---
title: 'Yorker vs Datadog Synthetics'
description: 'Yorker vs Datadog Synthetics: purpose-built synthetic monitoring vs one line item in a $50k contract. Pricing, OTel-native telemetry, private locations, and migration.'
canonical_url: 'https://yorkermonitoring.com/compare/datadog-synthetics'
---

# Purpose-built synthetic monitoring

## Not a line item in a $50k contract

Yorker vs Datadog Synthetics. Last verified 2026-06-13.

Datadog Synthetics is one product inside a platform that costs six figures to run. Yorker is a focused synthetic monitoring tool that costs $29.99/month, emits OTel-native telemetry to any backend, and ships pricing you can read on a public webpage.

### What you pay per month

Yorker: flat, predictable.

- plan: $29.99/mo
- private_locations: included
- otel_export: included
- pricing_page: yorkermonitoring.com/pricing

Datadog Synthetics: pay per run.

- api_test_run: ~$0.0005 each (~$5 / 10k)
- browser_test_run: $0.012 to $0.018 each
- pricing_page: ask sales

Yorker is OTel-native synthetic monitoring for developers and SRE teams, built by Reverse Sweep Ltd. HTTP/API ping monitors and Playwright-based browser monitors, with standard OTLP telemetry that lands in whatever backend you already run.

## Why teams switch off Datadog Synthetics

**Synthetic is 8 to 15% of your Datadog bill.** Datadog Synthetics is a line item inside a contract that typically starts at $5k to $50k/year. Synthetic checks compete with APM, logs, and infrastructure for budget. When costs get squeezed, Synthetics is often the first thing cut, taking your proactive coverage with it.

**OTel telemetry leaves Datadog's walled garden.** Yorker emits OTLP to any backend: ClickHouse, Grafana, Honeycomb, Dash0. Datadog Synthetics results stay inside Datadog. If you're moving any part of your observability stack off Datadog, synthetic data doesn't come with you.

**traceparent without the APM dependency.** Yorker injects W3C traceparent into every check. If your backend uses Datadog APM, those traces still appear in Trace Explorer. If it doesn't, the trace ID is still there, usable by any OTel-aware backend. Datadog's trace correlation requires Datadog APM at both ends.

**Pricing you can read before talking to sales.** Yorker's entire pricing (plan fee, per-run consumption, private-location discount, regional tiers) is public at /pricing. Datadog's Synthetics pricing is published at the on-demand rate only; committed pricing requires a sales conversation.

**YAML monitoring as code, not a proprietary construct.** Yorker checks are plain YAML files checked into your repo. Datadog Synthetics supports Terraform and the API, but the browser test format is proprietary and not portable if you leave. Yorker YAML is readable and portable.

**Private locations in the base plan.** Yorker includes private location agents at $29.99/month. Datadog private locations require the Datadog Agent container and count toward your Synthetics usage, another metered cost inside the larger contract.

## Feature-by-feature comparison

A narrow table: Datadog's full tier structure is not public without a sales call, so we compare against what can be verified, namely on-demand pricing and documented capabilities. If you're evaluating an enterprise contract, the committed pricing will be lower than the on-demand rates shown here.

| Capability | Yorker (Platform · $29.99/mo) | Datadog Synthetics (On-demand, no commitment) | Datadog Synthetics (Custom contract, ask sales) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **HTTP / API tests** (single-request checks: HTTP, SSL, DNS, TCP, UDP, ICMP, gRPC) | Included in plan | ~$5 per 10,000 runs | Negotiated per run |
| **Browser tests** (end-to-end user-journey checks with visual recording) | Included in plan | $12 to $18 per 1,000 runs | Negotiated per run |
| **Private locations** (run checks from behind your firewall) | Included | Included (agent required) | Included (agent required) |
| **Multi-step API tests** (chained request flows with shared variables) | Via browser + HTTP checks | Included | Included |
| **OpenTelemetry export** (native OTLP metrics to any OTel-compatible backend) | Included, OTel-native | Not supported | Not supported |
| **W3C trace propagation** (traceparent injected into check requests to link synthetic to APM) | Always on | APM traces only (same Datadog account) | APM traces only (same Datadog account) |
| **Monitoring as Code** (check definitions in source control) | YAML (CLI) | Terraform / API / UI recorder | Terraform / API / UI recorder |
| **Transparent pricing** (public price list, no sales call required) | Full pricing at /pricing | On-demand rates published | N/A |
| **Hosted locations** (public regions available out of the box) | 14 regions | 70+ managed locations | 70+ managed locations |

