software
Grafana vs New Relic 2026 - Cost, APM & Features
Grafana is an open-source visualization platform excelling at customizable dashboards and cost-effectiveness for multi-source monitoring, while New Relic is a comprehensive SaaS platform offering deeper APM capabilities and AI-driven insights at premium pricing.
Grafana
Open-source visualization platform for metrics, logs, and traces across multiple data sources.
DevOps teams, cost-conscious organizations, companies needing multi-source monitoring flexibility, and those requiring self-hosted or on-premise deployment.
Score63%
VS
NR
New Relic
SaaS-based observability platform with full-stack APM, infrastructure monitoring, and AI-powered insights.
Enterprise teams prioritizing APM and application performance, organizations needing managed SaaS solutions, and companies seeking AI-powered insights with minimal infrastructure management.
Score63%
Quick Answer
AI SummaryGrafana is an open-source visualization platform excelling at customizable dashboards and cost-effectiveness for multi-source monitoring, while New Relic is a comprehensive SaaS platform offering deeper APM capabilities and AI-driven insights at premium pricing.
Our Verdict
AI-assistedChoose Grafana if you need maximum cost efficiency, deployment flexibility, custom multi-source dashboards, and prefer open-source software with strong community support. Choose New Relic if your primary need is comprehensive APM with AI-driven insights, you prefer managed SaaS with zero infrastructure overhead, and budget allows for premium pricing for enterprise monitoring.
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Grafana
6.9/10
New Relic
8.1/10
N
Choose Grafana if
DevOps teams, cost-conscious organizations, companies needing multi-source monitoring flexibility, and those requiring self-hosted or on-premise deployment.
N
Choose New Relic if
Best pickEnterprise teams prioritizing APM and application performance, organizations needing managed SaaS solutions, and companies seeking AI-powered insights with minimal infrastructure management.
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Key Differences at a Glance
- Pricing Model:✓ Grafana wins(Open-source (free) + optional paid tiers ($0-$231/month) vs SaaS only, starts at $99/month for Standard tier)
- Application Performance Monitoring (APM):✓ New Relic wins(Enterprise-grade APM with full stack visibility included vs Limited native APM; requires additional agents/plugins)
- Dashboard Customization:✓ Grafana wins(Highly customizable with unlimited panels and data sources vs Pre-built dashboards with moderate customization flexibility)
Key Facts & Figures
125 numeric metrics compared
| Metric | Grafana | New Relic | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supported Data Sources(count) | 70+ | — | — |
| Starting Monthly Cost(USD) | Free (open-source) | — | — |
| Time to First Dashboard(minutes) | 60-120 | — | — |
| Pre-built Integrations(count) | 300+ | — | — |
| Community Size(millions of users) | 500K+ users | — | — |
| Base Monthly Cost Per User(USD) | $69 | — | — |
| Customer Retention Rate(percent) | 94% | — | — |
| GitHub Stars (Community Adoption)(stars) | 58,000+ (as of 2026) | — | — |
| Data Sources Supported(integrations) | 90+ (Prometheus, Elasticsearch, Datadog, etc.) | — | — |
| Default Data Retention(days) | None (external source dependent) | 13 days (metrics) / 8 days (events) | — |
| Memory Usage (Typical Instance)(MB) | 200-500 | — | — |
| Query Language Learning Curve(weeks) | 2-4 (depends on datasource type) | — | — |
| Time to First Dashboard(weeks) | 30-60 (needs datasource setup) | — | — |
| Base Pricing (Annual, 100 hosts)(USD) | $0 (self-hosted) | — | — |
| Initial Deployment Time(minutes) | 14-28 days | — | — |
| Data Source Integrations(count) | 800+ | — | — |
| Supported Technologies (Languages/Frameworks)(count) | 300+ via integrations | — | — |
| Alert Management Channels(count) | 50+ | — | — |
| Grafana/Dynatrace Community Size(thousands of members) | 500K+ monthly active users | — | — |
| Required IT Staff for 10,000 hosts(FTE) | 3-5 FTE | — | — |
| Memory Footprint (Minimal Setup)(MB) | ~200 MB | — | — |
| Supported Data Sources(integrations) | 100+ | — | — |
| Community Dashboard Templates(templates) | 2,000+ | — | — |
| Setup Time (Basic Production)(minutes) | 15-30 minutes | — | — |
| Minimum Monthly Cost (Small Org)(USD) | $0 (open-source) or $9 (Grafana Cloud) | $500-$800 typical (based on ~1-2 GB/day ingestion) | |
| Data Source Integrations Available(count) | 450+ pre-built plugins | ~700 integrations (includes agents, APIs, partners) | |
