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Bugsnag vs New Relic 2026: Error Tracking vs Full Observability

Bugsnag specializes in error tracking and crash reporting with a $29/month entry price, while New Relic is a comprehensive observability platform with APM, infrastructure monitoring, and logs starting at $99/month. Choose Bugsnag for focused error management on a budget; choose New Relic for full-stack monitoring at scale.

B

Bugsnag

Error tracking and crash reporting platform for mobile, web, and backend applications.

Startups, small teams, and developers prioritizing error tracking on a budget

Score71%
VS
NR

New Relic

Full-stack observability platform combining APM, infrastructure monitoring, logs, and synthetic monitoring.

Mid-market to enterprise teams needing comprehensive observability and full-stack visibility

Score71%

Quick Answer

AI Summary

Bugsnag specializes in error tracking and crash reporting with a $29/month entry price, while New Relic is a comprehensive observability platform with APM, infrastructure monitoring, and logs starting at $99/month. Choose Bugsnag for focused error management on a budget; choose New Relic for full-stack monitoring at scale.

Our Verdict

AI-assisted

Choose Bugsnag if you need lightweight, budget-friendly error tracking with quick implementation for mobile and web applications. Choose New Relic if you require comprehensive observability across your entire stack including infrastructure, APM, and logs, and have the budget for enterprise-grade monitoring.

Community feedback

Was this verdict helpful?

B
Bugsnag
7.9/10
New Relic
7.1/10
N
B

Choose Bugsnag if

Best pick

Startups, small teams, and developers prioritizing error tracking on a budget

N

Choose New Relic if

Mid-market to enterprise teams needing comprehensive observability and full-stack visibility

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Key Differences at a Glance

  • Primary Focus:New Relic wins(Full-stack observability (APM + infra + logs) vs Error tracking & crash reporting)
  • Starting Price (Monthly):Bugsnag wins($29 vs $99)
  • Supported Platforms:New Relic wins(30+ (comprehensive coverage) vs 15+ (mobile, web, backend))
See all 7 differences