Pricing and feature claims verified June 13, 2026 against Datadog's public Synthetics and billing documentation (docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/) and Checkly's Datadog cost teardown. Datadog bills API tests per 10,000 runs (~$5 per 10,000, ~$0.0005/run) and browser tests per 1,000 runs ($12 committed to $18 on-demand). Committed rates are negotiated. Yorker platform plan $29.99/mo with full pricing at /pricing. Spot something that's changed? Email hello@yorkermonitoring.com.

## The same API test, both tools

A simple HTTP check verifying a JSON API response. Datadog uses a Terraform resource or JSON config; Yorker uses plain YAML.

Datadog: Terraform (hashicorp/datadog)

```hcl
resource "datadog_synthetics_test" "api_health" {
  name    = "API health"
  type    = "api"
  subtype = "http"
  status  = "live"

  request_definition {
    method = "GET"
    url    = "https://api.example.com/health"
  }

  assertion {
    type     = "statusCode"
    operator = "is"
    target   = "200"
  }
}
```

yorker.config.yaml

```yaml
monitors:
  - name: API health
    type: http
    url: https://api.example.com/health
    frequency: 5m
    locations: [loc_us_east, loc_eu_west]
    assertions:
      - type: status_code
        value: 200
```

Datadog also supports a JSON config format and UI-based creation. The Terraform example is the closest to Yorker's code-first approach. Yorker YAML is shorter, has no provider dependency, and works with a `yorker deploy` without a Terraform state file.

## Frequently asked questions

### How does Yorker's cost compare to Datadog Synthetics?

Yorker is a flat $29.99/month with consumption pricing above the included allowance, and pricing is fully published at /pricing. Datadog Synthetics is billed per test run (on-demand ~$5 per 10,000 API runs and $12 to $18 per 1,000 browser runs) and typically rolls into a larger enterprise contract. Browser runs are where the bill concentrates: a single browser journey checked every 5 minutes from three locations is roughly 26,000 runs/month, and at on-demand rates that one check alone can exceed Yorker's entire $29.99/month plan. As browser coverage grows, Datadog's synthetic line item routinely lands at 8 to 15% of the total contract.

### Does Yorker send data to Datadog or require a Datadog account?

No. Yorker emits OTLP telemetry to any backend you configure: ClickStack, Grafana, Honeycomb, Dash0, or any OTLP-compatible destination. If you still use Datadog for APM, you can configure Yorker to send synthetic metrics to an OTLP-to-Datadog forwarder, but Yorker itself has no Datadog dependency.

### Does Yorker support OpenTelemetry like Datadog does?

Yorker is OTel-native: every check emits OTLP metrics, traces, and logs. Datadog has OTel ingestion (they accept OTLP from your services) but Datadog Synthetics does not export its own data via OTLP, so the synthetic results stay inside Datadog. Yorker does the opposite: synthetic results go wherever your OTLP backend lives.

### Can I still use Datadog APM alongside Yorker?

Yes. Yorker injects W3C traceparent into every browser-check request. If your backend reports to Datadog APM, those synthetic-initiated traces appear in Datadog Trace Explorer linked to the originating Yorker run. You get the correlation without paying for Datadog Synthetics.

### What happens to my Datadog browser tests when I migrate?

You rewrite them as vanilla Playwright. Datadog browser tests are authored in Datadog's own step format (click, assert, wait, etc.) rather than native Playwright code; the test intent (steps and assertions) carries over, but the syntax does not. Most tests are short enough that the Playwright rewrite takes well under an hour each.

### Does Yorker support private locations like Datadog does?

Yes. Yorker private location agents are included in the platform plan ($29.99/month) with private-location runs at half the hosted rate. They poll outbound-only, with no inbound firewall rules required. Datadog private locations require installing the Datadog Agent container in your network and configuring it as a Synthetics location.

## Ready to see the price difference?

Start free, full pricing at /pricing, no sales call required. Run your first check in minutes via the CLI or web UI, and see synthetic telemetry land in your OTel backend on the first run.

Start free at /sign-up, or see pricing at /pricing.