| Supported APM Frameworks(count) | 100+ via plugins (manual integration required) | 900+ with automatic instrumentation | |
| Setup Time for Basic Monitoring(days) | 2-5 days (infrastructure knowledge required) | 1-2 hours (wizard-based, automatic) | |
| Data Retention (Free Tier)(months) | Unlimited (self-hosted) or 15 days (Grafana Cloud free) | 30 days (logs), 365 days (metrics) | |
| User Seats Included (Starter)(seats) | Unlimited on self-hosted; 1 on Grafana Cloud free | Full team access included; per-user pricing optional | |
| Dashboard Creation Time(minutes) | 5-10 minutes | — | — |
| Cloud Hosting Starting Price(USD/month) | $79/month | — | — |
| Self-Hosted Cost(USD/month) | $0 (free open-source) | — | — |
| Starting Monthly Cost per User(USD) | $0 (open-source) | — | — |
| Native Data Connectors(connectors) | 60+ | — | — |
| Minimum Dashboard Refresh Interval(seconds) | 0.001 seconds (milliseconds) | — | — |
| Visualization Chart Types(count) | 15+ | — | — |
| Enterprise Annual License Cost (Single Server)(USD) | $0 (self-hosted free tier) | — | — |
| Time to First Dashboard Creation(minutes) | 5-10 (intuitive interface) | — | — |
| Base Monthly Cost (Single User Cloud)(USD) | $10 (Grafana Cloud Starter) | — | — |
| Annual Cost (1GB/day Log Ingestion)(USD) | $2,400-$7,200 | — | — |
| Log Query Response Time(milliseconds) | 5,000-10,000 (Loki) | — | — |
| Event Ingestion Rate (Single Indexer)(events/sec) | 1,000-2,000 | — | — |
| Native Data Source Integrations(count) | 470+ integrations | 600+ integrations | |
| Built-in Machine Learning Algorithms(count) | 3-5 (basic anomaly detection) | — | — |
| Minimum RAM Requirement (Self-Hosted)(GB) | <2 | — | — |
| GitHub Stars(stars) | 56,000 | — | — |
| Initial Setup Time(hours) | 15-30 | 4-8 hours for basic APM | |
| Enterprise License Cost (Annual)(USD) | $12,000 for Grafana Enterprise | — | — |
| Real-Time Dashboard Latency(milliseconds) | 50-500 | — | — |
| Monthly Cost Per Host(USD) | $0-3 (self-hosted) | — | — |
| Time to Production Deployment(hours) | 30-240 minutes (varies) | — | — |
| Annual Cost (100 hosts, moderate usage)(USD) | $0-2,500 (self-hosted) | — | — |
| Starting Price (Monthly)(USD) | Free (open-source) | — | — |
| Data Source Connectors(count) | 400+ plugins (Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, etc.) | — | — |
| Minimum Dashboard Refresh Rate(seconds) | 5-10 seconds (typical) | — | — |
| User Onboarding Time(days) | 7-14 days (JSON, API, plugin config) | — | — |
| Annual per-User Cost (Creator Tier)(USD) | $120-$3,588/year (Grafana Cloud) | — | — |
| Base License Cost (Annual)(USD) | $0 (open-source) | — | — |
| Typical Enterprise Implementation Cost(USD) | $10,000-$30,000 | — | — |
| Average Search Query Time (1GB dataset)(seconds) | 0.5-2 seconds | — | — |
| Built-in Machine Learning Models(count) | 3-5 (via plugins) | — | — |
| Typical Deployment Time(minutes) | 2-4 weeks | — | — |
| Data Source Support(integrations) | 80+ | — | — |
| Time to Deploy Dashboard(minutes) | 5-10 minutes with templates | — | — |
| Notification Channels(integrations) | 50+ | — | — |
| Base Monthly Cost(USD) | $0 (open-source) or $231 (Pro) | $99 (Standard tier minimum) | |
| Free Tier Data Retention(days) | 15 days | 1 day | |
| APM Language Support(languages) | 5+ (requires manual agent setup) | 10+ (auto-instrumented) | |
| Deployment Models Supported(count) | 4 options (Self-hosted, Cloud, Hybrid, Kubernetes) | 1 option (SaaS cloud-only) | |
| GitHub Stars (Community Traction)(thousands) | 18.5k stars | ~5k stars | |
| Base Monthly Price(USD) | $99 | $99 | |
| Free Tier Events per Month(events) | Limited trial only | Limited trial only | |
| Supported Languages/SDKs(count) | 25+ languages | 25+ languages | |
| Session Replay Starting Tier(USD/month) | $1,200+ (Enterprise tier) | $1,200+ (Enterprise tier) | |
| Setup Time (First Deploy)(minutes) | 45-60 minutes | 45-60 minutes | |
| Native Integrations(count) | 600+ | 600+ | |
| Metrics Data Retention(months) | 13 months | 13 months | |
| Global Data Centers(locations) | 12+ regions | 12+ regions | |
| Starting Monthly Cost(USD) | $99 | $99 | |
| Free Tier Event Quota(events/month) | 100 | 100 | |
| Setup Time for First Alert(minutes) | 22 | 22 | |
| Supported Languages/Frameworks(count) | 40+ including Java, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby | 40+ including Java, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby | |
| Data Retention (Free Plan)(days) | 7 | 7 | |
| Monthly Ingestion Cost per GB(USD) | $0.25 - $0.50 | $0.25 - $0.50 | |
