We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It never changes a score or a ranking. How we make money
It's a split decision.
Choose Splunk if your stack needs security and observability together, or you need an on-prem, private-cloud or air-gapped deployment. Choose New Relic if you want a hosted observability platform with published per-user prices and a 100 GB monthly free tier. Splunk’s listed observability prices start at $15 per host per month, billed annually, but its core platform pricing is usage-based and not published as a fixed amount. Your ingest, seats and deployment requirements decide the cost.
01Side by side
| Splunk | New Relic | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Usage-based; price depends on product and workload | Per-user tiers, plus ingest and add-on charges |
| Free tier | Free Observability Cloud and Agent Observability editions | 100 GB/month, one full-platform user, unlimited basic users |
| Self-hosting | Enterprise supports on-prem, private cloud and air-gapped deployment | Hosted platform; self-hosting is not specified |
| API and SDK support | Native OpenTelemetry support, SDKs and agents | OpenTelemetry support; APIs and language SDKs unspecified |
| Integrations | Splunkbase lists 2,000+ integrations and apps | Homepage names Kubernetes, cloud, LLMs, agents and microservices |
| Deployment model | Cloud, on-prem, private cloud or hybrid | Hosted observability platform |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Limits and scaling | Petabyte-scale data platform; federated search across tiered data | Free tier includes 100 GB/month; extra ingest is billable |
Splunk Choose Splunk if
- Choose Splunk if security and observability belong in one platform.
- Choose Splunk if you need on-prem, private-cloud or air-gapped deployment.
- Choose Splunk if federated search and petabyte-scale data matter.
New Relic Choose New Relic if
- Choose New Relic if you want published per-user plan prices.
- Choose New Relic if 100 GB/month covers your free-tier evaluation.
- Choose New Relic if you need observability across apps, infrastructure and user experience.
02Pricing at real usage
New Relic has a free plan with 100 GB of monthly ingest, one full-platform user, unlimited basic users, 500 synthetic checks and at least eight days of retention. Standard starts at $10 per month for its first full-platform user; additional full-platform users are $99 each, up to five. Ingest beyond 100 GB costs $0.40/GB. Pro is $349 per user/month with an annual commitment or $418.80 month to month, plus $0.40/GB beyond the included ingest. Splunk has free Observability Cloud and Agent Observability editions, but publishes no limits for them here. Its core cloud and Enterprise plans are usage-based, with prices depending on ingest, activity or workload. Listed observability rates include $15, $60 and $75 per host/month, billed annually. Ask Splunk for a quote based on deployment and data volume.
03API, SDKs and integration
Splunk’s homepage names native OpenTelemetry support, SDKs and agents. Splunkbase lists more than 2,000 integrations and apps, giving teams options to connect existing systems. New Relic also highlights OpenTelemetry and names Kubernetes, cloud environments, LLMs, agents and microservices as part of its integration context. Both products therefore have a path for teams building around OpenTelemetry, but the published product pages do not give language-specific SDK matrices, API endpoint details, CLI commands or documentation links. Confirm those details against each vendor’s developer documentation before choosing an instrumentation path. The practical stack question is whether your services already emit OpenTelemetry signals and whether Splunkbase integrations or New Relic’s stated Kubernetes and AI monitoring coverage match the systems you need to observe. Neither homepage establishes a language-by-language advantage.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Splunk Enterprise can run on-premises, in a private cloud or in an air-gapped deployment; the platform also supports hybrid deployment. That gives infrastructure teams a stated option to keep the analytics system inside their environment. New Relic is presented as a hosted observability platform, and its product page does not specify a self-hosted deployment option. Neither vendor states an open-source licence for these products or describes a data-export path in the cited product details. Ask both vendors how to export raw telemetry, dashboards, alerts and detection content, and what formats remain usable after a contract ends. Migration effort will depend on how much instrumentation, query logic and alerting configuration your team builds around vendor-specific features; the published details do not quantify that work.
Questions people ask
Which is cheaper, Splunk or New Relic?
There is no single published price comparison. New Relic lists Standard from $10 per month for its first full-platform user and charges $0.40/GB beyond 100 GB of monthly ingest. Splunk’s core platform pricing is usage-based without a published starting price. Compare quotes using your ingest, users and deployment model.
Does New Relic do security monitoring?
Yes. New Relic describes security monitoring that prioritizes vulnerabilities by production impact and guides remediation. Its homepage also highlights monitoring AI investments. Splunk offers a broader set of named security capabilities, including SIEM, SOAR, UEBA, threat intelligence and detection development.
Can I self-host either platform?
Splunk Enterprise supports on-premises, private-cloud and air-gapped deployments. New Relic is presented as a hosted observability platform, and its product page does not specify a self-hosted option. If deployment control is a requirement, confirm New Relic’s available options with its sales team.
Do both platforms support OpenTelemetry?
Both vendors name OpenTelemetry: Splunk cites native support, SDKs and agents, while New Relic presents OpenTelemetry as an open standard for signals. The product pages do not establish a comparative advantage by language or API, so check the relevant SDK and instrumentation documentation for your stack.