New Relic vs PagerDuty
New Relic and PagerDuty are both popular tools in the DevOps & Infrastructure space. New Relic uses a freemium model starting at Free, while PagerDuty is paid from $21/mo. New Relic offers a free tier, while PagerDuty does not. Below we break down features, pricing, strengths, and weaknesses to help you decide which tool fits your workflow best.
Last updated: July 2026
Quick Verdict
Choose New Relic if you want full-stack observability platform with ai-powered error analysis.. New Relic's biggest strengths include generous free tier with 100gb monthly data and ai assistant accelerates troubleshooting. Plus, it has a free tier to get started. Choose PagerDuty if you prefer ai-powered incident management and response automation.. Key advantages include industry standard for incident management and ai dramatically reduces alert fatigue. It's also rated higher (4.2 vs 4.1).
Full-stack observability platform with AI-powered error analysis.
AI-powered incident management and response automation.
| New Relic | PagerDuty | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | $21/mo |
| Free Tier | Yes | No |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Paid |
| Rating | ★ 4.1 | ★ 4.2 |
| Categories | DevOps & Infrastructure | DevOps & Infrastructure |
| Key Features | 6 features | 6 features |
| Feature | New Relic | PagerDuty |
|---|---|---|
| Full-stack application performance monitoring | ✓ | — |
| New Relic AI for natural language troubleshooting | ✓ | — |
| Infrastructure and Kubernetes monitoring | ✓ | — |
| Distributed tracing and error tracking | ✓ | — |
| Real user monitoring and session replay | ✓ | — |
| 100GB free data ingest per month | ✓ | — |
| AI-powered alert correlation and noise reduction | — | ✓ |
| Automated incident response workflows | — | ✓ |
| On-call scheduling and escalation policies | — | ✓ |
| Integration with 700+ monitoring and DevOps tools | — | ✓ |
| Postmortem and incident analytics | — | ✓ |
| Status page for customer communication | — | ✓ |
New Relic
Pros
- + Generous free tier with 100GB monthly data
- + AI assistant accelerates troubleshooting
- + Full-stack visibility in a single platform
- + Strong Kubernetes and container monitoring
Cons
- − Costs increase significantly beyond free tier
- − Query language (NRQL) has a learning curve
- − Some features less mature than Datadog equivalents
PagerDuty
Pros
- + Industry standard for incident management
- + AI dramatically reduces alert fatigue
- + Massive integration ecosystem (700+ tools)
- + Reliable and battle-tested at enterprise scale
Cons
- − Pricing adds up quickly for larger teams
- − Can be complex to configure and maintain
- − Advanced AIOps features require premium tiers
The Bottom Line
Choose New Relic if: you want full-stack observability platform with ai-powered error analysis.. It has a free tier to get started, which PagerDuty lacks. It's completely free to use. Keep in mind: costs increase significantly beyond free tier.
Choose PagerDuty if: you prefer ai-powered incident management and response automation.. It holds a higher user rating (4.2 vs 4.1). Keep in mind: pricing adds up quickly for larger teams.
Both tools compete in the DevOps & Infrastructure space. The right choice depends on your specific needs, team size, and budget.
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