>1. You start with Datadog§[...] 2. [...] your expenses have skyrocketed 3. You want to migrate your way out[...]

Step 3 doesn't seem logical here... Who doesn't try to control spend on something they've already invested in?

Step 3 should be to audit what you are spending the most on, and how to manage that in a way its still useful.

I've seen so many people not understand things like custom metrics billing, or log/trace retention and get burned for it.

If you're using a tool lime datadog, you should understand its billing structure a bit. I couldn't imagine setting up a redshift instance without understanding and tracking redshift spending. And then one it is high, just switching to RDS or something without even taking a look.