Key Facts & Figures

102 numeric metrics compared

MetricBugsnagNew RelicRatio
Minimum Paid Plan Price(USD/month)$29
Data Retention (Free Tier)(months)7 days30 days (logs), 365 days (metrics)
Session Replay Pixel Fidelity(percent accurate)95%
Mobile Platform SDKs(platforms supported)15+
Alert Response Time (Median)(seconds)<3 seconds
Free Tier Monthly Events(events)50,000
Pro Plan Starting Price (Annual)(USD/month)$49
Free Tier Monthly Error Events(events)50,000
Supported Languages/Frameworks(count)50+40+ including Java, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby
Average Integration Time(minutes)7
Cost per Event (Enterprise)(USD)$0.03
Additional Backend Services Included(count)0 (error monitoring only)
Alert Delivery Speed(seconds)< 1 second
Entry-Level Paid Plan(USD/month)$29
Mid-Tier Plan (Growth)(USD/month)$299
Supported Integrations(count)32 integrations
On-Premise Minimum Cost(USD/month)$2,000 (Enterprise)
Dashboard Widget Types(count)8 types
Monthly Cost (Small Team)(USD)$29/month
Error Detection Latency(seconds)<1 second
Installation Size(MB)<100 MB (SDK)
Native Integrations(count)50+ integrations400+
Available Integrations(count)150+ integrations600+
Free Tier Data Retention(days)14 days1 day
Supported Programming Languages(count)20+20+ languages
Free Tier Event Limit(events/month)7,500 events/month100 GB ingestion/month
Minimum Paid Plan Cost(USD/month)$29/month$99/month
Average Setup Time(minutes)7 minutes3-5 days
Starting Price (Monthly)(USD)$49
Integration Count(integrations)120+
Error Alert Latency(seconds)<2 seconds
Data Retention (Default)(months)90 days
Mobile SDKs Supported(platforms)iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter
Typical Enterprise Cost (Annual)(USD)$2,000-$5,000
SDK Size (JavaScript)(KB gzipped)~15 KB~35 KB
Free Tier Event Retention(days)30 days
Entry-Level Paid Plan Cost(USD/month)$99/month
Supported SDK Platforms(count)22 languages/frameworks
Setup Time for Full Backend(hours)Requires additional integrations (8-16 hours)
Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent)99.9%
Starting Monthly Price (USD)(USD)$29$99
Free Tier Event Quota(events/month)50,000 events100 GB ingest
Event Capture Rate (Mobile)(percent)99.9%99.0%
APM Transaction Tracking Granularity(seconds)Not available8 seconds
Base Monthly Price(USD)$99$99
Free Tier Events per Month(events)Limited trial onlyLimited trial only
Supported Languages/SDKs(count)25+ languages25+ languages
Session Replay Starting Tier(USD/month)$1,200+ (Enterprise tier)$1,200+ (Enterprise tier)
Setup Time (First Deploy)(minutes)45-60 minutes45-60 minutes
Native Integrations(count)600+600+
Metrics Data Retention(months)13 months13 months
Global Data Centers(locations)12+ regions12+ regions
Starting Monthly Cost(USD)$99$99
Setup Time for First Alert(minutes)2222
Data Retention (Free Plan)(days)77
Monthly Ingestion Cost per GB(USD)$0.25 - $0.50$0.25 - $0.50
Setup Time to Production(minutes)15-30 minutes15-30 minutes
Maximum Data Volume per Cluster(TB)Multi-tenant SaaS limit (typically 50-500TB per org)Multi-tenant SaaS limit (typically 50-500TB per org)
Query Language Complexity (1-10 scale)(complexity rating)3 (NRQL - SQL-like, intuitive)3 (NRQL - SQL-like, intuitive)
Average Customer Onboarding Time(hours)3-7 days3-7 days
Base Monthly Cost (100 GB/month)(USD)$3,000-5,000$3,000-5,000
Implementation Timeline(weeks)2-4 weeks2-4 weeks
Out-of-Box Integrations(count)700+700+
Average MTTR Improvement(percent reduction)35-45% reduction35-45% reduction
Max Data Retention (free tier)(days)7 days7 days
Monthly Platform Cost (100GB/month ingestion)(USD)$3,000-$9,900$3,000-$9,900
Supported Programming Languages (APM)(languages)10+ languages10+ languages
Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) Improvement(percentage reduction)30-40% faster (manual investigation)30-40% faster (manual investigation)
Setup Time for Multi-Service Environment(days)7-14 days (manual per service)7-14 days (manual per service)
Data Retention (Standard Plan)(days)30 days30 days
Free Trial Period(days)14 days unlimited14 days unlimited
User Satisfaction Score (G2 Reviews)(out of 5.0)4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews)4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews)
Minimum Monthly Cost (Small Org)(USD)$500-$800 typical (based on ~1-2 GB/day ingestion)$500-$800 typical (based on ~1-2 GB/day ingestion)
Data Source Integrations Available(count)~700 integrations (includes agents, APIs, partners)~700 integrations (includes agents, APIs, partners)
Supported APM Frameworks(count)900+ with automatic instrumentation900+ with automatic instrumentation
Setup Time for Basic Monitoring(days)1-2 hours (wizard-based, automatic)1-2 hours (wizard-based, automatic)
User Seats Included (Starter)(seats)Full team access included; per-user pricing optionalFull team access included; per-user pricing optional
Monthly Pricing (Starter Plan)(USD)$99$99
Implementation Time (Average)(minutes)52 minutes52 minutes
Third-party Integrations(count)600+ integrations600+ integrations
Global Customer Base(millions)16,000+ customers16,000+ customers
Pre-built Integrations(count)500+500+
API Call Rate Limit (Standard Plan)(calls per minute)600 calls/minute600 calls/minute
Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars)4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews)4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews)
APM Transaction Sampling Interval(seconds)8 seconds8 seconds
Log Management Cost(USD per GB/month)$0.35$0.35
Average Implementation Time(weeks)3-4 days3-4 days
Monthly Starting Price(USD)$99/month$99/month
Default Data Retention(days)13 days (metrics) / 8 days (events)13 days (metrics) / 8 days (events)
Supported Application Languages(count)8+ languages8+ languages
Average Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars)4.3/5.0 (2,100+ reviews)4.3/5.0 (2,100+ reviews)
Starting Monthly Price(USD)$99$99
Error Deduplication Effectiveness(percent)75% noise reduction75% noise reduction
Base Monthly Cost (Small Team)(USD)$599-$999$599-$999
Data Retention (Standard)(months)8 days8 days
Initial Setup Time(minutes)4-8 hours for basic APM4-8 hours for basic APM
Annual Cloud Subscription (Large Team)(USD)$50,000-$120,000$50,000-$120,000
Base Monthly Cost(USD)$99 (Standard tier minimum)$99 (Standard tier minimum)
Native Data Source Integrations(count)600+ integrations600+ integrations
APM Language Support(languages)10+ (auto-instrumented)10+ (auto-instrumented)
Deployment Models Supported(count)1 option (SaaS cloud-only)1 option (SaaS cloud-only)
GitHub Stars (Community Traction)(thousands)~5k stars~5k stars

