A Datadog alternative when the network must stay on-premises

Datadog is excellent at cloud and host observability. Many NOC and network teams still evaluate it because leadership wants “one pane of glass.” The friction shows up later: network devices are not first-class citizens the way SNMP/NPM tools treat them, NetFlow and config backup are not the same product conversation as SolarWinds/PRTG replacements, and operational telemetry leaves your boundary unless you build an exception path.

ZenPlus is the other shape of answer: an on-premises appliance for devices, interfaces, servers, NetFlow, maps, alerting, NCM, and (on Enterprise) OpenTelemetry APM—licensed per unique IP, not per host + per module + per ingest.

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Who this page is for

Use this comparison if most of these are true:

1. You already run (or must run) owned network gear—switches, routers, firewalls, wireless controllers—where SNMP, traps, and flow matter more than Kubernetes spans.
2. Security, sovereignty, or air-gap rules say monitoring data and credentials cannot sit in a SaaS tenant by default.
3. You are tired of stacking Datadog Network Monitoring / NPM-style add-ons on top of Infrastructure and still lacking config backup and on-prem NOC workflows.

If your estate is mostly AWS/GCP/Azure workloads and SaaS apps with little L2/L3 gear, Datadog (or a peer cloud observability suite) is usually the better fit. Stay there. For the broader checklist, see on-prem vs SaaS network monitoring. Also see the SaaS-hybrid peer page LogicMonitor alternative.

Also compare SolarWinds, PRTG, the full monitoring comparison, and published ZenPlus pricing.

Worked example

Worked example (shape, not a quote war)

Estate: 120 network devices + 40 Windows/Linux servers that must stay on-prem for compliance. Leadership also wants some application traces.

If the same 160 endpoints are mostly cloud VMs with almost no SNMP fabric, Datadog will usually win on workflow. The crossover for ZenPlus is device-dense, on-prem-first estates.

• Datadog path (illustrative): Infrastructure hosts for servers + Network Monitoring / device coverage + APM for a slice of services. Final invoice depends on host count, custom metrics, retention, and which network SKU you enable. Expect a multi-product SaaS bill and outbound telemetry.
• ZenPlus path (published list): 160 unique IPs on Professional = 160 × $5 × 12 = $9,600/year before volume discount (15% at 250+ does not apply yet). NetFlow + NCM included. Move to Enterprise ($7.50/device/mo) if OpenTelemetry APM and HA are required: 160 × $7.50 × 12 = $14,400/year.

Migration

Migration sketch (90 days)

1. Week 1–2: Stand up the ZenPlus appliance (Ubuntu 22.04/24.04), import credentials, discovery scan for the first site.
2. Week 3–4: Dual-run critical SNMP devices and a NetFlow exporter; match alert noise against the Datadog network views you still trust.
3. Week 5–8: Cut primary NOC alerting to ZenPlus; keep Datadog only where cloud APM still earns its keep (optional coexistence).
4. Week 9–12: Enable NCM backups, maps, and executive reports; document the Datadog SKUs you can drop.
5. Talk to Zentryc if you want a side-by-side for your device count and whether coexistence or full cutover makes sense.