New Relic licensing is the set of terms and pricing rules under which New Relic, Inc. sells its observability platform, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product covering application performance monitoring (APM), infrastructure, log management, browser, mobile and synthetic monitoring and related capabilities. Customers do not license hosts or processors. Since 2020 the platform has been sold on a usage-based pricing model that bills for data ingested and for billable users, and all organizations created on or after 2020-07-30 are on that model.[7] The pricing page states that with this model customers “no longer have to count hosts or CPUs”.[3]
The grant is a subscription right. The paid Terms of Service give the customer “the right to use and access the Service for its internal business purposes only” during the Subscription Term, in accordance with the Documentation, the Order and the agreement.[5] The Documentation includes the Usage Plan, which New Relic defines as the pricing, invoicing information and product-specific terms contained in its documentation.[5][4] Catalog proof: Service may be used only for internal business purposes.
Editions
New Relic sells four editions, Free, Standard, Pro and Enterprise, and an organization can be on only one edition at a time. The Order states which edition applies.[1] Catalog proof: One edition and one data option at a time.
| Edition | Full platform users | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | One free full platform user, unlimited basic users | 100 GB ingest a month; no credit card; perpetual[3] |
| Standard | Up to five; first user USD 10, then USD 99 each | Ticketed support with a two-business-day response target; SAML single sign-on[1][3] |
| Pro | Unlimited; USD 349 annual upfront, USD 418.80 pay as you go | Commitment options, Data Plus eligibility, optional full consumption pricing[1][3] |
| Enterprise | Unlimited; USD 549 annual upfront, USD 658.80 pay as you go | FedRAMP Moderate and HIPAA eligibility with Data Plus; one-hour P1 response target[1][3] |
The Usage Plan’s list prices are the published per-unit prices; the public pricing page shows Enterprise as “Contact Sales”.[1][3] Editions, user types and their billing rules are covered in New Relic user types and editions.
Metrics
New Relic’s pricing page describes two core combinations: “users and data ingest OR compute and data ingest”.[3] The billing documentation names the same models Data + User and Data + Core Compute, with Advanced Compute as an add-on to either.[2]
| Unit | Catalog row | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| GB of telemetry stored | GB Ingested | New Relic - Data and New Relic - Data Plus, every edition |
| Billable user | Full Platform User, Core User | Data + User model |
| Free user | Basic user | All editions; not billable |
| Compute per successful action | Compute Capacity Unit (CCU) | Data + Core Compute model |
| Compute for Intelligent Observability | Advanced Compute Capacity Unit (aCCU) | Advanced Compute add-on |
| Stored data over time | GB Month | Live Archives |
| Synthetic monitor run | Synthetic Check | Synthetic checks add-on |
| Legacy units | Monthly Provisioned User, Compute unit (original pricing), Host (original pricing) | Original user billing version and product-based contracts |
The contract glossary defines a GB Ingested as “a measurement of the volume of metrics, events, logs, traces, or other telemetry data sent to or generated by the Products for the benefit of the Customer”, with a GB defined as 1 billion bytes.[4] It defines a Compute Capacity Unit as “the compute capacity consumed for a successfully-run action, including loading a page, executing a query, evaluating an alert condition, and invoking an API call”.[4] Full Platform User and Core User are both defined as any user who can log into the customer’s accounts and access the functionality described in an Order and the Documentation; the difference lies in the features each user type unlocks.[4][8]
Counting / floors
Data. Every edition includes 100 GB of data ingest per month free, and ingest beyond that is billed per GB at USD 0.40 (original data option) or USD 0.60 (Data Plus).[3][1] Billable data is what is stored after trimming and transformation rules, and the monthly total is rounded up to the next whole GB.[2] A Free organization that exceeds 100 GB stops ingesting data and loses platform access until it upgrades or the next month starts.[3] Catalog proof: GB Ingested counts stored data after trimming and transformation; Monthly GB Ingested is rounded up to a whole GB; Free edition stops ingest and access above 100 GB a month.
Users. Billable users are counted per calendar month in UTC. A user’s billable type for the month is “the highest user type at which a user was set during a calendar month”, so a brief upgrade makes the user billable as a full platform user for the whole month.[2] Users are billable from the moment they are added, even with a pending invitation.[2] Under committed contracts, a full platform user who is downgraded and returned twice in a contract year is billed as a full platform user for the rest of the year.[2] Catalog proof: Billable user type is the highest type set during the calendar month; Users are billable when added, even with a pending invite; Two downgrade-upgrade cycles in a contract year lock a full platform user.