Sourced from publicly available data ·

Key Differences

7 attributes compared head-to-head

B
2Bugsnag
New Relic leads1 tie
NR
4New Relic
  • Primary Focus

    Bugsnag

    Error tracking & crash reporting

    New Relic

    Full-stack observability (APM + infra + logs)(winner)

  • Starting Price (Monthly)

    Bugsnag

    $29(winner)

    New Relic

    $99

  • Supported Platforms

    Bugsnag

    15+ (mobile, web, backend)

    New Relic

    30+ (comprehensive coverage)(winner)

  • Infrastructure Monitoring

    Bugsnag

    Not included

    New Relic

    Full infrastructure & container monitoring(winner)

  • Real User Monitoring (RUM)

    Bugsnag

    Basic browser monitoring

    New Relic

    Advanced RUM with session replay(winner)

  • Setup Time (hours)

    Bugsnag

    0.5 hours(winner)

    New Relic

    2-4 hours

  • Free Tier Events/Month

    Bugsnag

    50,000

    New Relic

    100 GB ingest

Full Comparison

BBugsnag
NNew Relic
Minimum Paid Plan Price(USD/month)
$29
Data Retention (Free Tier)(months)
7 days
30 days (logs), 365 days (metrics)
Data Retention (Default)(months)
90 days
Metrics Data Retention(months)
13 months
Data Retention (Free Plan)(days)
7
Max Data Retention (free tier)(days)
7 days
Show 1 more attribute
Data Retention (Standard)(months)
8 days
Session Replay Pixel Fidelity(percent accurate)
95%
Distributed Tracing
Not available
Mobile Session Replay(availability)
Native iOS/Android support
Session Replay Support
Native support with video replay
Real-time Alert Native Support
Native with custom rules
Show 27 more attributes
Breadcrumb Event Capture
Up to 100 events per crash
Dashboard Widget Types(count)
8 types
Code Editing Capabilities(boolean)
No
Native Integrations(count)
50+ integrations
400+
APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
Basic APM with error tracking
Infrastructure Monitoring
Application errors only
Native (servers, containers, Kubernetes)
Session Replay Quality(pixel-perfect fidelity)
Basic session replay
Infrastructure Monitoring Included
No
Yes
Session Replay Starting Tier(USD/month)
$1,200+ (Enterprise tier)
Log Aggregation Capability
Integrated with 100+ data sources
APM Specialization
Advanced profiling and error intelligence
Log Ingestion & Parsing
Solid core capabilities
Native Infrastructure Monitoring
Yes (native)
Integrated Log Management
Yes
Out-of-Box Integrations(count)
700+
Data Retention (Standard Plan)(days)
30 days
Kubernetes/Container Auto-Discovery(capability)
Supported via agents, requires configuration
AI-Powered Anomaly Detection
Advanced ML-based detection
Pre-built Integrations(count)
500+
Business Transaction Auto-Discovery(null)
Manual configuration required
Code-Level Diagnostics(null)
Available with premium add-on
APM Capability Level
Enterprise-grade
AI/Anomaly Detection
Built-in with Proactive Detection
Native Data Source Integrations(count)
600+ integrations
APM Language Support(languages)
10+ (auto-instrumented)
Dashboard Customization Level
Pre-built templates with limited custom visualization options
AI/ML Anomaly Detection
Advanced ML-powered anomaly detection and root cause analysis
Mobile Platform SDKs(platforms supported)
15+
Supported Integrations(count)
32 integrations
Alert Response Time (Median)(seconds)
<3 seconds
Alert Delivery Speed(seconds)
< 1 second
Error Detection Latency(seconds)
<1 second
Installation Size(MB)
<100 MB (SDK)
Free Tier Data Retention(days)
14 days
1 day
Show 4 more attributes
Error Alert Latency(seconds)
<2 seconds
Event Capture Rate (Mobile)(percent)
99.9%
99.0%
Default Data Retention(days)
13 days (metrics) / 8 days (events)
Error Deduplication Effectiveness(percent)
75% noise reduction
Self-Hosting Support
Cloud-only SaaS
Free Tier Monthly Events(events)
50,000
Free Tier Monthly Error Events(events)
50,000
Cost per Event (Enterprise)(USD)
$0.03
Entry-Level Paid Plan(USD/month)
$29
Mid-Tier Plan (Growth)(USD/month)
$299
Show 19 more attributes
Monthly Cost (Small Team)(USD)
$29/month
Starting Price (Monthly)(USD)
$49
Typical Enterprise Cost (Annual)(USD)
$2,000-$5,000
Starting Monthly Price (USD)(USD)
$29
$99
Free Tier Event Quota(events/month)
50,000 events
100 GB ingest
Base Monthly Price(USD)
$99
Free Tier Events per Month(events)
Limited trial only
Starting Monthly Price(USD)
$0.30 per GB ingested
Starting Monthly Cost(USD)
$99
Monthly Ingestion Cost per GB(USD)
$0.25 - $0.50
Base Monthly Cost (100 GB/month)(USD)
$3,000-5,000
Free Trial Period(days)
14 days unlimited
Monthly Pricing (Starter Plan)(USD)
$99
Log Management Cost(USD per GB/month)
$0.35
Monthly Starting Price(USD)
$99/month
Starting Monthly Price(USD)
$99
Base Monthly Cost (Small Team)(USD)
$599-$999
Annual Cloud Subscription (Large Team)(USD)
