Side-by-side record

New Relic vs. Smartbear BugSnag

A side-by-side view of the product records we have today. Use it to narrow the question, then confirm current pricing, limits, and security details with each vendor.

The short version

New Relic starts at Free per seat, versus Smartbear BugSnag at $65. Smartbear BugSnag carries the higher aggregate rating (9.7/5 vs 4.4/5).

Full comparison

	New Relicfrom Free	Smartbear BugSnagfrom $65 per month
Audyense Score	85ASExcellent	29AS*Low
Positioning	Full-stack observability and APM on a usage-based platform	Smartbear BugSnag is an intuitive error monitoring system that tracks bugs and the performance of mobile, server, and web applications.
Free tier	Yes	Yes
Deployment	Cloud / SaaS	Cloud / SaaS
Best fit	SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise	Startup, SMB, Mid-market
Pricing plans	FreeFree Standard$10 Pro$349 EnterpriseCustom pricing	Free or entry planFree Higher tiersCustom pricing
AI features	YesNew Relic AI (assistant) plus applied intelligence for anomaly detection and incident correlation.	—
Alerting & on-call	YesBuilt-in alerting reviewers praise; integrates with PagerDuty and Slack for on-call.	—
Application performance monitoring (APM)	YesAPM is a core product across many language agents.	—
CI/CD pipelines	PartialIntegrates with CI tools like Jenkins and deployment markers, but not a native CI/CD system.	—
Distributed tracing	YesFull distributed tracing across services included in the platform.	—
Incident management	PartialIncident workflows and correlation exist; deep on-call/incident response often paired with PagerDuty.	—
Infrastructure monitoring	YesDedicated infrastructure monitoring for hosts, containers, and cloud services.	—
Log management	YesNative log management with ingest priced per GB, correlated with telemetry.	—
Public API	YesNerdGraph GraphQL API and REST APIs available for data and configuration.	—
Self-hosting / on-prem	NoSaaS-only; the observability backend cannot be self-hosted.	—
Full stack monitoring	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Error inbox	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
End-to-end diagnostics	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Two-way issue tracker	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Application health measurement	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Automatic notifications	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
SAML single sign-on	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Advanced search & segmentation with custom filters	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Automatic error prioritization	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Advanced user roles and permissions	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Features dashboard	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Customizable error views and insights	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
User audit logs	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Automatic user provisioning via SSO.	—	YesDocumented in the independently researched profile.
Integrations verified	780+	—
Aggregate rating	4.4 · 1.1k reviews	9.7 · No reviews yet
Integrations	Amazon Web Services (AWS)Microsoft AzureGoogle Cloud PlatformKubernetesDockerJava+15 more	—
Security & compliance	SOC 2 Type IISOC 1ISO 27001ISO 42001+5 more	—
Pros	Comprehensive full-stack observability covering APM, infrastructure, logs, and traces in a single platform Effective, timely alerting that helps teams catch and resolve issues before they escalate Dashboards and data organization that reviewers find relevant and easy to consume once set up Usage-based pricing removes per-host 'host anxiety' and can be cheaper for small-to-medium teams	Independent review documents a concrete business workflow Documented capability: Full stack monitoring Documented capability: Error inbox Documented capability: End-to-end diagnostics Documented capability: Two-way issue tracker
Cons	Costs can become high and difficult to predict as data ingestion scales NRQL query language and custom dashboard setup carry a notable learning curve The UI can feel overwhelming or unintuitive for new users Some smaller customers report slow or less proactive support response	Pricing and usage limits should be checked against the exact plan Implementation effort depends on the team's data and process maturity Reported outcomes should be validated with the buyer's own data
	Visit New Relic ↗	Visit Smartbear BugSnag ↗

Editorial read of this comparison

The table summarizes structured facts; this section explains what the differences mean for a real buying decision.

Where each tool fits, and where it may not

New Relic

New Relic is a cloud-based observability platform that unifies application performance monitoring (APM), infrastructure monitoring, log management, and distributed tracing in a single interface. It uses a consumption-based model priced on data ingested plus per-user seats, with a perpetual free tier. Teams use it to detect, troubleshoot, and resolve performance issues across their full stack.