| Setup Time to Production(minutes) | 15-30 minutes | 15-30 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 days | 3-7 days | |
| Base Monthly Cost (100 GB/month)(USD) | $3,000-5,000 | $3,000-5,000 | |
| Implementation Timeline(weeks) | 2-4 weeks | 2-4 weeks | |
| Out-of-Box Integrations(count) | 700+ | 700+ | |
| Average MTTR Improvement(percent reduction) | 35-45% reduction | 35-45% reduction | |
| Max Data Retention (free tier)(days) | 7 days | 7 days | |
| Monthly Platform Cost (100GB/month ingestion)(USD) | $3,000-$9,900 | $3,000-$9,900 | |
| Supported Programming Languages (APM)(languages) | 10+ languages | 10+ 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 days | 30 days | |
| Free Trial Period(days) | 14 days unlimited | 14 days unlimited | |
| User Satisfaction Score (G2 Reviews)(out of 5.0) | 4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews) | 4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews) | |
| Monthly Pricing (Starter Plan)(USD) | $99 | $99 | |
| Implementation Time (Average)(minutes) | 52 minutes | 52 minutes | |
| Third-party Integrations(count) | 600+ integrations | 600+ integrations | |
| Global Customer Base(millions) | 16,000+ customers | 16,000+ customers | |
| Pre-built Integrations(count) | 500+ | 500+ | |
| API Call Rate Limit (Standard Plan)(calls per minute) | 600 calls/minute | 600 calls/minute | |
| Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars) | 4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews) | 4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews) | |
| Minimum Paid Plan Cost(USD/month) | $99/month | $99/month | |
| Native Integrations(count) | 400+ | 400+ | |
| APM Transaction Sampling Interval(seconds) | 8 seconds | 8 seconds | |
| Log Management Cost(USD per GB/month) | $0.35 | $0.35 | |
| Average Implementation Time(days) | 3-4 days | 3-4 days | |
| Supported Programming Languages(count) | 20+ languages | 20+ languages | |
| Monthly Starting Price(USD) | $99/month | $99/month | |
| Supported Application Languages(count) | 8+ languages | 8+ languages | |
| Average Setup Time(weeks) | 3-5 days | 3-5 days | |
| Average Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars) | 4.3/5.0 (2,100+ reviews) | 4.3/5.0 (2,100+ reviews) | |
| SDK Size (JavaScript)(KB gzipped) | ~35 KB | ~35 KB | |
| Starting Monthly Price(USD) | $99 | $99 | |
| Available Integrations(count) | 600+ | 600+ | |
| Error Deduplication Effectiveness(percent) | 75% noise reduction | 75% noise reduction | |
| Base Monthly Cost (Small Team)(USD) | $599-$999 | $599-$999 | |
| Data Retention (Standard)(days) | 8 days | 8 days | |
| Annual Cloud Subscription (Large Team)(USD) | $50,000-$120,000 | $50,000-$120,000 |
Sourced from publicly available data ·
Key Differences
7 attributes compared head-to-head
Grafana leads
NR
2New RelicGrafana
Attribute
New Relic
- Open-source (free) + optional paid tiers ($0-$231/month)(winner)Pricing ModelSaaS only, starts at $99/month for Standard tier
- Limited native APM; requires additional agents/pluginsApplication Performance Monitoring (APM)Enterprise-grade APM with full stack visibility included(winner)
- Highly customizable with unlimited panels and data sources(winner)Dashboard CustomizationPre-built dashboards with moderate customization flexibility
- 15 days default (configurable)(winner)Data Retention (free tier)1 day for free tier (upgrade required for 30 days)
- Limited; basic alerting and anomaly detectionAI-Powered InsightsAdvanced AI-powered incident detection and root cause analysis(winner)
- 470+ native integrations and plugins(winner)Data Source Integrations600+ integrations but less community-driven flexibility
- Self-hosted, cloud, hybrid, Kubernetes-native(winner)Deployment OptionsSaaS cloud-only (no self-hosted option)
- Pricing Model
Grafana
Open-source (free) + optional paid tiers ($0-$231/month)(winner)
New Relic
SaaS only, starts at $99/month for Standard tier
- Application Performance Monitoring (APM)
Grafana
Limited native APM; requires additional agents/plugins
New Relic
Enterprise-grade APM with full stack visibility included(winner)
- Dashboard Customization
Grafana
Highly customizable with unlimited panels and data sources(winner)
New Relic
Pre-built dashboards with moderate customization flexibility
- Data Retention (free tier)
Grafana
15 days default (configurable)(winner)
New Relic
1 day for free tier (upgrade required for 30 days)
- AI-Powered Insights
Grafana
Limited; basic alerting and anomaly detection
New Relic
Advanced AI-powered incident detection and root cause analysis(winner)
- Data Source Integrations
Grafana
470+ native integrations and plugins(winner)
New Relic