$50,000-$120,000
Base Monthly Cost(USD)
$99 (Standard tier minimum)
Pro Plan Starting Price (Annual)(USD/month)
$49
Free Tier Event Limit(events/month)
7,500 events/month
100 GB ingestion/month
Minimum Paid Plan Cost(USD/month)
$29/month
$99/month
Free Tier Event Retention(days)
30 days
Entry-Level Paid Plan Cost(USD/month)
$99/month
Error Grouping Method
AI/ML-powered (automatic learning)
Source Map Processing
Automatic with obfuscation detection
Real User Monitoring (RUM)
Advanced with interaction tracking and performance metrics
Supported Languages/Frameworks(count)
50+
40+ including Java, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby
Supported Programming Languages(count)
20+
20+ languages
Supported Languages/SDKs(count)
25+ languages
Supported Application Languages(count)
8+ languages
Average Integration Time(minutes)
7
Additional Backend Services Included(count)
0 (error monitoring only)
On-Premise Minimum Cost(USD/month)
$2,000 (Enterprise)
Setup Time to Production(minutes)
15-30 minutes
Implementation Timeline(weeks)
2-4 weeks
Average Implementation Time(weeks)
3-4 days
Deployment Models Supported(count)
1 option (SaaS cloud-only)
Production Monitoring(metrics exported)
Yes (primary focus)
Setup Time(hours)
0.5 hours
3 hours
Available Integrations(count)
150+ integrations
600+
Native Integrations(count)
600+
Third-party Integrations(count)
600+ integrations
Enterprise Security Features(count)
Basic authentication and data encryption
Average Setup Time(minutes)
7 minutes
3-5 days
Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars)
4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews)
Integration Count(integrations)
120+
Mobile SDKs Supported(platforms)
iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter
SDK Size (JavaScript)(KB gzipped)
~15 KB
~35 KB
Supported SDK Platforms(count)
22 languages/frameworks
Kubernetes Cluster Support(native capability)
Native (full instrumentation out-of-box)
Session Replay Capability
Full session replay included
Real-time Database Included
No (error monitoring only)
Setup Time for Full Backend(hours)
Requires additional integrations (8-16 hours)
Uptime SLA Guarantee(percent)
99.9%
Custom Error Grouping Rules
Advanced with multiple rule types
Supported Platforms(count)
15+ languages/frameworks
30+ languages/frameworks
APM Transaction Tracking Granularity(seconds)
Not available
8 seconds
Setup Time (First Deploy)(minutes)
45-60 minutes
User Interface Intuitiveness
More intuitive, faster onboarding
Query Language
NRQL (natural language-like, easier to learn)
Global Data Centers(locations)
12+ regions
Kubernetes Support
Good with cloud-native focus
Deployment Flexibility
Cloud-only SaaS (no self-hosted option)
Setup Time for First Alert(minutes)
22
Query Language Complexity (1-10 scale)(complexity rating)
3 (NRQL - SQL-like, intuitive)
Setup Time for Basic Monitoring(days)
1-2 hours (wizard-based, automatic)
Implementation Time (Average)(minutes)
52 minutes
Initial Setup Time(minutes)
4-8 hours for basic APM
Maximum Data Volume per Cluster(TB)
Multi-tenant SaaS limit (typically 50-500TB per org)
Deployment Options
SaaS only (cloud-hosted)
Average Customer Onboarding Time(hours)
3-7 days
Code-Level Instrumentation Depth(null)
Method-level profiling
Automatic Anomaly Detection(null)
Rule-based thresholds
Average MTTR Improvement(percent reduction)
35-45% reduction
Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) Improvement(percentage reduction)
30-40% faster (manual investigation)
Monthly Platform Cost (100GB/month ingestion)(USD)
$3,000-$9,900
Minimum Monthly Cost (Small Org)(USD)
$500-$800 typical (based on ~1-2 GB/day ingestion)
Supported Programming Languages (APM)(languages)
10+ languages
Setup Time for Multi-Service Environment(days)
7-14 days (manual per service)
User Satisfaction Score (G2 Reviews)(out of 5.0)
4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews)
Global Customer Base(millions)
16,000+ customers
Data Source Integrations Available(count)
~700 integrations (includes agents, APIs, partners)
Supported APM Frameworks(count)
900+ with automatic instrumentation
Enterprise Support SLA
24/7 with 1-4 hour response SLA depending on tier
User Seats Included (Starter)(seats)
Full team access included; per-user pricing optional
API Call Rate Limit (Standard Plan)(calls per minute)
600 calls/minute
Code-Level Diagnostics Depth(granularity level)
Transaction tracing, error stack traces
APM Transaction Sampling Interval(seconds)
8 seconds
Kubernetes Monitoring Capabilities(text)
Advanced cluster intelligence with pod diagnostics
Average Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars)
4.3/5.0 (2,100+ reviews)
GitHub Stars (Community Traction)(thousands)
~5k stars

