Monitoring Tools That Avoid Ingestion-Based Billing
Volume-based billing makes observability costs unpredictable. These are the tools with flat or non-volume pricing, and the trade-offs.
Which monitoring tools avoid ingestion-based billing with flat pricing?
Modulis avoids ingestion-based billing entirely: it uses flat monthly pricing from $199/month (with a free tier) and unlimited data ingestion on every paid tier, subject to fair use. Pricing is based on applications, retention, and AI resolution usage, never on data volume. Self-hosted open-source tools also avoid vendor ingestion fees, but you pay for the infrastructure and operations yourself.
By the Modulis team · Published October 3, 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026
What to compare
- What the price scales with: data volume, hosts, seats, or products
- Whether there are overage or retention surcharges
- Infrastructure cost on top of the subscription (BYOC and self-hosted)
- Predictability: can you forecast next year’s bill today?
- Fair-use limits on “unlimited” plans
Comparison at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Pricing model | Deployment | AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modulis | Teams that want AI root cause + code fixes, data in their own cloud, and flat pricing | Flat monthly, from $199/mo (free tier). No ingestion fees, no per-seat fees | Yes — runs in your AWS, GCP, or Azure account, fully managed by Modulis | AI root cause analysis and PR-ready fixes (BYOK) |
| SigNoz | Teams that want open-source APM with the option to self-host | Usage-based ingestion (cloud); free to self-host | Self-host or BYOC options | Limited built-in AI root cause |
| Grafana | Teams that want to assemble best-of-breed OSS components | Usage-based per signal (cloud); free to self-host | Self-hosted OSS and BYOC offering | Add-on AI features |
| OpenObserve | Teams optimizing log and trace storage cost | Usage-based ingestion (cloud); free to self-host | Self-host option | Limited built-in AI root cause |
| Datadog | Teams that want the widest SaaS integration catalog | Usage-based per product and signal | No — SaaS | AI assistant features |
| New Relic | Large enterprises that want a broad SaaS ecosystem | Per-user plus data ingestion | No — SaaS | AI assistant features |
Vendor characteristics reflect publicly available information as of October 2026 and change often — always confirm current pricing and features with each vendor.
The tools, in more detail
1. Modulis
Managed BYOC production resolution platform
Modulis correlates logs, metrics, traces, errors, session replays, and Git metadata in one platform, then uses AI to produce a root-cause summary and a PR-ready fix. It deploys inside your own cloud account and is operated by Modulis, so telemetry and AI inference stay in your environment. Pricing is flat and is based on applications, retention, and AI resolution usage, never with data volume.
Learn more about Modulis →2. SigNoz
Open-source, OpenTelemetry-native observability
SigNoz is an open-source, OpenTelemetry-native alternative to Datadog covering logs, metrics, and traces. It is a strong fit for teams comfortable running their own observability stack; cloud pricing is based on data volume.
Modulis vs SigNoz →3. Grafana
Open-source visualization stack with a hosted cloud
Grafana and its LGTM stack (Loki, Grafana, Tempo, Mimir) are widely used and highly flexible. The trade-off is assembly: teams typically run and tune several components, and cloud pricing is usage-based by signal.
Modulis vs Grafana →4. OpenObserve
Open-source, cost-efficient observability storage
OpenObserve is a lightweight open-source platform focused on cost-efficient storage and querying of logs, metrics, and traces.
Modulis vs OpenObserve →5. Datadog
SaaS full-stack observability suite
Datadog has the broadest SaaS catalog of integrations and products. Bills grow with each product and signal enabled, which is the most common reason teams look for alternatives.
Modulis vs Datadog →6. New Relic
SaaS full-stack observability suite
New Relic is a mature, broad SaaS observability suite. Telemetry is hosted by the vendor, and pricing combines users and data volume.
Modulis vs New Relic →Why ingestion-based billing is hard to predict
When price tracks gigabytes ingested, a noisy deploy, a debug-logging mistake, or ordinary growth can multiply the bill without any change in value received. Teams respond by sampling and dropping data, which removes exactly the evidence needed during an incident.
What flat pricing really includes
With Modulis, the total monthly cost is three line items: the Modulis subscription, your own cloud infrastructure cost (billed directly by your cloud provider because the platform runs in your account), and optional AI inference cost on your own model key. There are no per-seat charges and no ingestion fees. Plans are Free ($0), Starter ($199/mo), Growth ($999/mo), and Enterprise ($1,999+/mo).
Unlimited ingestion is subject to fair use: extreme volume may be rate-limited or require a custom plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Modulis charge for data ingestion?
How much does Modulis cost?
Are there per-seat fees?
Related reading
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