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It's a split decision.
Choose Grafana if your stack already uses OpenTelemetry or Prometheus and you want to connect existing tools, with a free tier and usage-based paid plans. Choose New Relic if you prefer a hosted platform priced by users and data ingest, with 100 GB per month on its free plan. Both cover application and infrastructure observability, and both reference OpenTelemetry. Neither comparison should turn on SDK or CLI assumptions: the vendors’ pages do not list supported languages or command-line tooling.
01Side by side
| Grafana | New Relic | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $19 monthly platform fee, then usage | Per-user plans; ingest charges above allowance |
| Free tier | 10k active metric series; 50 GB/month | 100 GB/month; one full-platform user |
| Open source and license | Open source; specific license not listed | Open-source status not published |
| Integrations | OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, hundreds of integrations | OpenTelemetry, Kubernetes, cloud, LLMs, agents |
| Deployment model | Grafana Cloud observability platform | Hosted observability platform |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Limits and scaling | Usage charges vary by telemetry product | Ingest and user charges scale with usage |
| Lock-in and data export | Open standards; export details not published | OpenTelemetry; export details not published |
Grafana Choose Grafana if
- Choose Grafana if your stack uses OpenTelemetry or Prometheus.
- Choose Grafana if you want a free tier with telemetry retention.
- Choose Grafana if you want usage-based costs instead of per-user plans.
New Relic Choose New Relic if
- Choose New Relic if 100 GB of monthly free ingest fits your needs.
- Choose New Relic if you want a per-user Standard or Pro plan.
- Choose New Relic if you need monitoring across applications, infrastructure, logs, and security.
02Pricing at real usage
Both offer a free plan, but their allowances measure different things. Grafana Free includes 10,000 active metric series per month, 50 GB per month for logs, traces, and profiles, and 14-day retention for those signals. New Relic Free includes 100 GB of data ingest per month, one full-platform user, unlimited basic users, 500 synthetic checks, and at least eight days of retention.
Grafana Pro starts with a $19 monthly platform fee, then charges for usage above included allowances. The pricing page lists metrics starting at $6.50 per 1,000 series, and separate processed, written, and retained rates for logs and traces. New Relic Standard costs $10 for its first full-platform user and $99 per additional user, up to five; ingest above 100 GB costs $0.40 per GB. Pro is $349 per user monthly with an annual commitment or $418.80 month to month, before applicable ingest charges.
03API, SDKs and integration
Grafana’s integration approach centers on connecting existing tools and data sources through open standards, including OpenTelemetry and Prometheus. Its homepage also describes hundreds of plugins and integrations, plus dashboards and a Knowledge Graph that brings telemetry signals into shared context. That gives teams a path to bring current data sources into Grafana Cloud rather than replace them.
New Relic’s homepage references OpenTelemetry, Kubernetes, cloud environments, LLMs, agents, and microservices. Its platform covers application and infrastructure monitoring, log search, and AI monitoring. The vendor pages do not identify specific API styles, SDK languages, or CLI commands, so teams choosing on implementation details should confirm supported libraries and ingestion paths in vendor documentation. Neither homepage provides a language-by-language SDK list. Both products are web platforms; the listed integration standards are the clearest comparison point for developers planning instrumentation.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Grafana is identified as open source, but the specific license is not named. New Relic’s product pages do not specify an open-source license. Grafana Cloud is the hosted offering described on its homepage; neither vendor’s product description specifies self-hosting options. Teams that require self-managed deployment should confirm availability and support terms with the vendors before selecting a platform.
Grafana says it connects existing tools using OpenTelemetry and Prometheus and does not require a rip-and-replace approach. New Relic also highlights OpenTelemetry as a standard for telemetry signals. Those standards can make instrumentation less tied to one vendor, but they do not establish how to export stored data or migrate dashboards, alerts, and historical telemetry. Neither vendor’s product pages detail data-export formats. Ask about export scope, retention during migration, and charges for retrieving data before committing.
Questions people ask
Is Grafana cheaper than New Relic?
It depends on telemetry volume and user count. Grafana Pro starts with a $19 monthly platform fee plus usage charges. New Relic Standard starts at $10 for its first full-platform user and adds ingest charges above 100 GB per month. Compare expected data volume, retention, and paid users against each plan’s included allowances.
Does Grafana or New Relic have a better free tier?
The free tiers cover different needs. Grafana lists 10,000 active metric series and 50 GB per month for logs, traces, and profiles, with 14-day retention for those signals. New Relic lists 100 GB of monthly ingest, one full-platform user, and at least eight days of retention. Match the allowance to your telemetry mix.
Can I use OpenTelemetry with both platforms?
Yes. Grafana names OpenTelemetry as an open standard for connecting data sources, alongside Prometheus. New Relic’s homepage also highlights OpenTelemetry as a standard for telemetry signals. The product pages do not list SDK languages or specific API methods, so check the vendors’ documentation for the instrumentation and ingestion paths your codebase needs.
Can I self-host Grafana or New Relic?
The product descriptions focus on Grafana Cloud and New Relic’s observability platform, and do not specify self-hosting options. Grafana is identified as open source, but that does not establish the deployment terms for every Grafana product. If self-managed deployment is required, confirm the supported product, license, and operational responsibilities with the vendor.