A particularly good fit for: Engineering and SRE teams needing unified APM, infrastructure, and log monitoring in one tool Small-to-medium teams that benefit from usage-based pricing over per-host models Organizations with compliance needs (FedRAMP Moderate, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001)

May be a poor fit if: Teams wanting fully predictable flat costs, since data-ingest billing can spike as volume grows Organizations requiring on-premises or self-hosted deployment of the monitoring backend

Smartbear BugSnag

Smartbear BugSnag is an intuitive error monitoring system that tracks bugs and the performance of mobile, server, and web applications. The platform can be set to concentrate on key metrics and customize monitoring workflows, identifying errors, slowdowns, and an application’s health. It zeroes in on real-user performance data to identify lags in specific areas of an application and affords you the context to resolve them. The software also provides visibility into the manner in which app users interact with an app’s coding. Smartbear BugSnag visualizes the health of an application, providing software and testing teams with crash data, error data, and an error inbox that classifies errors into different types. In addition, it provides context with which you can triage and address errors accordingly. This hastens the process of fixing bugs and releasing new application updates, which in turn satisfies app users. BugSnag also provides a timeline where you can monitor an app’s performance over time, unearthing inconsistencies in performance to identify hard-to-spot issues. Bugnag is equipped with a search builder that tracks app performance in select areas. This comes in handy when certain functionalities aren’t performing as expected or experience unexpected delays. Moreover, you can set the software to monitor your app’s performance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to spot discreet or complex issues. Your team can view BugSnag’s timeline and monitor trends to find inconsistencies and possible errors. To quantify system scans, BugSnag populates summary reports that itemize performance metrics matched with your team’s performance goals to find possible discrepancies. Should errors be spotted, it can automatically send notifications via email and Slack. Additionally, the platform furnishes specific solutions based on the user ty

A particularly good fit for: B2B teams evaluating DevOps and engineering software Teams that need documented workflow capabilities and fit guidance Organizations willing to validate implementation and plan limits

May be a poor fit if: Teams seeking a workflow outside the product's documented focus Teams needing unlimited usage without plan limits

Pricing and plan structure

New Relic: Published starting price Free

FreeFree
Standard$10 first full platform user/month
Pro$349 per full platform user/month (annual)
EnterpriseCustom pricing

Smartbear BugSnag: Published starting price $65 per month

Free or entry planFree
Higher tiersCustom pricing

Capabilities worth validating

New Relic: AI features, Alerting & on-call, Application performance monitoring (APM), CI/CD pipelines, Distributed tracing Integrations include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes.
Smartbear BugSnag: Full stack monitoring, Error inbox, End-to-end diagnostics, Two-way issue tracker, Application health measurement

Questions to answer before switching

Does New Relic's selected plan include the features and limits we need?
Does Smartbear BugSnag's selected plan include the features and limits we need?
Does the exact integration path for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform support the sync direction, permissions, and volume we need?
Is a hosted-only deployment acceptable for the team and customers who will use this system?

How to evaluate this shortlist

A useful comparison turns the differences between DevOps tools into a concrete test. Use these steps to avoid choosing from a feature table or the lowest headline price alone.

Start with a representative DevOps workflow, not a feature checklist. Define who will use it, what data goes in, and what outcome the team needs.
Test the complete path through Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform: permissions, sync direction, failure handling, and volume limits often matter more than the integration name.
Compare the cost of the real scenario, including users, usage, storage, support, and contract requirements. The entry price alone does not measure adoption cost.
Before switching, list the evidence gaps, request a demo of the critical workflow, and confirm security, data residency, export, and support with each vendor.

Structured signals help narrow the shortlist, but a trial with a real workflow is still the best way to validate the decision.

Research basis

Last checked: 2026-08-18. Pricing, integrations, feature support, and review signals can change, so treat this as a research snapshot and verify the final decision with the vendor.

Sources consulted: New Relic product site, G2, TrustRadius; Smartbear BugSnag product site, FinancesOnline review, Vendor website