Connecting to Datadog

Connect your Datadog account to CloudZero to bring your Datadog cost and usage data into a unified view of all your cloud and SaaS spend. CloudZero organizes your Datadog costs, along with your other costs, into categories (called Dimensions) that matter most to your business. For example: business unit, team, product, feature, environment, customer, or virtually anything else. Once connected and organized, you can quickly answer questions about your spend that matter to your stakeholders.

This guide covers authorizing CloudZero to access your Datadog account. CloudZero connects through OAuth, so there are no API keys to manage. All access is read-only.

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CloudZero supports commercial Datadog sites only. Datadog's FedRAMP environment (ddog-gov.com) is not supported.

What you need

CloudZero user with admin permissions
A non-trial Datadog parent-level organization
Datadog permissions to grant the following read-only OAuth scopes:

Scope	Access
Usage Read	View usage and cost data
Billing Read	View billing data
Metrics Read	View custom metrics
Timeseries Query	Query timeseries data for custom metrics

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If you have multiple Datadog parent organizations, sign out of all Datadog tenants before you begin.

Step 1: Configure the connection in CloudZero

In CloudZero, go to Settings > Cloud Connections.
Select Create Connection + and select the Datadog tile.
Enter a Connection Name and select your Datadog site.
Select Continue. CloudZero redirects you to Datadog.

Step 2: Authorize CloudZero in Datadog

Select the correct site from the dropdown and log in.
Select your parent-level organization and select Authorize.

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You must authorize from a parent-level organization. Usage data is only available at the parent level. The authorizing user must have Usage Read and Billing Read permissions in Datadog.

CloudZero returns you to the Connection Details page. Verify that your Datadog connection appears.

What to expect

After authorization, the connection status shows Pending Data. CloudZero validates the connection and begins pulling your Datadog cost data:

New connection: CloudZero pulls up to 12 months of historical billing data if available.
Re-enabled connection: CloudZero pulls up to 12 months of billing data, starting from the current period back to the last previously ingested period.
Steady state: CloudZero pulls the current billing period daily, and the previous billing period through the 17th of the month.

The status changes from Pending Data to Healthy within an hour. Cost data appears in the Explorer within 24 hours.

Connection details

Cost by tags

If your Datadog organization is on the Enterprise plan with usage attribution enabled, CloudZero automatically brings in your attribution tags. No additional configuration is required.

Billing models

Datadog uses different pricing models depending on the product:

Model	How costs appear in CloudZero
Commitment	Fixed monthly costs, amortized evenly over the month
On-demand	Variable costs based on product usage
Average pricing	Costs based on average monthly usage, amortized to date
High-water mark	Costs based on the peak hourly usage in the month. When a new peak is set, costs increase for the remainder of that month. Amortized to date.

Cost calculation

For the current and previous month, CloudZero uses Datadog's Estimated Cost endpoint, which provides daily estimated costs per product. For older months, CloudZero uses the Historical Cost endpoint, which provides a single monthly total per product amortized evenly over the month.

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For billing periods before March 2024, some products may show negative cost values due to changes in Datadog's cost reporting.

Maintenance and configuration

Reauthorize a connection

If CloudZero loses access to your Datadog account:

In CloudZero, go to Settings > Cloud Connections.
Select the Datadog connection from the list.
Select Reauthorize on the Connection Details page.
Select the correct Datadog site, log in, and authorize CloudZero again.

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Have questions or feedback? Reach out to your account manager.