Datadog vs Elastic: Founders, CEOs and History
Datadog was founded in 2010 by Olivier Pomel, Alexis Le-Quoc and is led by Olivier Pomel. Elastic was founded in 2012 by Shay Banon, Steven Schuurman, Uri Boness and is led by Ashutosh (Ash) Kulkarni.
Company facts
Founders
Datadog
Olivier Pomel
Datadog possesses a pragmatic, technical founding story, born out of frustration and intense, daily arguments between software developers and systems operations teams.
Alexis Le-Quoc
Alexis Le-Quoc is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and co-founder of Datadog, a massive, industry-leading cloud observability and security platform.
Elastic
Shay Banon
Shay Banon is a brilliant software engineer and the creator of Elasticsearch, serving as the co-founder and original driving force behind Elastic.
Steven Schuurman
Steven Schuurman is a highly prominent Dutch technology entrepreneur and the co-founder and inaugural CEO of Elastic.
Uri Boness
Uri Boness is an incredibly brilliant software engineer and the profoundly influential co-founder fundamentally responsible for architecting the massive early search infrastructure of Elastic.
Simon Willnauer
Simon Willnauer is a highly distinguished computer scientist, globally recognized open-source pioneer, and the massively influential co-founder fundamentally responsible for the core technological dominance of Elastic.
CEOs and their tenures
Datadog
- Olivier Pomel2010–present
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Pomel is directly responsible for establishing and maintaining the companys successful, product-centric growth strategy and overarching operational direction.
Source - Alexis Lê-Quôc2010–present
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Alexis Lê-Quôc co-founded Datadog in 2010. As Chief Technology Officer, he designed the unified architecture that brought metrics, traces, and logs together, solving the silos between Dev and Ops teams that he experienced during his time at Wireless Generation…
Source - David Obstler2018–present
Chief Financial Officer
Oversees financial reporting, guidance and capital allocation, including free cash flow of $915M in 2025.
Source
Elastic
- Steven Schuurman2012–2017
Chief Executive Officer
Co-founder and first CEO, who built Elastic's early commercial organization after co-founding SpringSource.
Source - Shay Banon2017–2022
Chief Executive Officer (now Chief Technology Officer)
Created Elasticsearch, led Elastic as CEO through its 2018 IPO and the 2021 license change, and remains CTO and a board member.
Source - Ashutosh (Ash) Kulkarni2022–present
Chief Executive Officer
Joined Elastic in 2019 as chief product officer and became CEO in January 2022; previously held product leadership roles at Akamai and McAfee. Led the Search AI repositioning and the push into large multi-year platform deals.
Source
Timeline: Datadog and Elastic side by side
2010Datadog
Datadog Founded
Olivier Pomel and Alexis Le-Quoc found Datadog in New York to monitor cloud infrastructure and software systems.
2010Elastic
Shay Banon Releases Elasticsearch 0.4
Open-sourced the first standalone version of Elasticsearch, igniting viral developer adoption.
2012Elastic
Elasticsearch BV (Elastic) Founded in Amsterdam
Shay Banon, Steven Schuurman, Uri Boness, and Simon Willnauer formally established Elastic.
2015Elastic
Launch of Elastic Cloud (Hosted Elasticsearch SaaS)
Introduced managed cloud service, transforming Elastic into a recurring SaaS business.
2017Datadog
Log Management Added
Datadog acquires Logmatic.io and expands beyond infrastructure metrics into log management.
2018Elastic
Initial Public Offering on NYSE (Ticker: ESTC)
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $252 million at a $2.5 billion valuation.
2019Datadog
Datadog IPO
Datadog goes public on Nasdaq under the ticker DDOG.
2021Datadog
Security Expansion
Datadog expands into cloud security and SIEM-style workflows, broadening its platform beyond observability.
2022Elastic
Ashutosh Kulkarni Appointed Chief Executive Officer
Chief product officer Ash Kulkarni succeeded Shay Banon as CEO in January 2022; Banon became CTO.
2023Elastic
Launch of Elasticsearch Vector Database & Hybrid Search for AI
Engineered native vector search and Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) for Generative AI RAG.
2024Elastic
Release of ES|QL (Elasticsearch Pipelined Query Language)
Debuted influential query engine executing complex search, analytics, and security queries in memory.
2025Datadog
Revenue Reaches $3.427B
Datadog reports $3.427158B in 2025 revenue and about 8,100 employees.
2026Datadog
First $1 Billion Quarter
Datadog reports Q1 2026 revenue of $1.006B (+32%), then $1.12B in Q2 2026 (+36%), and acquires Adaptive ML for its AI research lab.
2026Elastic
Fiscal 2026 revenue reaches $1.739 billion
Revenue grew 17% in the year ended April 30, 2026, with $346 million in adjusted free cash flow.
2026Elastic
Elasticsearch Vector Database launched
Released a serverless vector database for large-scale AI search on September 11, 2026.
Acquisitions
Datadog
- Propolis2026Undisclosed
- Adaptive ML2026Undisclosed
- Quickwit2025Undisclosed
- Metaplane2025Undisclosed
- Eppo2025Undisclosed
- Cloudcraft2023Undisclosed
Elastic
- Keep2025Undisclosed
- Jina AI2025Undisclosed
- Cmd2021Undisclosed
- Optimyze2021Undisclosed
- Endgame, Inc.2019$234M
- Opbeat & Prelert2017Undisclosed
Questions about Datadog vs Elastic
Who is the CEO of Datadog, Inc. and Elastic?
Datadog, Inc. is led by Olivier Pomel and Elastic is led by Ashutosh (Ash) Kulkarni. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Datadog, Inc. founded vs Elastic?
Datadog, Inc. was founded in 2010 — 2 years before Elastic, which was founded in 2012. Datadog, Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Elastic.
How many employees does Datadog, Inc. have compared to Elastic?
Datadog, Inc. employs approximately 8,100 people, while Elastic employs approximately 4,019. Datadog, Inc. has the larger workforce at 8,100 employees, compared to Elastic's 4,019. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Datadog, Inc. and Elastic headquartered?
Both Datadog, Inc. and Elastic are headquartered in United States, meaning they operate under the same primary regulatory and tax environment.
Who founded Datadog, Inc. and Elastic?
Datadog, Inc. was founded by Olivier Pomel, Alexis Le-Quoc. Elastic was founded by Shay Banon, Steven Schuurman, Uri Boness, Simon Willnauer.
Which company has a longer operating history — Datadog, Inc. or Elastic?
Datadog, Inc. has been operating for approximately 16 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Elastic has been in operation for around 14 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Datadog vs Elastic overview