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New Relic
Full-stack observability platform — 100 GB free data/month, 1 user free, NRQL query language, used by 15,000+ organizations.
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About New Relic
New Relic is a full-stack observability platform — application performance monitoring, infrastructure metrics, logs, and distributed tracing in one tool. 15,000+ organizations use it as an alternative to Datadog.
**New Relic vs Datadog:**
| Feature | New Relic | Datadog |
|---------|----------|---------|
| Free tier | 100 GB/month data, 1 user | None |
| Pricing model | Per GB + per user | Per host |
| APM traces | Yes | Yes |
| Infrastructure | Yes | Yes |
| Custom query language | NRQL (SQL-like) | DQL |
| Setup time | 30 minutes | 30 minutes |
| Enterprise integrations | 800+ | 650+ |
**New Relic''s free tier:**
100 GB/month of data ingest, 8 days of retention, and 1 full-platform user at no cost. For a small team, 100 GB covers moderate application monitoring. The catch: exceeding 100 GB triggers $0.30/GB charges, which can surprise teams with verbose logging.
**NRQL — New Relic Query Language:**
SQL-like query language for all your observability data — `SELECT average(duration) FROM Transaction WHERE appName = 'my-app' SINCE 1 hour ago TIMESERIES`. Write dashboards that aggregate any combination of metrics, logs, and traces with familiar SQL syntax.
**Pricing model difference:**
Datadog charges per host regardless of data volume — predictable but expensive at scale. New Relic charges per GB of ingest — cheaper for low-data environments but can spike with verbose logging or high event volume. Teams with disciplined log filtering often find New Relic cheaper; teams with large infrastructure and modest log volume find Datadog more predictable.
Key Features
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APM: distributed tracing, transaction profiling, and error tracking with full stack context
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Infrastructure: host metrics, container stats, and cloud service monitoring with 800+ integrations
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NRQL: SQL-like query language for custom analysis across all telemetry data types
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Logs in context: APM trace links directly to the log lines generated during that request
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Alerting: NRQL-based alert conditions with routing to PagerDuty, Slack, or any webhook
Pros
- ✓100 GB/month free with 8-day retention — sufficient monitoring for small production applications at $0
- ✓NRQL: SQL-like query language for custom dashboards and alerts across all observability data
- ✓APM, infrastructure, logs, and distributed tracing in one platform — no separate tool installation
- ✓GB-based pricing: cheaper than Datadog''s per-host model for low-data environments
- ✓800+ integrations: slightly more than Datadog for enterprise tool connections
Cons
- ✗$0.30/GB above 100 GB can surprise teams with verbose logging — requires log volume management
- ✗$49/user/month for additional users beyond the 1 free user — team cost can escalate quickly
- ✗Setup and configuration can be complex — agent installation and data source configuration is not as automated as Datadog
Who is using New Relic?
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Small teams who want APM and infrastructure monitoring at $0 within the 100 GB free tier
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Teams with disciplined log management who benefit from New Relic''s GB-based pricing vs Datadog''s per-host
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Organizations using a mix of cloud and on-premise infrastructure who need 800+ integration coverage
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Developers comfortable with SQL who want NRQL for custom observability queries and dashboards
Use Cases
- →Monitoring a small Next.js application with APM traces and error tracking within the 100 GB free tier
- →Writing a NRQL query to find the 10 slowest database queries across all services in the last 24 hours
- →Creating a custom dashboard showing p99 latency and error rate side-by-side for a microservice
- →Setting up an alert that fires when the average response time exceeds 500ms for 5 consecutive minutes
Pricing
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Free : $0/mo — 100 GB data/month, 1 full-platform user, 8-day retention, Community support
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Pro : $49/user/mo + $0.30/GB — All features, 13-month retention, Priority support, SLA
Pricing details may not be up to date. For the most accurate and current pricing, refer to the official website.
What Makes New Relic Unique?
The full-stack observability platform with the most generous free tier (100 GB/month) and a SQL-like query language (NRQL) for custom dashboards — with GB-based pricing that''s cheaper than Datadog''s per-host model for low-data environments.
How We Rated It
Free tier limits from New Relic pricing page July 2025. NRQL examples from New Relic documentation. Datadog comparison from published pricing pages. Integration count from New Relic integrations directory.
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Accuracy and Reliability 4.2/5
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Ease of Use 4.1/5
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Functionality and Features 4.4/5
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Performance and Speed 4.3/5
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Customer Support 4.1/5
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Value for Money 4.2/5
AI summary
Full-stack observability platform — 100 GB free data/month, 1 user free, NRQL query language, used by 15,000+ organizations.