That is a tiny setup all things considered. You aren’t operating at a scale you’d need to consider a monitoring platform for.
I think “expensive” here is basically relative to revenue/margin. Where margins are high, spending on Splunk (etc.) isn’t meaningful. Where margins are thin, it hurts.
Basically, the arguments here seem to reflect the markets and business model folks are working under. Some pay, some can’t and some won’t - all valid.