New Relic vs Lightstep: Observability & APM Comparison (2026)

An independent side-by-side comparison of New Relic and Lightstep for observability & apm buyers — pricing, features, integrations, and how often each is cited by major AI engines.

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.

New Relic leads overall — 100% cited vs Lightstep 0% across 12 probes.
ChatGPT
New RelicLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
Lightstep
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Perplexity
New RelicLeads
2 / 2 probes
100%
Excellent
Lightstep
0 / 2 probes
0%
Invisible
Gemini
New RelicLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
Lightstep
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Claude
New RelicLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
Lightstep
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Copilot
New RelicLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
Lightstep
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Scale:NoneLowFairStrongExcellent

Probes run hourly; each (engine × query) combo retests every ~3 days.

Pricing

New Relic
Starting price
—
Free tier
Yes
newrelic.com ↗
Lightstep
Starting price
—
Free tier
—
lightstep.com ↗

Key Features

New Relic
  • ✓50+ capabilities in one platform
  • ✓Unlimited free basic users
  • ✓100 GB of free data ingest/month
  • ✓Data retention of at least 8 days
Lightstep
  • ✓Custom quotes available
  • ✓Predictable pricing based on units
  • ✓Scalability for growth
  • ✓Evaluation of needs included

When to choose New Relic

Choose New Relic if your team prioritizes its strengths over Lightstep's. Full guidance populates as New Relic's feature data is indexed.

When to choose Lightstep

Choose Lightstep if your team prioritizes its strengths over New Relic's. Full guidance populates as Lightstep's feature data is indexed.

AI visibility profiles

Is one of these your brand?

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New Relic

newrelic.com

Lightstep

lightstep.com

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