Pros & Cons

10 pros·4 cons across both

B
NR
B

Bugsnag

+5-2

Pros

  • Fast deployment: integrates in under 30 minutes for most frameworks
  • Budget-friendly: starts at $29/month vs competitors at $100+
  • Excellent mobile crash reporting with 99.9% event capture rate
  • Developer-focused UI with actionable error context and stack traces
  • Supports 50+ programming languages and frameworks

Cons

  • Limited to error/crash monitoring—no infrastructure or APM visibility
  • No native log aggregation or session replay functionality
NR

New Relic

+5-2

Pros

  • Comprehensive observability: traces errors from frontend through backend to infrastructure
  • Advanced APM with 8-second transaction tracking granularity
  • Real user monitoring with session replay and user session tracking
  • Unified logs, metrics, and traces in single platform reducing tool sprawl
  • Enterprise-grade support with 99.95% SLA on paid plans

Cons

  • Steeper learning curve with complex configuration for advanced features
  • Higher cost starting at $99/month, can exceed $500+ at scale for teams

Frequently Asked Questions

5 questions

  1. Bugsnag focuses exclusively on error tracking and crash reporting starting at $29/month, making it ideal for teams that need lightweight error management. New Relic is a comprehensive observability platform ($99+/month) that includes error tracking, APM, infrastructure monitoring, logs, and session replay—providing full-stack visibility.

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