600+ integrations but less community-driven flexibility
- Deployment Options
Grafana
Self-hosted, cloud, hybrid, Kubernetes-native(winner)
New Relic
SaaS cloud-only (no self-hosted option)
Full Comparison
| Attribute | Grafana | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| Supported Data Sources(count) | 70+ | — |
| Pre-built Integrations(count) | 300+ | — |
| Data Source Integrations(count) | 800+ | — |
| Native Data Connectors(connectors) | 60+ | — |
| Data Source Connectors(count) | 400+ plugins (Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, etc.) | — |
Show 1 more attributeSupported Programming Languages(count) 20+ languages — | ||
| Self-Hosting Support | Yes, full support | — |
| Open-Source Self-Hosted Availability(null) | Available (Apache 2.0) | — |
| Setup Time (Basic Production)(minutes) | 15-30 minutes | — |
| Docker Deployment | Single container with optional Prometheus | — |
| Deployment Models Supported(count) | 4 options (Self-hosted, Cloud, Hybrid, Kubernetes)(winner) | 1 option (SaaS cloud-only) |
Show 2 more attributesSetup Time to Production(minutes) 15-30 minutes — Implementation Timeline(weeks) 2-4 weeks — | ||
| Starting Monthly Cost(USD) | Free (open-source) | — |
| Base Monthly Cost Per User(USD) | $69 | — |
| Free Tier User Limit(users) | Unlimited users | — |
| Cloud Hosting Starting Price(USD/month) | $79/month | — |
| Self-Hosted Cost(USD/month) | $0 (free open-source) | — |
Show 25 more attributesStarting Monthly Cost per User(USD) $0 (open-source) — Enterprise Annual License Cost (Single Server)(USD) $0 (self-hosted free tier) — Base Monthly Cost (Single User Cloud)(USD) $10 (Grafana Cloud Starter) — Annual Cost (1GB/day Log Ingestion)(USD) $2,400-$7,200 — Enterprise License Cost (Annual)(USD) $12,000 for Grafana Enterprise — Monthly Cost Per Host(USD) $0-3 (self-hosted) — Annual Cost (100 hosts, moderate usage)(USD) $0-2,500 (self-hosted) — Starting Price (Monthly)(USD) Free (open-source) — Annual per-User Cost (Creator Tier)(USD) $120-$3,588/year (Grafana Cloud) — Base License Cost (Annual)(USD) $0 (open-source) — Typical Enterprise Implementation Cost(USD) $10,000-$30,000 — Base Monthly Cost(USD) $0 (open-source) or $231 (Pro) $99 (Standard tier minimum) 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 — Free Tier Event Quota(events/month) 100 — Monthly Ingestion Cost per GB(USD) $0.25 - $0.50 — Base Monthly Cost (100 GB/month)(USD) $3,000-5,000 — 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 — | ||
| Time to First Dashboard(minutes) | 60-120 | — |
| Time to First Dashboard(weeks) | 30-60 (needs datasource setup) | — |
| Initial Deployment Time(minutes) | 14-28 days | — |
| Average Setup Time(weeks) | 3-5 days | — |
| Log Management | Requires Loki plugin | — |
| APM Capabilities | Plugin-based with limited support | — |
| On-Call Scheduling Features(null) | Requires integration (OnCall) | — |
| Data Sources Supported(integrations) | 90+ (Prometheus, Elasticsearch, Datadog, etc.) | — |
| Built-in Alerting Capabilities(null) | Basic (via connected datasources) | — |
Show 33 more attributesAI-Powered Anomaly Detection Accuracy(percent) Not available — Alert Management Channels(count) 50+ — Supported Data Sources(integrations) 100+ — Query Language Complexity PromQL, SQL, or source-native language — AI/Anomaly Detection Limited; basic alerting rules, ML via separate module Built-in with Proactive Detection Log Search Capability Basic text filtering — APM Features Limited (requires integration with APM platforms) — Visualization Chart Types(count) 15+ — Native Data Source Integrations(count) 470+ integrations 600+ integrations Built-in Machine Learning Algorithms(count) 3-5 (basic anomaly detection) — SQL Query Support Limited—primarily Prometheus-style queries — Full-Text Log Indexing No (time-series focused) — Built-in Machine Learning Models(count) 3-5 (via plugins) — Native APM Integration No (plugin-based) — APM Language Support(languages) 5+ (requires manual agent setup) 10+ (auto-instrumented) Dashboard Customization Level Unlimited panels, custom plugins, full code access Pre-built templates with limited custom visualization options AI/ML Anomaly Detection Basic threshold-based alerts only Advanced ML-powered anomaly detection and root cause analysis Infrastructure Monitoring Native (servers, containers, Kubernetes) — 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 — Infrastructure Monitoring Included Yes — 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 — | ||
| Community Size(millions of users) | 500K+ users | — |
| GitHub Stars (Community Adoption)(stars) | 58,000+ (as of 2026) | — |
