Grafana vs New Relic: Observability & APM Comparison (2026)
New Relic provides a more comprehensive free tier with 50+ capabilities and 100 GB of free data ingest per month, while Grafana offers a free tier with its core services and community support.
AI Citation Scorecard
How often each is cited by major AI engines when buyers ask observability & apm questions. Last 90 days across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot.
Probes run hourly; each (engine × query) combo retests every ~3 days.
Pricing
Key Features
- ✓All Grafana Cloud services
- ✓Community support
- ✓14 days metrics retention
- ✓8X5 email support
- ✓Pay as you go above Free tier
- ✓Premium support
- ✓Custom retention
- ✓Deployment flexibility
- ✓50+ capabilities in one platform
- ✓Unlimited free basic users
- ✓100 GB of free data ingest/month
- ✓Data retention of at least 8 days
When to choose Grafana
Grafana is more suitable for users who prioritize community support, deployment flexibility, and custom retention options. Its pricing model includes pay-as-you-go above the free tier and options for premium support and custom retention.
When to choose New Relic
New Relic is a better choice for users seeking a generous free tier with extensive capabilities and data ingest, and unlimited free basic users. It also offers advanced compute capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
AI visibility profiles
Is one of these your brand?
Get the full report by email: every observability & apm buyer question we ask, which engines name you, and who gets named instead.
grafana.com
newrelic.com