Logs
New Relic Logs is a log management component of the New Relic observability platform, designed for organizations that want to analyze logs without moving data from its source.
Publisher review
New Relic Logs is a log management component of the New Relic observability platform, designed for organizations that want to analyze logs without moving data from its source. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in San Francisco, it serves over 16,000 organizations including Domino's, Flight Centre, Tokopedia, and Serko. The tool is aimed at DevOps and SRE teams who need to correlate logs with APM traces, infrastructure metrics, and synthetic monitoring data in a single interface, rather than operating a separate log analytics silo. It is particularly suited for teams that value a unified data model over best-of-breed log-specific features.
Key capabilities include AI log alert summarization, which generates an immediate hypothesis to reduce mean time to resolution, and no-code parsing that lets users extract log attributes with a visual builder without writing Regex or code. The platform can query petabytes of data without requiring sidecars or third-party applications. Federated Logs allow querying logs directly in S3 buckets without re-ingestion, keeping sensitive data local for compliance. Live Archives store logs for up to seven years, fully active and enriched, at roughly one-quarter the cost of competitors that charge for rehydration. New Relic offers 780+ integrations, a free tier with 100GB of data ingest per month, and 30 days of log retention, queries, alerts, AIOps, and dashboards in the Standard edition.
In the observability market, New Relic competes directly with Datadog, Splunk, and Sumo Logic. Compared to Datadog, New Relic offers a simpler onboarding flow and a more generous free tier (100GB/month vs. Datadog's limited free tier), but Datadog provides more granular controls and stronger security monitoring features like Cloud SIEM. Against Splunk, New Relic is easier to set up with log forwarders and cloud integrations, but users report it needs more manual tuning to maintain performance. New Relic's OpenTelemetry support is limited, a gap that competitors like SigNoz address natively.
Honest trade-offs: New Relic's pricing, while transparent in terms of data ingest, can hide costs for premium support and implementation services. The platform has a steep learning curve for advanced features like custom NRQL queries and alert configuration. Its security monitoring capabilities remain in preview, lagging behind Datadog's comprehensive offering. Users migrating from Splunk may find New Relic's query language less powerful for complex ad-hoc analysis, and the 30-day retention in the free tier may force upgrades for compliance use cases requiring longer retention.
How it works
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Log Management
Includes AI log alert summarization, no-code parsing, and querying petabytes of data easily without sidecars or third-party apps.
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APM
Available with distributed tracing, correlation of distributed traces to infrastructure, and code-level performance inspection.
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Infrastructure Monitoring
Includes network monitoring, synthetic monitoring with session replay, and Kubernetes monitoring with one-step observability.
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Security Monitoring
Comprehensive security monitoring features, though currently limited and in preview compared to Datadog's Cloud SIEM.
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Synthetic Monitoring
Available with session replay for real user monitoring, allowing teams to replay user sessions to diagnose issues.
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Kubernetes Monitoring
Strong support with one-step observability, though Datadog offers a dedicated Cluster Agent for deeper control.
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OpenTelemetry Support
Limited support for OpenTelemetry, which may be a drawback for teams standardizing on open-source instrumentation.
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Unified logs analysis without moving data, using Federated Logs to query logs directly in S3 buckets and avoid rehydration costs.
- AI-driven insights for faster resolution, including AI log alert summarization that generates an immediate hypothesis to slash MTTR.
- No-code parsing for log management, allowing users to extract log attributes with a visual builder without Regex or coding.
- Predictable pricing with 100GB free data ingest per month across all plans, and no opaque units like Splunk's indexing volumes.
Trade-offs
- Needs more manual tuning and babying than Splunk to maintain performance, according to user reports on Reddit.
- Complexity and lack of transparency in pricing for premium support and implementation services, with hidden costs.
- Steep learning curve for advanced features like custom NRQL queries and alert configuration, especially for new users.
- Security monitoring capabilities are limited and in preview, lagging behind Datadog's comprehensive Cloud SIEM offering.
Pricing context
Free tier with 100GB data ingest/month and 30-day retention. Paid editions: Standard (limited to 5 full platform users, ticketed support), Pro (unlimited users, 2-hour critical support SLA), and Enterprise (custom). No per-unit indexing fees; pricing based on data ingest volume.
