---
title: Metrics Experience Changes for Metric Name Pricing
description: >-
  Learn how the custom metrics experience in Datadog has been updated to reflect
  Metric Name Pricing, including changes to the Manage Tags modal, Metric side
  panel, Volume Management page, Plan & Usage page, and estimated usage metrics.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > Metrics > Metrics Guides > Metrics Experience Changes for Metric Name
  Pricing
---

# Metrics Experience Changes for Metric Name Pricing

## Overview{% #overview %}

With the [Metric Name Pricing billing model](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/billing/metric_name_pricing.md) for custom metrics, Datadog updated the metrics experience to reflect how usage is measured. This guide describes what has changed in the Datadog UI and APIs for organizations on Metric Name Pricing.

**Note**: This page applies only if your organization is on [Metric Name Pricing](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/billing/metric_name_pricing.md). If your contract uses Timeseries (cardinality) pricing, your metrics experience is unchanged.

## Summary of changes{% #summary-of-changes %}

| Feature                 | Description                                                                        |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Manage Tags modal       | Estimates the impact of tag changes on point volume instead of cardinality volume. |
| Metric side panel       | Displays ingested and indexed point volume instead of timeseries volume.           |
| Volume Management page  | Volume Overview graphs display new billing dimensions for Metric Name Pricing.     |
| Plan & Usage page       | Reflects the Metric Name Pricing billing breakdown.                                |
| Estimated usage metrics | New points-volume metrics replace cardinality-based estimated usage metrics.       |

## Manage Tags modal{% #manage-tags-modal %}

When configuring tags on custom metrics, the Manage Tags modal estimates the impact of tag changes on **point volume** instead of cardinality volume.

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/manage-tags-modal.e1fbbf09fd2b8e6f92514ef370e17e40.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850 1x, https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/manage-tags-modal.e1fbbf09fd2b8e6f92514ef370e17e40.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850&dpr=2 2x"
   alt="The Manage Tags modal showing a usage projection chart with three lines: month-to-date usage, usage with current configuration, and usage with proposed configuration. Tags datacenter and service are configured in the Include tags tab." /%}

For more information on configuring tags, see [Metrics without Limits™](https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/metrics-without-limits.md).

## Metric side panel{% #metric-side-panel %}

The metric details side panel displays **ingested and indexed point volume** instead of timeseries volume.

To open the metric side panel, click any metric name on the [Metrics Summary page](https://app.datadoghq.com/metric/summary).

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/metric-side-panel.e6b9020fa9264c766ffdd95c1f83ccf7.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850 1x, https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/metric-side-panel.e6b9020fa9264c766ffdd95c1f83ccf7.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850&dpr=2 2x"
   alt="The metric details side panel showing INGESTED POINTS and INDEXED POINTS at the top, alongside Hosts and Tag Values." /%}

## Volume Management page{% #volume-management-page %}

The Volume Overview graphs on the [Metrics Volume Management page](https://app.datadoghq.com/metric/volume) display the following Metric Name Pricing billing dimensions:

- Estimated unique metric names
- Billable indexed point volume
- Ingested-to-indexed points ratio

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/volume-overview-graphs.2a81a3dd57716dcd37920cf08dc17589.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850 1x, https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/volume-overview-graphs.2a81a3dd57716dcd37920cf08dc17589.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850&dpr=2 2x"
   alt="Three Volume Overview graphs for Metric Name Pricing: Estimated Unique Metric Names (count of metrics with more than 100 indexed points month-to-date), Estimated Total Points (total indexed points exceeding the 10M per-metric allotment month-to-date), and Estimated Ingested to Indexed Points Ratio." /%}

## Plan & Usage page{% #plan--usage-page %}

The [Plan & Usage page](https://app.datadoghq.com/billing/usage) reflects the Metric Name Pricing billing breakdown for organizations on the new model.

{% image
   source="https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/plan-usage-page.f451121765aac4568889bfc09dea0db4.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850 1x, https://docs.dd-static.net/images/metrics/guide/metric_name_pricing_experience/plan-usage-page.f451121765aac4568889bfc09dea0db4.png?auto=format&fit=max&w=850&dpr=2 2x"
   alt="The Plan & Usage Cost Breakdown page showing Indexed Points, Ingest Points, and Metric Names as distinct product line items in the Summary table and Cumulative Cost Breakdown chart." /%}

## Estimated usage metrics{% #estimated-usage-metrics %}

Datadog provides estimated usage metrics so you can monitor your Metric Name Pricing usage in real time. Use these metrics to set up monitors and dashboards for cost visibility.

{% alert level="warning" %}
Cardinality-based estimated usage metrics (`datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.custom` and related metrics) are no longer available for organizations on Metric Name Pricing. Any monitors, dashboards, or other assets that use the cardinality-based metrics have stopped receiving data. Use the points-volume metrics listed below instead.
{% /alert %}

### Billable usage metrics{% #billable-usage-metrics %}

Use these metrics to estimate your month-to-date billable usage:

| Metric                                         | What it represents                                                                  |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.billable.metrics`     | Count of metric names with more than 100 indexed points, month-to-date.             |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.billable.points`      | Sum of indexed points above the included 10M points per metric name, month-to-date. |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.points.ratio` | Comparison of total ingested points to total indexed points.                        |

### Points-volume usage metrics{% #points-volume-usage-metrics %}

For more granular analysis, use the following real-time and hourly metrics:

| Metric                                                   | What it represents                                                                                             |
| -------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.points.indexed`         | Estimated indexed custom metric points over a rolling 60-minute window.                                        |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.points.indexed.by_tag`  | Estimated indexed custom metric points over a rolling 60-minute window, broken down by usage attribution tags. |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.points.indexed.hourly`  | Estimated total indexed custom metric points submitted each hour, for cumulative month-to-date calculations.   |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.points.ingested`        | Estimated ingested custom metric points over a rolling 60-minute window.                                       |
| `datadog.estimated_usage.metrics.points.ingested.hourly` | Estimated total ingested custom metric points submitted each hour, for cumulative month-to-date calculations.  |

For more information, see [Estimated Usage Metrics](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/billing/usage_metrics.md).

## Managing your metric usage{% #managing-your-metric-usage %}

To optimize your usage under Metric Name Pricing, use the following tools:

- **Metric names**: Use [Agent-side filtering](https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/guide/agent-filtering-for-custom-metrics.md) to prevent unused or unwanted custom metrics from being sent to Datadog, reducing the count of billable metric names.
- **Indexed and ingested points**: Use [Metrics without Limits™](https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/metrics-without-limits.md) to configure tag allowlists or blocklists per metric, or [Tag Indexing Rules](https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/guide/tag-indexing-rules.md) to apply org-wide tag configurations across metric groups, reducing indexed point volume and your per-metric overage.

## Troubleshooting{% #troubleshooting %}

For technical questions, contact [Datadog support](https://docs.datadoghq.com/help/).

For billing questions, contact your [Customer Success](mailto:success@datadoghq.com) Manager.

## Further reading{% #further-reading %}

- [Metric Name Pricing for Custom Metrics](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/billing/metric_name_pricing.md)
- [Metrics without Limits™](https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/metrics-without-limits.md)
- [Estimated Usage Metrics](https://docs.datadoghq.com/account_management/billing/usage_metrics.md)
- [Metrics Volume Management](https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/volume.md)