AI agent observability pricing (2026)
Answer (2026-10-31): As of 2026-10-31, AI agent observability is billed on new meters: Grafana Cloud charges $1.50 per 1k generations after 30k generations/mo (Free and Pro) (billing started 2026-10-01); Datadog Agent Observability is $160/mo for the first 100k LLM spans, then $3.50 per 10K (15-day retention, billed annually), and Datadog AI Guard is $0.80 per 1M input tokens (billed annually); Splunk Agent Observability is $100/mo per 1.2M spans a year (billed annually); Dynatrace Agentic Operations is $0.10 per AI unit. Two changes land on 2026-12-01: Grafana Assistant Watchers start drawing billable tokens, and Cloudflare moves Workers Observability to $0.25 per GB ingested + $0.10 per GB-month stored.
Prices checked 2026-10-31 on each vendor's own page (linked in every row). List prices, not quotes. Your contract may differ.
Meters for observing your own agents
| Vendor / product | Billing unit | Free allowance | List price | Effective | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grafana Cloud Agent Observability | generation (one AI model call your app makes) | 30k generations/mo (Free and Pro); 25M system-initiated tokens/mo for Evals & Guards | $1.50 per 1k generations Evals & Guards tokens $2 per 1M beyond the pool; telemetry billed separately; Pro platform fee $19/mo | 2026-10-01 Billing starts October 1, 2026; not billed retroactively | grafana.com · 2nd source |
| Datadog Agent Observability (LLM spans) | LLM span | List footnote: "40k LLM spans are free" | $160/mo for the first 100k LLM spans, then $3.50 per 10K (15-day retention, billed annually) 30/60/90-day retention $5/$6.50/$7.50 per 10K LLM spans (annual); on-demand $240 first 100k, $5 per 10K (15-day) | Not published On the list page 2026-10-31; Datadog does not publish an effective date | datadoghq.com |
| Datadog AI Guard | 1M input tokens scanned (full conversation context) | None stated | $0.80 per 1M input tokens (billed annually) $1 month-to-month, $1.20 on-demand; failed evaluations not billed | Not published On the list page 2026-10-31; Datadog does not publish an effective date | datadoghq.com · 2nd source |
| Splunk Agent Observability | package of 1.2M spans per year | None stated; each package includes 500M Luna tokens and 5 Luna fine-tuning runs per year | $100/mo per 1.2M spans a year (billed annually) Additional Luna tokens and extended retention available (price not listed) | Not published On splunk.com/pricing 2026-10-31; Splunk does not publish an effective date | splunk.com |
Meters for the vendor's own AI agents
Different job: these bill the AI that the observability vendor runs on your telemetry (investigations, chat, watchers), not the tracing of your agents.
| Vendor / product | Billing unit | Free allowance | List price | Effective | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynatrace Agentic Operations (AI Units) | AI unit (LLM work Dynatrace runs for you) | AI Exploration included; Agentic Operations tasks in Dynatrace Assist not billed for a limited time | $0.10 per AI unit Dynatrace's average per call: 2 units (DQL to natural language), 3 (chat via your app), 8 (natural language to DQL), 30 (autonomous multi-step investigation) | Not published On the pricing page and rate card 2026-10-31; Dynatrace does not publish an effective date | dynatrace.com · 2nd source |
| Grafana Cloud Grafana Assistant (incl. Watchers) | active AI user + tokens | 3 active AI users (40M tokens each) + 25M tokens/mo for service-account (system-initiated) usage | $20 per active AI user (40M tokens included), then $2 per 1M tokens From 2026-12-01 Watcher runs and calibration are billed as Assistant tokens from the shared system-initiated pool (free until then); no per-watcher or per-run fee | 2026-12-01 Watchers: "free until December 1, 2026" | grafana.com · 2nd source |
Platform logs and traces
| Vendor / product | Billing unit | Free allowance | List price | Effective | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Workers Observability (logs + traces) | GB ingested + GB-month stored | Paid: 50 GB ingest + 10 GB-month storage per billing cycle; Free: 0.5 GB/day, 7-day retention | $0.25 per GB ingested + $0.10 per GB-month stored Covers Workers Logs/Traces, Cloudflare Traces, Containers logs, R2 data access logs, AI Gateway logs; Enterprise moves at contract renewal; Log Explorer stays $1/GB | 2026-12-01 Existing Workers Observability customers move on December 1, 2026; no retroactive charges | developers.cloudflare.com |
Example calculation (example inputs, not data)
Example inputs, made up to show the math: an agent app making 200,000 model calls a month, assumed to be 1 LLM span per call and 2,000 input tokens per call; for Dynatrace, 100 autonomous investigations a month run through workflows or the API. Real agents often emit several spans per call, which raises the span-based rows.
| Meter | Math (list price) | $/mo | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grafana Cloud Agent Observability | (200,000 − 30,000 free generations) ÷ 1,000 × $1.50 | $255 | Plus $19/mo Pro platform fee and telemetry at standard rates |
| Datadog Agent Observability (LLM spans) | $160 for the first 100k LLM spans + 10 × $3.50 per 10K | $195 | Annual list, 15-day retention; we did not apply the "40k LLM spans are free" footnote because the list does not say how it combines with the $160 tier |
| Datadog AI Guard | 400M input tokens × $0.80 per 1M | $320 | Only if every call is sent to AI Guard; a security product, not tracing |
| Splunk Agent Observability | 2.4M spans a year ÷ 1.2M = 2 packages × $100/mo | $200 | Billed annually |
| Dynatrace Agentic Operations (AI Units) | 100 autonomous investigations × 30 AI units (Dynatrace's average) × $0.10 | $300 | Different job: Dynatrace's own AI investigating your telemetry. Not billed if run directly in Dynatrace Assist while the limited-time inclusion lasts |
These rows meter different things, so they are not a ranking. Add your normal APM, logs and metrics bill on top.
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Upcoming changes
- 2026-12-01 · Grafana Cloud: Assistant Watchers move from free to token billing ($20 per active AI user (40M tokens included), then $2 per 1M tokens; Watcher runs and calibration draw from the shared 25M tokens/mo system-initiated pool first). Grafana docs
- 2026-12-01 · Cloudflare: Workers Observability moves to $0.25 per GB ingested + $0.10 per GB-month stored for Paid accounts (Paid: 50 GB ingest + 10 GB-month storage per billing cycle); Enterprise moves at contract renewal. Cloudflare docs
Get told before these hit your invoice
Weekly email when an observability pricing page changes, with the source link. Dec 1 changes included.
FAQ
How much does AI agent observability cost in 2026?
As of 2026-10-31, AI agent observability is billed on new meters: Grafana Cloud charges $1.50 per 1k generations after 30k generations/mo (Free and Pro) (billing started 2026-10-01); Datadog Agent Observability is $160/mo for the first 100k LLM spans, then $3.50 per 10K (15-day retention, billed annually), and Datadog AI Guard is $0.80 per 1M input tokens (billed annually); Splunk Agent Observability is $100/mo per 1.2M spans a year (billed annually); Dynatrace Agentic Operations is $0.10 per AI unit. Two changes land on 2026-12-01: Grafana Assistant Watchers start drawing billable tokens, and Cloudflare moves Workers Observability to $0.25 per GB ingested + $0.10 per GB-month stored.
What is a "generation" in Grafana Agent Observability?
One call to an AI model made by your monitored agent or application. One agent task can produce several generations. Grafana bills $1.50 per 1k generations beyond 30k generations/mo (Free and Pro), from 2026-10-01; Evals & Guards tokens and telemetry are separate meters (https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/platform/pricing-and-usage/agent-observability/).
Is Datadog AI Guard the same as Datadog Agent Observability?
No. Agent Observability bills LLM spans ($160/mo for the first 100k LLM spans, then $3.50 per 10K (15-day retention, billed annually)). AI Guard is a runtime security product billed on input tokens scanned ($0.80 per 1M input tokens (billed annually); $1 month-to-month, $1.20 on-demand; failed evaluations not billed).
What changes on December 1, 2026?
Grafana Assistant Watchers move from free to token billing ($20 per active AI user (40M tokens included), then $2 per 1M tokens; Watchers draw from the shared system-initiated pool). Cloudflare Workers Observability moves to $0.25 per GB ingested + $0.10 per GB-month stored with Paid: 50 GB ingest + 10 GB-month storage per billing cycle.
Why do some rows say "Not published" for the effective date?
Datadog, Splunk and Dynatrace list these prices on their pages but do not state when they took effect. We only print dates the vendor states.
Related
- Cut your Datadog bill without migrating
- Datadog pricing (2026)
- Grafana Cloud pricing (2026)
- Grafana Cloud vendor page
- Datadog vendor page
- Splunk vendor page
- Dynatrace vendor page
- Change log
- All guides
Cite this
Copy for AI tools, writers and procurement docs. Attribution requested under CC BY 4.0.
Data: AI agent observability meters, vendor pages read 2026-10-31. Source: O11y Watch (https://o11y-watch.pages.dev). License: CC BY 4.0. Please attribute "O11y Watch" with a link to https://o11y-watch.pages.dev/.