Pricing Overview
New Relic uses a usage-based + per-user pricing model with two billing dimensions: data ingest volume (per GB) and user seats (by user type). This dual-axis approach means your bill depends on both how much telemetry data you send and how many people need access to the platform.
New Relic offers a perpetual free tier (not a trial) that includes 100 GB of data ingest per month and 1 full-platform user, making it accessible for small teams to get started with full-stack observability, APM, infrastructure monitoring, distributed tracing, and the NRQL query language without any upfront commitment.
Plan Comparison
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free (100 GB/month, 1 full-platform user, unlimited basic users) | Perpetual | Full-stack observability, APM, infrastructure monitoring, NRQL, dashboards |
| Standard | First full-platform user $10/month + $99/each additional (max 5) | Monthly | Enhanced data retention, standard support, up to 5 full-platform users |
| Pro | ~$349/user/month (full-platform, annual) | Annual commitment | Extended retention, SLA guarantees, advanced security, priority support |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Annual contract | Dedicated support, compliance certifications, custom data retention, volume discounts |
New Relic defines three user types that affect pricing:
- Basic users: Free on all plans. Can view dashboards and run basic queries but cannot access advanced features.
- Core users: $49/user/month. Access to core platform features without full APM and distributed tracing.
- Full-platform users: $99-$349/user/month depending on edition. Unrestricted access to all New Relic capabilities.
Hidden Costs and Considerations
The two-axis pricing model introduces several cost dynamics to watch:
- Data ingest costs: Beyond the included 100 GB/month (Free) or base allocation, additional data ingest is billed at $0.40/GB on the Original Data option or $0.60/GB on Data Plus. A single production application with APM, infrastructure, and log monitoring can generate 50-200 GB/month. Multiple applications or microservices architectures can push data volumes to terabytes.
- Data Plus vs. Original: Data Plus ($0.60/GB) provides extended retention, HIPAA compliance, vulnerability management, and enhanced security. Original ($0.40/GB) covers standard use cases. The $0.20/GB difference adds up at scale -- 1 TB/month costs $400 on Original vs. $600 on Data Plus.
- User type upgrades: Moving users from Basic (free) to Core ($49/month) or Full-platform ($99-$349/month) significantly increases the user portion of your bill. Be deliberate about which team members need full-platform vs. basic access.
- Log volume spikes: Application logs are often the largest source of data ingest. Verbose logging, debug mode left enabled, or sudden traffic spikes can cause unexpected data volume increases and higher bills.
- Synthetic monitoring: Running synthetic checks (uptime monitors, browser tests) against many endpoints generates additional data ingest and may incur separate per-check costs.
- Third-party integration data: Forwarding data from Kubernetes, cloud provider metrics, or other integrations contributes to your total data ingest volume.
Cost Estimates by Team Size
Small team (5 engineers, 2-3 services): The Free tier (100 GB/month, 1 full-platform user, unlimited basic users) can cover a small team's core needs. With 4 basic users and 1 full-platform user monitoring 2-3 services generating ~50-100 GB/month, you may stay within the free allocation. If you exceed 100 GB, the Standard plan with additional data at $0.40/GB keeps costs under $200/month.
Mid-size team (25 engineers, 10-20 services): A team with 5 full-platform users on the Standard plan costs approximately $10 + (4 x $99) = $406/month for users. Data ingest for 10-20 services commonly ranges 500 GB-2 TB/month. At $0.40/GB for usage beyond the base, expect $200-$800/month in data costs. Total: roughly $600-$1,200/month.
Enterprise (100+ engineers, 50+ services): Pro or Enterprise plans with ~$349/user/month for full-platform users plus multi-terabyte data ingest lead to annual contracts in the $100,000-$500,000+ range. Volume discounts on data ingest and committed-use agreements reduce per-unit costs at this scale.
How New Relic Pricing Compares
New Relic's usage-based model competes directly with Datadog (per-host pricing starting at $15/host/month for infrastructure, $31/host/month for APM) and Grafana Cloud (free tier with usage-based pricing for metrics, logs, and traces). The key difference is pricing axis: New Relic charges per GB of data plus per user, while Datadog charges per host plus per feature.
For teams with many small services, New Relic's per-GB model can be cheaper than Datadog's per-host pricing. For teams with fewer, larger hosts generating high data volumes, Datadog's per-host model may be more predictable. Grafana Cloud's open-source-based approach offers lower entry costs but requires more operational expertise.
We recommend starting with New Relic's perpetual free tier to evaluate the platform with real production data. The 100 GB/month free allocation is generous enough for small deployments. When you outgrow it, the Standard plan's $0.40/GB data pricing and $99/full-platform-user model provides clear cost scaling. Monitor your data ingest volume closely -- it is the primary cost driver for most teams.