# New Relic

New Relic is a full-stack observability platform rated 4.3/5 on G2 from 500+ reviews. Profile: pricing, features, APM, and how it compares to Datadog.

**Category:** Full-stack observability platform  
**Vendor:** New Relic, Inc.  
**Founded:** 2007  
**HQ:** San Francisco, California, US  
**Website:** https://newrelic.com  


## About

New Relic is a San Francisco-based observability platform founded in 2007 by Lew Cirne. One of the earliest APM (Application Performance Monitoring) vendors, New Relic built a platform covering APM, infrastructure monitoring, logs, distributed tracing, browser monitoring, mobile monitoring, and synthetic testing. In 2021, New Relic went private in a $6.5B deal led by Francisco Partners and TPG after being publicly listed since 2014. A significant 2023 pricing model change moved New Relic to a consumption-based model with a free tier of 100GB/month, which disrupted existing enterprise contracts but made the platform more accessible to smaller teams. The platform now serves 14,000+ paying customers with 17 monitoring capabilities under one subscription.

## Ratings

| Source | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.3/5 | ~500 |
| Capterra | 4.3/5 | ~200 |

## Funding

Went private at $6.5B (2021)

| Round | Amount | Date | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPO | ~$115M | 2014 | NYSE: NEWR |
| Take-private | $6.5B | 2021 | Francisco Partners + TPG |

## Viability

Stable PE-backed platform with deep enterprise penetration. 2023 pricing restructuring removed minimum spend, improving accessibility. Long-term continuity is solid but PE ownership introduces standard exit uncertainty.

## Pricing

New Relic charges on data ingest + user seats. Free: 100GB ingest, 1 full user. Paid: $0.25/GB over 100GB ingest, $99/month per full platform user. Core users (limited access) are free. A team of 5 engineers using 500GB/month would pay roughly $595/month.

| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | Individual developers, 100GB ingest/month |
| Standard | Pay-as-you-go | Teams, $0.25/GB + $99/user/month |
| Enterprise | Custom | Large orgs, committed spend, SLAs |

## What reviewers say

_~700 G2 and Capterra reviews, 2025-2026_

**Praised:**
- All 17 observability capabilities under one license with no per-feature add-on costs
- 100GB/month free tier is genuinely usable for small teams
- Distributed tracing is excellent for microservices architectures
- NRQL query language is powerful once learned

**Complaints:**
- NRQL learning curve is steep compared to competitors
- 2023 pricing restructuring caused contract disruption for existing customers
- UI has been criticized as cluttered and less polished than Datadog

## Compliance

- **SOC 2:** Yes (Type II)
- **GDPR:** Yes
- **HIPAA:** Yes (BAA available on paid plans)
- **SSO:** Yes (Standard+)

## Integrations

- AWS
- Azure
- GCP
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- Terraform
- GitHub
- Slack
- PagerDuty
- ServiceNow
- Jira
- OpenTelemetry

## FAQs

### How does New Relic compare to Datadog?

Both are full-stack observability platforms. New Relic's consumption-based model can be cheaper for predictable workloads with the 100GB free tier. Datadog has a better UX, stronger integrations ecosystem, and more mature ML/AI features. New Relic wins on all-in-one licensing without feature add-on fees.

### Does New Relic have APM for Java/.NET?

Yes. New Relic APM supports Java, .NET, Ruby, Python, PHP, Go, and Node.js with auto-instrumentation agents.


## Sources

- [New Relic website](https://newrelic.com): Product and pricing
- [G2 New Relic reviews](https://www.g2.com/products/new-relic/reviews): User reviews