Compute. Advanced Compute lists at USD 0.60 per CCU, multiplied by 1.15 for accounts in the EU data region.[1] CodeStream use under Advanced Compute “will incur Advanced CCU charges, regardless of user type”, which means free basic users can generate charges.[2] The mechanics are covered in New Relic data ingest and compute pricing. Catalog proof: Basic users can incur Advanced Compute charges; EU data region multiplies Advanced Compute list price by 1.15.
Virtualization & partitioning
Hosts, containers and processors are not licensing units under usage-based pricing. The pricing page states that “unlimited hosts, agents, containers, devices, AWS Fargate tasks, cloud functions, and more are included at no additional cost”.[3] The cost of a large virtual or container estate therefore shows up as GB Ingested (and, under Core Compute, as CCUs) rather than as a count of instances.[2] Host-based counting survives only in contracts on the original product-based model, where a host is “the physical computer or virtual machine instance running a single copy of an operating system” and host usage is the connected hours in a month divided by 750.[15] Catalog proof: Original pricing host usage is connected hours divided by 750. The general subject is covered in virtualization and partitioning.
Cloud / BYOL
New Relic is delivered only as a multi-tenant cloud service, so bring-your-own-licence does not arise. Customer data is hosted in the data region chosen when the account is set up.[5] Choosing the EU region adds USD 0.05 per GB ingested to either data option.[1] The agents and other software installed in the customer’s environment are licensed separately. Software under the New Relic Software License “is solely for use with New Relic’s proprietary SaaS service” and needs “a valid and active subscription agreement”.[9] Some agents are open source. For the Java agent, code in versions before v6.0.0 is under the New Relic agent licence, and the GitHub repository for later versions carries the Apache License 2.0.[10][11] Catalog proof: Licensed agent software is only for use with the New Relic Service; Java agent v6.0.0 and later is licensed on GitHub; earlier versions under the agent licence.
Programs
- Pay As You Go (PAYG). An Order with “a rolling one-day term”, billed monthly in arrears for usage above the Free edition.[1]
- Volume Plan. A Commitment Fee for Licensed Monthly Quantities, with excess invoiced monthly.[1]
- Savings Plan. A prepaid pool consumed by any usage. Unused funds roll over for up to 12 months if the customer renews at 80% or more of the average annual commitment.[1]
- Annual Pool of Funds (APOF). No longer generally available.[1]
- Free edition, governed by the Unpaid Terms of Service, which also cover trials and lite accounts.[1][6]
- Observability for Good for eligible nonprofits, which offers Standard with Data Plus, three full platform users and 1,000 GB of ingest per month,[13] and New Relic for Startups, which offers five users and data ingest free each month.[14]
Buying Programs, the Terms of Service and support and availability commitments are covered in New Relic Buying Programs and terms.
Audits and compliance
New Relic does not run licence audits of the kind seen with on-premises software. It meters usage in its own platform. The Usage Plan states that New Relic “may review Customer’s use of the Products at any time” and may suspend use that does not follow the Terms or Documentation.[1] The paid Terms allow monitoring to ensure compliance with the restrictions, which include a ban on using the Service “on behalf of, or to provide any product or service to, third parties”.[5] Differences therefore surface on monthly usage invoices. For invoices billed in arrears, disputes must reach New Relic within three business days.[1] Login credentials may not be shared, and each user needs an individual account.[1] Catalog proof: Order amounts are non-cancelable and New Relic may review use at any time; Disputes over arrears invoices within three business days; Login credentials may not be shared. For the general discipline see software license audit.
Pre-release and additional services
Previews, betas and other features that are not generally available fall under New Relic’s Pre-Release Policy and the Service Specific Terms, which also set terms for CodeStream, Vulnerability Management, generative AI features, agents and AI Monitoring.[12] Pre-release use can still cost money. GB Ingested “includes telemetry data from preview or pre-release versions of software”.[4] The Usage Plan adds that using a Pre-Release Service “may increase the bill” at Order or Usage Plan rates.[1] Catalog proof: A GB is 1 billion bytes and includes pre-release telemetry.
Out of scope
- Negotiated Orders, discounts and channel partner pricing, which are confidential. The Usage Plan states that Order terms, rates and pricing are New Relic’s confidential information.[1]
- Third-party open-source components shipped inside agents, which carry their own licences.[10]
- Product-based contracts from before 2020-07-30 in detail; they are summarised in New Relic Buying Programs and terms.[7]