Bugsnag specializes in error and crash reporting with lightweight SDK integration, while New Relic offers comprehensive full-stack observability including APM, infrastructure monitoring, and log management. New Relic provides broader monitoring capabilities, whereas Bugsnag excels at focused error tracking with faster deployment.
Bugsnag vs New Relic — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Error and crash reporting platform for detecting and debugging production issues in real-time.
Full-stack observability platform providing APM, infrastructure monitoring, logs, and synthetic monitoring.
Primary Focus. Supported Languages/Frameworks. SDK Size (JavaScript). Starting Price (Monthly). Data Retention (Free Tier). API Endpoints Tracked per Hour. Real User Monitoring (RUM)
Choose Bugsnag if you need lightweight error tracking, fast implementation, and lower infrastructure costs for development/QA teams. Choose New Relic if you require comprehensive observability across applications, infrastructure, databases, and logs with advanced analytics and enterprise-grade features.
Bugsnag: 7 days | New Relic: 30 days (logs), 365 days (metrics)
Bugsnag: Cloud-only SaaS | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: AI/ML-powered (automatic learning) | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Native iOS/Android support | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Automatic with obfuscation detection | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Advanced with interaction tracking and performance metrics | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Native support with video replay | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Native with custom rules | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: 0 (error monitoring only) | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Up to 100 events per crash | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: 32 integrations | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: $2,000 (Enterprise) | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Yes (automatic) | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Yes (primary focus) | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: 50+ integrations | New Relic: 400+
Bugsnag: 150+ integrations | New Relic: 600+
APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
Bugsnag: Basic APM with error tracking | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Application errors only | New Relic: Native (servers, containers, Kubernetes)
Bugsnag: Basic session replay | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: Basic authentication and data encryption | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: 7,500 events/month | New Relic: 100 GB ingestion/month
Bugsnag: $29/month | New Relic: $99/month
Bugsnag: 7 minutes | New Relic: 45 minutes
Bugsnag: iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter | New Relic: N/A
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Limited trial only
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: $1,200+ (Enterprise tier)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Integrated with 100+ data sources
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Advanced profiling and error intelligence
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: $0.30 per GB ingested
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Solid core capabilities
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: More intuitive, faster onboarding
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Good with cloud-native focus
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Multi-tenant SaaS limit (typically 50-500TB per org)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 3 (NRQL - SQL-like, intuitive)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: SaaS only (cloud-hosted)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Method-level profiling
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Rule-based thresholds
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 35-45% reduction
Monthly Platform Cost (100GB/month ingestion)
Mean Time To Resolution (MTTR) Improvement
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 30-40% faster (manual investigation)
Setup Time for Multi-Service Environment
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 7-14 days (manual per service)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 30 days + $100 credits
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Supported via agents, requires configuration
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: $500-$800 typical (based on ~1-2 GB/day ingestion)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: ~700 integrations (includes agents, APIs, partners)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 900+ with automatic instrumentation
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 1-2 hours (wizard-based, automatic)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Cloud-only SaaS (no self-hosted option)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Built-in AI with predictive analysis and root cause identification
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 24/7 with 1-4 hour response SLA depending on tier
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Full team access included; per-user pricing optional
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 600+ integrations
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Advanced ML-based detection
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 16,000+ customers
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 500+ integrations (AWS, Azure, GCP, Datadog, PagerDuty, Slack)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 600 calls/minute
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Transaction tracing, error stack traces
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Native (full instrumentation out-of-box)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: 4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews)
Bugsnag: N/A | New Relic: Advanced cluster intelligence with pod diagnostics
How to choose between Bugsnag and New Relic
Bugsnag vs New Relic — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Bugsnag vs New Relic. Contains 117 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Bugsnag vs New Relic — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Bugsnag vs New Relic.
What's the main difference between Bugsnag and New Relic?
Bugsnag focuses exclusively on error and crash reporting with lightweight SDK integration, while New Relic provides comprehensive full-stack observability including APM, infrastructure monitoring, logs, and synthetic testing. Choose Bugsnag for focused error tracking; choose New Relic for unified observability across your entire technology stack.
Which is better for startups and small teams?
Bugsnag is generally better for startups due to its simpler feature set, faster 5-10 minute setup, smaller SDK footprint (15 KB), and lower entry price ($29/month). New Relic's broader feature set and higher starting cost ($99/month) are better suited for larger teams managing complex infrastructure.
Can I use Bugsnag and New Relic together?
Yes, many organizations use both complementarily—Bugsnag for lightweight error tracking and developer notifications, and New Relic for comprehensive observability and infrastructure monitoring. They don't conflict and can provide different perspectives on application health.
Which has better performance impact on my application?
Bugsnag has a significantly lighter footprint with a 15 KB gzipped JavaScript SDK compared to New Relic's 35 KB. For mobile and performance-critical applications, Bugsnag's minimal overhead is advantageous. New Relic's larger footprint is justified by its broader data collection capabilities.
Which platform is better for microservices architectures?
New Relic is better for microservices due to its distributed tracing across 40+ languages, built-in infrastructure monitoring, and ability to track requests across service boundaries. Bugsnag can capture errors in microservices but lacks the cross-service visibility that New Relic provides through APM.
How to Choose Between Bugsnag and New Relic
Primary Focus: Bugsnag has Error & crash reporting, while New Relic has Full-stack observability (APM, infrastructure, logs, synthetics).
Consider: Supported Languages/Frameworks
Supported Languages/Frameworks: Bugsnag has 20+ (JavaScript, Python, Java, Ruby, PHP, Go, .NET, React Native, iOS, Android, etc.), while New Relic has 40+ (JavaScript, Python, Java, Ruby, PHP, Go, .NET, Node.js, plus custom instrumentation).
SDK Size (JavaScript): Bugsnag has ~15 KB gzipped, while New Relic has ~35 KB gzipped.
Starting Price (Monthly): Bugsnag has $0-$999+ (freemium model), while New Relic has $0-$2,000+ (freemium model with higher enterprise costs).
Data Retention (Free Tier): Bugsnag has 7 days, while New Relic has 7-30 days depending on data type.
Consider: API Endpoints Tracked per Hour
API Endpoints Tracked per Hour: Bugsnag has Unlimited (error-focused), while New Relic has Scales with APM pricing tier.
Real User Monitoring (RUM): Bugsnag has Basic browser performance monitoring, while New Relic has Advanced RUM with session replay and custom attributes.