Choose Uptrace when
You want open instrumentation, unlimited users and hosts, transparent telemetry pricing, or control over where the backend runs.
Uptrace vs New Relic
New Relic alternativewithout per-user fees
Compare New Relic’s cloud platform and user model with Uptrace’s OpenTelemetry-native workflow, usage pricing, and open-source self-hosted option.
No credit card. Cloud or self-hosted. Keep your OpenTelemetry instrumentation.
Choose New Relic when
Your teams depend on its browser monitoring, synthetics, profiling, AI workflows, or its wider enterprise platform.
At a glance
Different ways to package observability
Compare ownership, billing, and workflow portability.
Uptrace
Integrated observability
versus
New Relic
Cloud observability platform
Uptrace
Use Uptrace Cloud or run the open-source backend with ClickHouse.
Deployment
New Relic
Use New Relic as a managed cloud service.
Uptrace
Users, services, and hosts are not separate Cloud meters.
Users and hosts
New Relic
User type and platform access can affect the commercial model.
Uptrace
OpenTelemetry SDKs and Collector are the default path.
Instrumentation
New Relic
Supports OpenTelemetry alongside New Relic agents and integrations.
Uptrace
Focused backend observability for traces, metrics, logs, dashboards, and alerts.
Product shape
New Relic
Broader cloud platform including browser, synthetics, mobile, profiling, and more.
Uptrace
OTLP-first collection plus an open-source backend.
Portability
New Relic
OTel data is portable; dashboards and platform workflows remain product-specific.
Pricing
Put the same workload on both invoices
Compare both billing models with the same monthly usage.
Example monthly estimate
Example: one month of application telemetry
Save about $1,091/month
Same example, public list prices
1 TB traces2.5 TB logs
Uptrace Cloud
$269/mo
The matching Uptrace usage tier stores the complete 3.5 TB example.
New Relic
$1,360/mo
New Relic bills the 3.4 TB remaining after its 100 GB monthly allowance.
Why Uptrace costs less in this example
- Lower effective price per stored GB at this volume.
- No host charge is added to the Uptrace estimate.
- Uptrace volume rates decrease as ingestion grows.
Show calculation and assumptions
- $199 tier + 931 GB data overage
- $269
- Host charges
- None
Uptrace calculation
- 3,500 GB − 100 GB free
- 3,400 GB
- 3,400 GB × $0.40
- $1,360
New Relic calculation
Illustrative ingest-only vendor-invoice estimate using public list rates. New Relic includes 100 GB; Uptrace uses the matching small-workload tier. Network transfer, user licenses, taxes, and discounts are excluded. Pricing source
Why Uptrace
Reduce commercial and operational friction
Scale teams and telemetry with less operational friction.
Include the team
Access without seat planning
Give engineers and incident responders the same observability access without maintaining user tiers.
- Unlimited usersAdd collaborators without a separate Uptrace Cloud seat meter.
- Unlimited hostsAutoscaling does not introduce another pricing dimension.
- Published unitsEstimate traces, logs, and metrics from public rates.
Own the option
Cloud or open source
Choose a managed service or operate the same observability product on your infrastructure.
- Inspectable backendReview the source and deployment model.
- ClickHouse foundationStore high-cardinality telemetry in an open analytical database.
- Control data locationKeep telemetry in your environment when required.
Stay portable
OpenTelemetry by default
Build the collection pipeline around vendor-neutral protocols instead of a backend-specific agent.
- Native OTLP ingestionSend signals directly or through the Collector.
- Parallel evaluationFan out identical production telemetry to both backends.
- Backend choiceKeep instrumentation when requirements change.
Usage visibility
Control trace volume before it becomes cost
High-traffic services can generate millions of repetitive spans. OpenTelemetry sampling lets you reduce low-value traffic before export while preserving the requests engineers need for incident response.
- Use head-based rules for predictable sampling at trace start.
- Use tail sampling to retain errors and slow traces while sampling healthy traffic.
- Drop health checks, internal probes, and noisy endpoints in the Collector.
- Model the resulting ingest volume before changing production retention.
Capabilities
Compare what changes in practice
Compare architecture, workflows, and operations by category.
AvailableNot availablePartial · Depends on setup
FeatureUptraceNew Relic
Native OTLP ingestion
Open-source backend
Self-hosted deployment
Managed cloud
FeatureUptraceNew Relic
Distributed tracing and service maps
Metrics, logs, dashboards, and alerts
Browser and mobile monitoring
Synthetic monitoring
Continuous profiling
FeatureUptraceNew Relic
No per-host pricing
No per-seat pricing
Published usage pricing
Free self-hosted edition
Migration
Evaluate Uptrace without a blind cutover
Validate real incidents in both backends before switching.
1Inventory
Map active New Relic workflows
List agents, dashboards, alerts, NRQL queries, browser monitoring, synthetics, profiling, and retention requirements.
Ready when: every workflow has an owner and a keep, replace, or retire decision.
2Parallel run
Send OTel data to both
Fan out OTLP telemetry from the Collector while New Relic remains available for production response.
Ready when: both systems show the same services, environments, and incident window.
3Cutover
Move team by team
Rebuild only essential dashboards and alerts, then remove New Relic agents after rollback and retention requirements close.
Ready when: owners approve the new on-call workflow.
FAQ
Questions before you evaluate
Can Uptrace replace every New Relic product?
Uptrace can cover the core backend observability workflow for teams using traces, metrics, logs, dashboards, and alerts. If your organization also relies on New Relic browser, mobile, synthetics, profiling, or other specialized products, evaluate those workflows separately during a parallel run.
Do OpenTelemetry services need reinstrumentation?
Usually not. Change the OTLP destination or add Uptrace as another Collector exporter. Services using only proprietary agents need an OpenTelemetry migration.
Does Uptrace charge per user?
Uptrace Cloud does not meter users, services, or hosts separately. Cloud charges follow telemetry usage; Community Edition is self-hosted and free.
Can dashboards be migrated automatically?
Dashboard models differ between the products, so teams typically inventory the dashboards they actively use and recreate the important ones during the parallel run. This is also a useful opportunity to retire stale dashboards.
Keep your telemetry portable
Send the same OpenTelemetry data to Uptrace and New Relic. Compare real workflows before you decide.
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