preview services can change or end (16). US, EU and JP regions are documented for the server and the platform, but no sub-processor list was found on a readable page (10). 15 + 22 + 16 + 10 = 63. ### Payments & pricing: New Relic MCP Server +10 - Datadog MCP Server (20): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Datadog plan prices are public and the MCP quota of 100,000 calls a month per organisation is published, but there's no MCP price or per-call rate (10). A free Datadog plan exists per the 30 September check, and nothing we read says whether it includes MCP, so half (10). A person signs up and authorises OAuth or creates keys (0). Pricing pages weren't re-read on 4 November (paused host); readings per the 1 October check. - New Relic MCP Server (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The pricing page is public for the free tier and data ingest ($0.40 per GB beyond 100 GB), but MCP tools are metered as compute units with no per-call rate, and user and edition prices are quoted on request (10). The free tier includes MCP, 100 GB a month and one full platform user with no card (20). A person signs up in a browser and completes the OAuth flow (0). 0 + 10 + 20 + 0 = 30. ### Schema & documentation: Datadog MCP Server +9 - Datadog MCP Server (60): Tool schemas are only visible through tools/list with an account. The changelog shows typed parameters, for example `limit` 1 to 1,000 and percentile enums, so we gave partial credit for a contract we couldn't read (15). We couldn't check docs.datadoghq.com/llms.txt because our fetch proxy refused it, and the listing doesn't record one (0). Changelog entries show descriptions being corrected, such as `search_pr_insights` now explaining that `expected` means pending (10). Ranges, cursors, enums and attribute selectors per the changelog (11). Errors are being made actionable, with reversed time windows rejected up front and an explicit `result_too_large` failure (9). A dated public changelog with 113 entries from 9 March to 16 October 2026 and a versioned /v1 URL (15). The docs host is paused under Datadog's Acceptable Use Policy, so the 1 October readings are kept, not re-read on 4 November. - New Relic MCP Server (51): Tool input schemas are only visible through an authenticated session; the tool reference names 40 tools with one-line descriptions, so partial credit for a contract that exists but isn't public (10). docs.newrelic.com publishes llms.txt, updated 3 November 2026, and a Markdown twin of every page (10). Each tool's line says what it does, tags say which group it belongs to, and the reference says which tools need OAuth and which are preview; nothing says when not to use a tool (12). No parameters, types or enums are published; the setup examples show only the `include-tags` header (4). Example natural-language queries per group, a troubleshooting page for OAuth, API key, permission and connection errors, and no error code list (7). A dated what's-new feed and a 0.1.0 registry version, but no MCP changelog or server version in the docs (8). 10 + 10 + 12 + 4 + 7 + 8 = 51. ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Datadog MCP Server | New Relic MCP Server | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 33 | 60 | New Relic MCP Server +27 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 51 | Datadog MCP Server +9 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 59 | Datadog MCP Server +19 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 76 | 76 | even | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | New Relic MCP Server +10 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 80 | New Relic MCP Server +12 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 81 | New Relic MCP Server +12 | | Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **50.8 · D** | **61 · C** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Datadog MCP Server | New Relic MCP Server | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | MCP server | MCP server | | Vendor | Datadog | New Relic, Inc. | | Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.datadoghq.com/v1/mcp` | `https://mcp.newrelic.com/mcp/` | | Transports | Streamable HTTP, stdio | Streamable HTTP | | Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth | | Pricing | Your plan | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | MIT | none | | Tools exposed | none | 40 | | Read-only variant documented | yes | yes | | llms.txt | no | yes | | MCP registry | not listed | `com.newrelic/mcp-server` | | Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-28 | | Terms last updated | no date given | 2022-11-08 | | Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-14 | | Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes | | Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Popularity | 43 stars | none | | Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none | ## How the scores have moved ### Datadog MCP Server - -6.0 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): new evidence, correction - +0.1 on 28 October 2026: new evidence - +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist ### New Relic MCP Server No score change since it was listed. ## Verdicts **Datadog MCP Server.