diff --git a/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor.go b/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor.go
index 4d11df308cf6..5697fff4a6de 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func resourceDatadogMonitor() *schema.Resource {
 			// Options
 			"thresholds": &schema.Schema{
 				Type:     schema.TypeMap,
-				Required: true,
+				Optional: true,
 				Elem: &schema.Resource{
 					Schema: map[string]*schema.Schema{
 						"ok": &schema.Schema{
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ func resourceDatadogMonitor() *schema.Resource {
 						},
 						"critical": &schema.Schema{
 							Type:     schema.TypeFloat,
-							Required: true,
+							Optional: true,
 						},
 					},
 				},
diff --git a/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor_test.go b/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor_test.go
index 29eda08d9a64..c2476d26aad1 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/datadog/resource_datadog_monitor_test.go
@@ -51,6 +51,42 @@ func TestAccDatadogMonitor_Basic(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestAccDatadogMonitor_BasicNoTreshold(t *testing.T) {
+	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
+		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
+		Providers:    testAccProviders,
+		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckDatadogMonitorDestroy,
+		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
+			resource.TestStep{
+				Config: testAccCheckDatadogMonitorConfigNoThresholds,
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					testAccCheckDatadogMonitorExists("datadog_monitor.foo"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "name", "name for monitor foo"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "message", "some message Notify: @hipchat-channel"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "type", "metric alert"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "query", "avg(last_1h):avg:aws.ec2.cpu{environment:foo,host:foo} by {host} > 2"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "notify_no_data", "false"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "renotify_interval", "60"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "require_full_window", "true"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "locked", "false"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "tags.foo", "bar"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"datadog_monitor.foo", "tags.bar", "baz"),
+				),
+			},
+		},
+	})
+}
+
 func TestAccDatadogMonitor_Updated(t *testing.T) {
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
 		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
@@ -255,6 +291,29 @@ resource "datadog_monitor" "foo" {
   }
 }
 `
+const testAccCheckDatadogMonitorConfigNoThresholds = `
+resource "datadog_monitor" "foo" {
+  name = "name for monitor foo"
+  type = "metric alert"
+  message = "some message Notify: @hipchat-channel"
+  escalation_message = "the situation has escalated @pagerduty"
+
+  query = "avg(last_1h):avg:aws.ec2.cpu{environment:foo,host:foo} by {host} > 2"
+
+  notify_no_data = false
+  renotify_interval = 60
+
+  notify_audit = false
+  timeout_h = 60
+  include_tags = true
+  require_full_window = true
+  locked = false
+  tags {
+	"foo" = "bar"
+	"bar" = "baz"
+  }
+}
+`
 
 const testAccCheckDatadogMonitorConfig_ints = `
 resource "datadog_monitor" "foo" {
diff --git a/website/source/docs/providers/datadog/r/monitor.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/providers/datadog/r/monitor.html.markdown
index e1802835475c..dbc2e7a44215 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/providers/datadog/r/monitor.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/providers/datadog/r/monitor.html.markdown
@@ -60,10 +60,27 @@ The following arguments are supported:
     Email notifications can be sent to specific users by using the same '@username' notation as events.
 * `escalation_message` - (Optional) A message to include with a re-notification. Supports the '@username'
     notification allowed elsewhere.
-* `thresholds` - (Required) Thresholds by threshold type:
-    * `ok`
-    * `warning`
-    * `critical`
+* `thresholds` - (Optional)
+    * Metric alerts:
+    A dictionary of thresholds by threshold type. Currently we have two threshold types for metric alerts: critical and warning. Critical is defined in the query, but can also be specified in this option. Warning threshold can only be specified using the thresholds option.
+    Example usage:
+        ```
+        thresholds {
+            critical = 90
+            warning  = 80
+        }
+        ```
+    * Service checks:
+    A dictionary of thresholds by status. Because service checks can have multiple thresholds, we don't define them directly in the query.
+    Default values:
+        ```
+        thresholds {
+            ok       = 1
+            critical = 1
+            warning  = 1
+        }
+        ```
+
 * `notify_no_data` (Optional) A boolean indicating whether this monitor will notify when data stops reporting. Defaults
     to true.
 * `no_data_timeframe` (Optional) The number of minutes before a monitor will notify when data stops reporting. Must be at