New Relic vs OpenObserve — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
New Relic starts at $99/mo. OpenObserve uses custom pricing — request a quote to compare.
See price history: New Relic · OpenObserve
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- New Relic (Per Usage) — New Relic bills on usage — Free 100GB/mo + 1 user; then $0.30-$0.55/GB + $99-$549 per full user/mo on top of a paid plan starting at $99/mo. The plan includes an allowance; anything beyond it is metered.
- OpenObserve (Per Usage) — OpenObserve bills purely on usage — $0.50/GB ingest + $0.01/GB query (30% off annual, no per-seat fees). There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
New Relic is a full-stack observability platform with 50+ capabilities (APM, infrastructure, logs, RUM, browser, mobile). Best-in-class free tier: 100GB/mo ingest + 1 full-platform user + unlimited basic users. Paid tiers layer per-user fees (Standard ~$99/user/mo, Pro up to $549/user/mo) plus per-GB ingest above 100GB. Enterprise custom.
OpenObserve is a Datadog/Splunk/New Relic alternative positioned on transparent pay-as-you-go pricing with no per-seat or per-host fees. Cloud PAYG: $0.50/GB ingestion + $0.01/GB query (30% off with annual commit). Includes 15-month metrics retention + 30-day non-metrics retention default. Enterprise adds SSO/RBAC, AI SRE agent, BYO bucket infinite retention. Self-hosted OSS is free; Self-hosted Enterprise free up to 50GB/day.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | New Relic monthly | New Relic annual | OpenObserve monthly | OpenObserve annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Free / Cloud Professional (PAYG) | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Standard / — | $99 | $99 | — | — |
| Pro / power | Pro / — | $349 | $349 | — | — |
| Enterprise | Enterprise / Cloud Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
New Relic is worth it if… New Relic is ideal for teams starting observability who want a generous free tier (100GB) to test-drive before committing. Best if you can plan around hybrid per-user + per-GB pricing that scales with team size and data volume.
OpenObserve is worth it if… OpenObserve is ideal for teams migrating off Datadog, Splunk, or New Relic who want radically transparent pay-per-GB pricing with no seat fees. Best if your telemetry cost is dominated by log and metric volume rather than user count.
Bottom line: Similar positioning, closer to a preference call than a strategic one.
Choose New Relic over OpenObserve if…
Choose New Relic if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, from $99/mo).
- You match the profile New Relic is built for: ideal for teams starting observability who want a generous free tier (100GB) to test-drive before committing.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose OpenObserve if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, a free entry tier).
- You match the profile OpenObserve is built for: ideal for teams migrating off Datadog, Splunk, or New Relic who want radically transparent pay-per-GB pricing with no seat fees.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| New Relic | OpenObserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $99/mo | Free |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Usage | Per Usage |
| Verification | Pricing under review | Pricing under review |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 27, 2026. Tracked daily.