** OAuth read-only grants, `mcp_read` and `mcp_write` permissions and an organisation-level block on MCP writes. Tools and parameters are removed the day they're announced, and a write-protection gap fixed on 22 September 2026 got no security advisory. **New Relic MCP Server.** OAuth with a read scope, 5-minute access tokens, role-bound calls and a queryable audit trail make this a safe read surface over an account's data, and the free tier includes it. 40 tools need tag filtering, the schemas aren't public, there is no per-call price, and no dated GA notice was found. ## Before you call either ### Datadog MCP Server 1. Use https://mcp.datadoghq.com/v1/mcp. The /api/unstable/ path in older configs is no longer the documented one 2. Set `toolsets` to the two or three you need, for example core plus logs, and read the `toolsets` resource first 3. Pass `limit` and `custom_attributes` on span searches and page with `cursor`. `start_at` is gone from spans and RUM events 4. Pass `from` and `to` to the RUM operation tools. `lookback` was removed on 9 October 2026 5. Budget calls. The org shares 100,000 a month and 50 per 10 seconds ### New Relic MCP Server 1. Connect with OAuth; an `api-key` header reaches only the core tools and the docs say the API key route works only where stated 2. Send `include-tags` with the groups the task needs (for example `discovery,data-access`) to keep the tool list under 30 3. Call `list_available_new_relic_accounts` first and pass the account id to every query; `convert_time_period_to_epoch_ms` turns phrases such as last 30 minutes into the epoch bounds the other tools take 4. Stay under 2,000 tool calls an hour per user and 25 concurrent NerdGraph requests; a 429 clears as in-flight requests finish 5. Ask the organisation administrator to turn on the Preview Tools, API Keys, Atlassian or AWS toggles in feature control manager before relying on those tools; they are off by default ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Datadog MCP Server or New Relic MCP Server? New Relic MCP Server scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Datadog MCP Server's 50.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Datadog MCP Server leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. ### Do Datadog MCP Server and New Relic MCP Server need an API key? Datadog MCP Server takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. New Relic MCP Server uses an OAuth sign-in. ### Can an agent call Datadog MCP Server and New Relic MCP Server without installing anything? Yes. Datadog MCP Server has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.datadoghq.com/v1/mcp and New Relic MCP Server at https://mcp.newrelic.com/mcp/. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-new-relic.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-new-relic.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "datadog-mcp", "b": "new-relic"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare datadog-mcp new-relic` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/datadog-mcp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/new-relic.json ## Other comparisons with Datadog MCP Server or New Relic MCP Server - [Causely MCP server vs Datadog MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/causely-vs-datadog-mcp.md) - [Causely MCP server vs New Relic MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/causely-vs-new-relic.md) - [Datadog MCP Server vs incident.io API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-incident-io.md) - [Datadog MCP Server vs PagerDuty MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-pagerduty-mcp.md) - [Datadog MCP Server vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [incident.io API vs New Relic MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/incident-io-vs-new-relic.md) - [New Relic MCP Server vs PagerDuty MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/new-relic-vs-pagerduty-mcp.md) - [New Relic MCP Server vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/new-relic-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs Datadog MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-datadog-mcp.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs New Relic MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-new-relic.md) - [Better Stack vs Datadog MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/better-stack-vs-datadog-mcp.md) - [Better Stack vs New Relic MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/better-stack-vs-new-relic.md) - [Datadog MCP Server vs Grafana MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-grafana-mcp-server.md) - [Datadog MCP Server vs Honeycomb MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-honeycomb-mcp.md) - [Grafana MCP Server vs New Relic MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grafana-mcp-server-vs-new-relic.md) - [New Relic MCP Server vs Sentry MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/new-relic-vs-sentry-mcp.md) - [Datadog MCP Server vs Sentry MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-sentry-mcp.md) - [Honeycomb MCP vs New Relic MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/honeycomb-mcp-vs-new-relic.md) --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp