Datadog
Large (~6,000)
Elastic
Large (~4,000)
Best For
Datadog
Best for: Engineers who want strong comp and interesting scale challenges in cloud observability
Elastic
Best for: Professionals interested in Elastic
Ratings
DatadogElastic
4.2
4.0
Overall
3.8
4.1
Work-Life Balance
4.3
4.1
Culture & Values
4.4
4.0
Comp & Benefits
3.8
3.8
Senior Mgmt
4.0
3.8
Career Opps
👍 80% Recommend
👤 87% CEO Approval (Olivier Pomel)
👍 80% Recommend
👤 84% CEO Approval (CEO)
Culture Values
Datadog only
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate🌱 Learning & Growth🎯 Direct Product Impact
Elastic only
🌐 Remote-Friendly🔓 Open Source⚖️ Work-Life Balance📡 Async-First
Shared
💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Pros & Cons
Datadog
- Excellent compensation and equity — stock has been a genuine wealth builder for early employees
- Strong engineering culture with smart coworkers and interesting technical challenges at scale
- Fast pace can lead to long hours and pressure to deliver, work-life balance varies by team
- Rapid growth has led to organizational growing pains and bureaucracy creeping in
Elastic
- Fully distributed from day one — genuine remote-first culture across 40+ countries
- Open-source DNA means engineers contribute to community, not just internal products
- Cross-timezone coordination means occasional early/late meetings
- Recent leadership shifts have introduced more process and oversight
Bottom Line
Datadog
Choose Datadog if you want strong comp, interesting scale challenges in observability, and a fast-paced engineering culture — but expect long hours and growing bureaucracy.
Elastic
Elastic — check Glassdoor for detailed reviews.
Open Roles
Datadog — 422 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
218
💻 Engineering
83
📋 Product
28
📣 Marketing
12
👤 HR / People
8
🧠 ML / AI
8
🎨 Design
6
⚖️ Legal
3
⚙️ Operations
3
📊 Data
2
💰 Finance
1
Elastic — 198 jobs
💻 Engineering
87
💼 Sales / GTM
67
📣 Marketing
8
📋 Product
7
👤 HR / People
4
🎨 Design
3
🧠 ML / AI
3
📊 Data
2
Summary
Datadog scores 4.2/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.8 work-life balance rating. Elastic scores 4.0/5.0 overall with a 4.1 WLB. That’s a 0.2-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Strong Comp & Equity. Datadog also emphasizes Engineering-Driven, Ship Fast & Iterate, Learning & Growth, Direct Product Impact. Elastic also emphasizes Remote-Friendly, Open Source, Work-Life Balance, Async-First.
On the hiring front, Datadog has 422 open roles and Elastic has 198 open roles.