| Grafana/Dynatrace Community Size(thousands of members) | 500K+ monthly active users | — |
| GitHub Stars(stars) | 56,000 | — |
| GitHub Stars (Community Traction)(thousands) | 18.5k stars(winner) | ~5k stars |
| Mean Time to Response (MTTR) Improvement(percent) | Not measured | — |
| Alert Fatigue Reduction(percent) | Alert grouping available | — |
| Default Data Retention(days) | None (external source dependent) | 13 days (metrics) / 8 days (events) |
| Memory Usage (Typical Instance)(MB) | 200-500 | — |
| Memory Footprint (Minimal Setup)(MB) | ~200 MB | — |
Show 10 more attributesMinimum Dashboard Refresh Interval(seconds) 0.001 seconds (milliseconds) — Log Query Response Time(milliseconds) 5,000-10,000 (Loki) — Event Ingestion Rate (Single Indexer)(events/sec) 1,000-2,000 — Real-Time Dashboard Latency(milliseconds) 50-500 — Minimum Dashboard Refresh Rate(seconds) 5-10 seconds (typical) — Average Search Query Time (1GB dataset)(seconds) 0.5-2 seconds — Typical Deployment Time(minutes) 2-4 weeks — Time to Deploy Dashboard(minutes) 5-10 minutes with templates — Free Tier Data Retention(days) 15 days 1 day Error Deduplication Effectiveness(percent) 75% noise reduction — | ||
| Customer Retention Rate(percent) | 94% | — |
| Average Customer Onboarding Time(hours) | 3-7 days | — |
| Query Language Learning Curve(weeks) | 2-4 (depends on datasource type) | — |
| Setup Time for Basic Monitoring(days) | 2-5 days (infrastructure knowledge required) | 1-2 hours (wizard-based, automatic)(winner) |
| Time to First Dashboard Creation(minutes) | 5-10 (intuitive interface) | — |
| Initial Setup Time(hours) | 15-30 | 4-8 hours for basic APM(winner) |
| User Onboarding Time(days) | 7-14 days (JSON, API, plugin config) | — |
Show 3 more attributesSetup Time for First Alert(minutes) 22 — Query Language Complexity (1-10 scale)(complexity rating) 3 (NRQL - SQL-like, intuitive) — Implementation Time (Average)(minutes) 52 minutes — | ||
| Standalone Operation | No—requires external datasource | — |
| Base Pricing (Annual, 100 hosts)(USD) | $0 (self-hosted) | — |
| Supported Technologies (Languages/Frameworks)(count) | 300+ via integrations | — |
| Data Source Support(integrations) | 80+ | — |
| Supported Languages/SDKs(count) | 25+ languages | — |
| Supported Languages/Frameworks(count) | 40+ including Java, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby | — |
| Supported Application Languages(count) | 8+ languages | — |
| Required IT Staff for 10,000 hosts(FTE) | 3-5 FTE | — |
| Community Dashboard Templates(templates) | 2,000+ | — |
| Third-party Integrations(count) | 600+ integrations | — |
| Available Integrations(count) | 600+ | — |
| Commercial Support Cost(USD/month) | $25-150+ per user | — |
| Open Source License Type | AGPL v3 (user-friendly for most use cases) | — |
| Built-in Alerting Rules(feature) | Visualization only (external routing required) | — |
| Notification Channels(integrations) | 50+ | — |
| Minimum Monthly Cost (Small Org)(USD) | $0 (open-source) or $9 (Grafana Cloud)(winner) | $500-$800 typical (based on ~1-2 GB/day ingestion) |
| Monthly Platform Cost (100GB/month ingestion)(USD) | $3,000-$9,900 | — |
| Data Source Integrations Available(count) | 450+ pre-built plugins | ~700 integrations (includes agents, APIs, partners)(winner) |
| Supported APM Frameworks(count) | 100+ via plugins (manual integration required) | 900+ with automatic instrumentation(winner) |
| Deployment Flexibility | Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, managed cloud (Grafana Cloud) | Cloud-only SaaS (no self-hosted option) |
| Minimum RAM Requirement (Self-Hosted)(GB) | <2 | — |
| Global Data Centers(locations) | 12+ regions | — |
| Kubernetes Support | Good with cloud-native focus | — |
| Kubernetes Cluster Support(native vs requires config) | Native (full instrumentation out-of-box) | — |
| Enterprise Support SLA | Community support; no guaranteed SLA | 24/7 with 1-4 hour response SLA depending on tier |
| Data Retention (Free Tier)(months) | Unlimited (self-hosted) or 15 days (Grafana Cloud free) | 30 days (logs), 365 days (metrics)(winner) |
| Metrics Data Retention(months) | 13 months | — |
| Data Retention (Free Plan)(days) | 7 | — |
| Max Data Retention (free tier)(days) | 7 days | — |
| Data Retention (Standard)(days) | 8 days | — |
| User Seats Included (Starter)(seats) | Unlimited on self-hosted; 1 on Grafana Cloud free | Full team access included; per-user pricing optional(winner) |
| Dashboard Creation Time(minutes) | 5-10 minutes | — |
| Setup Time (First Deploy)(minutes) | 45-60 minutes | — |