Getting started with Logs
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Sign up for New Relic
Go to the New Relic website and create a free account. The free tier includes 100GB of data ingest per month and 30 days of log retention, which is enough to start exploring logs without any upfront cost.
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Install a log forwarder
Choose a log forwarder like the New Relic agent or a syslog-compatible tool. Download and install it on your server or container environment, then configure it to send log data to your New Relic account using the provided ingest key.
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Configure no-code parsing
In the New Relic UI, navigate to the Logs section and use the visual builder to extract attributes from your log lines. Select fields like timestamp, severity, or service name without writing any Regex or code.
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Query your logs with NRQL
Open the query interface and write a simple NRQL query, such as `SELECT * FROM Log WHERE serviceName = 'my-app' SINCE 1 hour ago`. Review the results to verify that your logs are being ingested and parsed correctly.
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Set up an alert for errors
Create an alert condition in the Alerts section that triggers when the count of log entries with severity 'error' exceeds a threshold. Configure a notification channel like email or Slack to receive alerts and reduce mean time to resolution.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is New Relic Logs and how does it work?
New Relic Logs is a log management component of the New Relic observability platform. It lets DevOps and SRE teams analyze logs without moving data from its source, using features like AI log alert summarization and no-code parsing for faster troubleshooting.
How much does New Relic Logs cost and is there a free tier?
New Relic Logs offers a free tier with 100GB data ingest per month and 30-day retention. Paid editions include Standard, Pro, and Enterprise, with pricing based on data ingest volume. There are no per-unit indexing fees, making costs predictable.
How does New Relic Logs compare to Datadog and Splunk?
New Relic Logs offers a simpler onboarding flow and a more generous free tier than Datadog, but Datadog provides stronger security monitoring. Compared to Splunk, New Relic is easier to set up but may need more manual tuning to maintain performance.
What is Federated Logs in New Relic and why is it useful?
Federated Logs allows querying logs directly in S3 buckets without re-ingesting them into New Relic. This keeps sensitive data local for compliance and avoids rehydration costs, enabling long-term log analysis at a lower cost.
What are the main features of New Relic Logs for DevOps teams?
Key features include AI log alert summarization that generates hypotheses to reduce mean time to resolution, no-code parsing with a visual builder, and the ability to query petabytes of data without sidecars. It also integrates with APM and infrastructure monitoring.
What are the downsides of using New Relic Logs?
Users report a steep learning curve for advanced features like custom NRQL queries. Security monitoring is limited and in preview. Pricing for premium support can be unclear, and the free tier's 30-day retention may require upgrades for compliance needs.
Alternatives
How Logs compares
Direct head-to-head against 3 competitors. Picked by 7wData.
Logs
- Pricing
- Free tier with 100GB data ingest/month and 30-day retention. Paid editions: Standard (limited to 5 full platform users, ticketed support), Pro (unlimited users, 2-hour critical support SLA), and Enterprise (custom). No per-unit indexing fees; pricing based on data ingest volume.
- Target
- New Relic Logs is a log management component of the New Relic observability platform, designed for organizations that want to analyze logs without moving data
- Strength
- Unified logs analysis without moving data, using Federated Logs to query logs directly in S3 buckets and avoid rehydration costs.
- Watch for
- Needs more manual tuning and babying than Splunk to maintain performance, according to user reports on Reddit.
Datadog
- Pricing
- $0.10/GB ingested, $0.50/GB indexed
- Target
- Cloud-native teams needing full observability
- Deployment
- SaaS
- Strength
- Largest integration ecosystem
- Watch for
- Cost escalates with high log volume
Splunk
- Pricing
- Custom/Contact sales
- Target
- Enterprise security and large-scale analytics
- Deployment
- Self-hosted, Cloud
- Strength
- SPL analytics and SIEM capabilities
- Watch for
- High licensing costs
Grafana Loki
- Pricing
- Free open source, $0.50/GB ingested (cloud)
- Target
- Grafana and Kubernetes teams
- Deployment
- Self-hosted, Cloud
- Strength
- Label-based cost-efficient log storage
- Watch for
- Steeper learning curve for setup
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Sources
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