| User Interface Intuitiveness | More intuitive, faster onboarding | — |
| Query Language | NRQL (natural language-like, easier to learn) | — |
| Maximum Dashboard Rows Per Organization(count) | Unlimited | — |
| Maximum Data Volume per Cluster(TB) | Multi-tenant SaaS limit (typically 50-500TB per org) | — |
| Row-Level Security (RLS) | Supported via RBAC and data source filtering | — |
| Enterprise Security Features(count) | Basic RBAC, no SIEM module | — |
| Enterprise Compliance(certifications) | SOC 2, ISO 27001 | — |
| Built-in APM | No, requires external tools | — |
| AI/ML Analytics | No native features | — |
| Time to Production Deployment(hours) | 30-240 minutes (varies) | — |
| Self-Hosted Deployment | Fully supported | — |
| Deployment Options(count) | Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud | SaaS only (cloud-hosted) |
| Advanced Statistical Functions(count) | Basic math and aggregation functions | — |
| Full-Text Search Optimization | Basic text filters | — |
| Native Integrations(count) | 600+ | — |
| 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) | — |
| Supported Programming Languages (APM)(languages) | 10+ languages | — |
| Setup Time for Multi-Service Environment(days) | 7-14 days (manual per service) | — |
| Free Trial Period(days) | 14 days unlimited | — |
| Average Implementation Time(days) | 3-4 days | — |
| User Satisfaction Score (G2 Reviews)(out of 5.0) | 4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews) | — |
| Global Customer Base(millions) | 16,000+ customers | — |
| API Call Rate Limit (Standard Plan)(calls per minute) | 600 calls/minute | — |
| Code-Level Diagnostics Depth(granularity level) | Transaction tracing, error stack traces | — |
| Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars) | 4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews) | — |
| Free Tier Event Limit(events/month) | 100 GB ingestion/month | — |
| Minimum Paid Plan Cost(USD/month) | $99/month | — |
| Native Integrations(count) | 400+ | — |
| 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) | — |
| SDK Size (JavaScript)(KB gzipped) | ~35 KB | — |
GrafanaNNew Relic
Supported Data Sources(count)
70+
—
Pre-built Integrations(count)
300+
—
Data Source Integrations(count)
800+
—
Native Data Connectors(connectors)
60+
—
Data Source Connectors(count)
400+ plugins (Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, etc.)
—
Show 1 more attribute
Supported Programming Languages(count)
20+ languages
—
Self-Hosting Support
Yes, full support
—
Open-Source Self-Hosted Availability(null)
Available (Apache 2.0)
—
Setup Time (Basic Production)(minutes)
15-30 minutes
—
Docker Deployment
Single container with optional Prometheus
—
Deployment Models Supported(count)
4 options (Self-hosted, Cloud, Hybrid, Kubernetes)
1 option (SaaS cloud-only)
Show 2 more attributes
Setup Time to Production(minutes)
15-30 minutes
—
Implementation Timeline(weeks)
2-4 weeks
—
Starting Monthly Cost(USD)
Free (open-source)
—
Base Monthly Cost Per User(USD)
$69
—
Free Tier User Limit(users)
Unlimited users
—
Cloud Hosting Starting Price(USD/month)
$79/month
—
Self-Hosted Cost(USD/month)
$0 (free open-source)
—
Show 25 more attributes
Starting Monthly Cost per User(USD)
$0 (open-source)
—
Enterprise Annual License Cost (Single Server)(USD)
$0 (self-hosted free tier)
—
Base Monthly Cost (Single User Cloud)(USD)
$10 (Grafana Cloud Starter)
—
Annual Cost (1GB/day Log Ingestion)(USD)
$2,400-$7,200
—
Enterprise License Cost (Annual)(USD)
$12,000 for Grafana Enterprise
—
Monthly Cost Per Host(USD)
$0-3 (self-hosted)
—
Annual Cost (100 hosts, moderate usage)(USD)
$0-2,500 (self-hosted)
—
Starting Price (Monthly)(USD)
Free (open-source)
—
Annual per-User Cost (Creator Tier)(USD)
$120-$3,588/year (Grafana Cloud)
—
Base License Cost (Annual)(USD)
$0 (open-source)
—
Typical Enterprise Implementation Cost(USD)
$10,000-$30,000
—
Base Monthly Cost(USD)
$0 (open-source) or $231 (Pro)
$99 (Standard tier minimum)
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
—
Free Tier Event Quota(events/month)
100
—
Monthly Ingestion Cost per GB(USD)
$0.25 - $0.50
—
Base Monthly Cost (100 GB/month)(USD)
$3,000-5,000
—
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
—
Time to First Dashboard(minutes)
60-120
—
Time to First Dashboard(weeks)
30-60 (needs datasource setup)
—
Initial Deployment Time(minutes)
14-28 days
—
Average Setup Time(weeks)
3-5 days
—
Log Management
Requires Loki plugin
—
APM Capabilities
Plugin-based with limited support
—
On-Call Scheduling Features(null)
Requires integration (OnCall)
—
Data Sources Supported(integrations)
90+ (Prometheus, Elasticsearch, Datadog, etc.)
—
Built-in Alerting Capabilities(null)
Basic (via connected datasources)
—
Show 33 more attributes
AI-Powered Anomaly Detection Accuracy(percent)
Not available
—
Alert Management Channels(count)
50+
—
Supported Data Sources(integrations)
100+
—
Query Language Complexity
PromQL, SQL, or source-native language
—
AI/Anomaly Detection
Limited; basic alerting rules, ML via separate module
Built-in with Proactive Detection
Log Search Capability
Basic text filtering
—
APM Features
Limited (requires integration with APM platforms)
—
Visualization Chart Types(count)
15+
—
Native Data Source Integrations(count)
470+ integrations
600+ integrations
Built-in Machine Learning Algorithms(count)
3-5 (basic anomaly detection)
—
SQL Query Support
Limited—primarily Prometheus-style queries
—
Full-Text Log Indexing
No (time-series focused)
—
Built-in Machine Learning Models(count)
3-5 (via plugins)
—
Native APM Integration
No (plugin-based)
—
APM Language Support(languages)
5+ (requires manual agent setup)
10+ (auto-instrumented)
Dashboard Customization Level
Unlimited panels, custom plugins, full code access
Pre-built templates with limited custom visualization options
AI/ML Anomaly Detection
Basic threshold-based alerts only
Advanced ML-powered anomaly detection and root cause analysis
Infrastructure Monitoring
Native (servers, containers, Kubernetes)
—
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
—
Infrastructure Monitoring Included
Yes
—
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
—
Community Size(millions of users)
500K+ users
—
GitHub Stars (Community Adoption)(stars)
58,000+ (as of 2026)
—
Grafana/Dynatrace Community Size(thousands of members)
500K+ monthly active users
—
GitHub Stars(stars)
56,000
—
GitHub Stars (Community Traction)(thousands)
18.5k stars
~5k stars
Mean Time to Response (MTTR) Improvement(percent)
Not measured
—
Alert Fatigue Reduction(percent)
Alert grouping available
—
Default Data Retention(days)
None (external source dependent)
13 days (metrics) / 8 days (events)
Memory Usage (Typical Instance)(MB)
200-500
—
Memory Footprint (Minimal Setup)(MB)
~200 MB
—
Show 10 more attributes
Minimum Dashboard Refresh Interval(seconds)
0.001 seconds (milliseconds)
—
Log Query Response Time(milliseconds)
5,000-10,000 (Loki)
—
Event Ingestion Rate (Single Indexer)(events/sec)
1,000-2,000
—
Real-Time Dashboard Latency(milliseconds)
50-500
—
Minimum Dashboard Refresh Rate(seconds)
5-10 seconds (typical)
—
Average Search Query Time (1GB dataset)(seconds)
0.5-2 seconds
—
Typical Deployment Time(minutes)
2-4 weeks
—
Time to Deploy Dashboard(minutes)
5-10 minutes with templates
—
Free Tier Data Retention(days)
15 days
1 day
Error Deduplication Effectiveness(percent)
75% noise reduction
—
Customer Retention Rate(percent)
94%
—
Average Customer Onboarding Time(hours)
3-7 days
—
Query Language Learning Curve(weeks)
2-4 (depends on datasource type)
—
Setup Time for Basic Monitoring(days)
2-5 days (infrastructure knowledge required)
1-2 hours (wizard-based, automatic)
Time to First Dashboard Creation(minutes)
5-10 (intuitive interface)
—
Initial Setup Time(hours)
15-30
4-8 hours for basic APM
User Onboarding Time(days)
7-14 days (JSON, API, plugin config)
—
Show 3 more attributes
Setup Time for First Alert(minutes)
22
—
Query Language Complexity (1-10 scale)(complexity rating)
3 (NRQL - SQL-like, intuitive)
—
Implementation Time (Average)(minutes)
52 minutes
—
Standalone Operation
No—requires external datasource
—
Base Pricing (Annual, 100 hosts)(USD)
$0 (self-hosted)
—
Supported Technologies (Languages/Frameworks)(count)
300+ via integrations
—
Data Source Support(integrations)
80+
—
Supported Languages/SDKs(count)
25+ languages
—
Supported Languages/Frameworks(count)
40+ including Java, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby
—
Supported Application Languages(count)
8+ languages
—
Required IT Staff for 10,000 hosts(FTE)
3-5 FTE
—
Community Dashboard Templates(templates)
2,000+
—
Third-party Integrations(count)
600+ integrations
—
Available Integrations(count)
600+
—
Commercial Support Cost(USD/month)
$25-150+ per user
—
Open Source License Type
AGPL v3 (user-friendly for most use cases)
—
Built-in Alerting Rules(feature)
Visualization only (external routing required)
—
Notification Channels(integrations)
50+
—
Minimum Monthly Cost (Small Org)(USD)
$0 (open-source) or $9 (Grafana Cloud)
$500-$800 typical (based on ~1-2 GB/day ingestion)
Monthly Platform Cost (100GB/month ingestion)(USD)
$3,000-$9,900
—
Data Source Integrations Available(count)
450+ pre-built plugins
~700 integrations (includes agents, APIs, partners)
Supported APM Frameworks(count)
100+ via plugins (manual integration required)
900+ with automatic instrumentation
Deployment Flexibility
Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, managed cloud (Grafana Cloud)
Cloud-only SaaS (no self-hosted option)
Minimum RAM Requirement (Self-Hosted)(GB)
<2
—
Global Data Centers(locations)
12+ regions
—
Kubernetes Support
Good with cloud-native focus
—
Kubernetes Cluster Support(native vs requires config)
Native (full instrumentation out-of-box)
—
Enterprise Support SLA
Community support; no guaranteed SLA
24/7 with 1-4 hour response SLA depending on tier
Data Retention (Free Tier)(months)
Unlimited (self-hosted) or 15 days (Grafana Cloud free)
30 days (logs), 365 days (metrics)
Metrics Data Retention(months)
13 months
—
Data Retention (Free Plan)(days)
7
—
Max Data Retention (free tier)(days)
7 days
—
Data Retention (Standard)(days)
8 days
—
User Seats Included (Starter)(seats)
Unlimited on self-hosted; 1 on Grafana Cloud free
Full team access included; per-user pricing optional
Dashboard Creation Time(minutes)
5-10 minutes
—
Setup Time (First Deploy)(minutes)
45-60 minutes
—
User Interface Intuitiveness
More intuitive, faster onboarding
—
Query Language
NRQL (natural language-like, easier to learn)
—
Maximum Dashboard Rows Per Organization(count)
Unlimited
—
Maximum Data Volume per Cluster(TB)
Multi-tenant SaaS limit (typically 50-500TB per org)
—
Row-Level Security (RLS)
Supported via RBAC and data source filtering
—
Enterprise Security Features(count)
Basic RBAC, no SIEM module
—
Enterprise Compliance(certifications)
SOC 2, ISO 27001
—
Built-in APM
No, requires external tools
—
AI/ML Analytics
No native features
—
Time to Production Deployment(hours)
30-240 minutes (varies)
—
Self-Hosted Deployment
Fully supported
—
Deployment Options(count)
Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud
SaaS only (cloud-hosted)
Advanced Statistical Functions(count)
Basic math and aggregation functions
—
Full-Text Search Optimization
Basic text filters
—
Native Integrations(count)
600+
—
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)
—
Supported Programming Languages (APM)(languages)
10+ languages
—
Setup Time for Multi-Service Environment(days)
7-14 days (manual per service)
—
Free Trial Period(days)
14 days unlimited
—
Average Implementation Time(days)
3-4 days
—
User Satisfaction Score (G2 Reviews)(out of 5.0)
4.6 stars (1,800+ reviews)
—
Global Customer Base(millions)
16,000+ customers
—
API Call Rate Limit (Standard Plan)(calls per minute)
600 calls/minute
—
Code-Level Diagnostics Depth(granularity level)
Transaction tracing, error stack traces
—
Customer Satisfaction (G2 Rating)(stars)
4.6 stars (2,400+ reviews)
—
Free Tier Event Limit(events/month)
100 GB ingestion/month
—
Minimum Paid Plan Cost(USD/month)
$99/month
—
Native Integrations(count)
400+
—
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)
—
SDK Size (JavaScript)(KB gzipped)
~35 KB
—
Pros & Cons
10 pros·6 cons across both
NR
Grafana
+5-3
Pros
- Free open-source tier with full feature access
- Supports 470+ data sources natively (Prometheus, Elasticsearch, CloudWatch, Datadog, etc.)
- Unlimited customizable dashboards with drag-and-drop builder
- Self-hosted deployment option for data sovereignty and cost control
- Strong community (18k+ GitHub stars) with extensive plugin ecosystem
Cons
- APM capabilities limited without additional agent setup; not purpose-built for application tracing
- Limited AI/ML-powered anomaly detection compared to enterprise competitors
- Steeper learning curve for advanced configurations and custom data source setup
NR
New Relic
+5-3
Pros
- Enterprise-grade APM with automatic instrumentation for 10+ languages
- AI-powered incident detection (NRQL queries, anomaly detection, root cause analysis)
- Full-stack observability: infrastructure, applications, logs, and synthetics in one platform
- 600+ pre-built integrations with minimal configuration required
- Advanced features like service maps, dependency tracking, and performance recommendations included
Cons
- Premium pricing starts at $99/month with limited free tier (1-day data retention vs 15 days on Grafana)
- SaaS-only; no self-hosted or hybrid deployment options for data-sensitive organizations
- Steeper learning curve and potential vendor lock-in due to proprietary data format (NRQL)
Frequently Asked Questions
5 questions
Yes, they serve complementary purposes. Many organizations use New Relic for APM/full-stack observability and Grafana as a visualization layer for infrastructure metrics and custom dashboards. New Relic can export metrics to Grafana via APIs, allowing flexible monitoring architectures.
Resources & Learn More
Curated sources to dive deeper
Where to Buy
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Wikipedia
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