New RelicIntelligent Observability resolves issues at scale before they impact your bottom line.
vs
OpenTelemetryThe open standard for telemetry
Comparison · Observability · weekly run Nov 3
New Relic vs OpenTelemetry
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
New Relic is the stronger AI pick in Observability: it has a visibility score of 47.1 versus 37.4 for OpenTelemetry, and ranks ahead in 45% of the answers that name both.
Choose New Relic if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (47.1 vs 37.4)
- You need SOC 2 Type II or FedRAMP Moderate (eligible accounts) or HIPAA eligibility or ISO 27001 or ISO 42001 AI certification coverage
- Generous permanent free tier with 100 GB monthly ingest
- Easy setup and quick APM start with minimal upfront cost
Choose OpenTelemetry if…
- You need more native integrations (1151+ vs 800+)
- AI answers describe it more positively (62% vs 42% positive)
- Native OpenTelemetry support across observability platforms
- Reduces vendor lock-in and keeps telemetry portable
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | New Relic | OpenTelemetry |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 47.1% | 37.4% |
| Change vs last week | New | New |
| Rank in Observability | #3 | #5 |
| Share of voice | 10.7% | 8.2% |
| Mentions this run | 63 | 49 |
| Positive in AI answers | 42% | 62% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
New Relic 0pp · OpenTelemetry 0pp over 0 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
New Relic leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
New RelicOpenTelemetry
Head to head in AI answers
44 engine answers name both brands
20New Relic ranked higher
24OpenTelemetry ranked higher
| Prompt | Engine | New Relic | OpenTelemetry |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is an observability platform and when does a company need one? | ChatGPT | #4 | #1 |
| How do I choose an observability platform for a mid-market team? | ChatGPT | #5 | #1 |
| How do I choose an observability platform for a mid-market team? | AI Mode | #3 | #1 |
| How do I choose an observability platform for a mid-market team? | Perplexity | #5 | #1 |
| What are common mistakes when buying an observability platform? | ChatGPT | #2 | #1 |
| What is the difference between an observability platform and CI/CD? | ChatGPT | #3 | #6 |
| What should an observability platform integrate with? | Perplexity | #4 | #1 |
| How long does it take to roll out an observability platform? | ChatGPT | #5 | #2 |
| How long does it take to roll out an observability platform? | AI Mode | #4 | #1 |
| What are the best observability tools in 2026? | ChatGPT | #8 | #1 |
| What are the best observability tools in 2026? | AI Mode | #5 | #1 |
| What are the best observability tools in 2026? | Perplexity | #4 | #13 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | New Relic | OpenTelemetry |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Usage-based | — |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $10 / mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Deployment | Cloud-based SaaS | On-premises, in hybrid environments, or across multiple clouds |
| Integrations | 800+ | 1151+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, FedRAMP Moderate (eligible accounts), HIPAA eligibility, ISO 27001, ISO 42001 AI certification | — |
| Support | Ticketed support, 2-hour critical initial response SLA on Pro, 1-hour critical initial response SLA and priority ticket routing on Enterprise | Community support through GitHub discussions and the community repository, Paid training and the free course Getting started with OpenTelemetry, Commercial support from numerous vendors |
| Founded | 2008 | 2019 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA, United States | — |
| Employees | 1,001–5,000 | — |
| Funding | Post-IPO raise (not corroborated by other sources) | — |
| Best for | Engineers responsible for application and system uptime and reliability, and teams that want full-stack observability starting from a free tier. | Teams that want to instrument applications once and keep the freedom to change observability backends |
Plans side by side
New Relic
Free$0per month, one full platform user and 100 GB ingest
Standard$10per first full platform user/month; $99 per additional user (max 5)
Pro$349per full platform user/month (annual commitment); $418.80 monthly pay as you go
EnterpriseCustomcontact sales
OpenTelemetry
Pricing not available.
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
New Relic
- Generous permanent free tier with 100 GB monthly ingest
- Easy setup and quick APM start with minimal upfront cost
- Unified, consumption-based pricing model
- Strong full-stack observability platform and APM pioneer
- Value and accessibility with AI-assisted querying and diagnostics
- Costs can surprise as log and trace volume scales
- Pricing requires careful cost governance and depends on usage
OpenTelemetry
- Native OpenTelemetry support across observability platforms
- Reduces vendor lock-in and keeps telemetry portable
- Strong fit with Prometheus and Grafana ecosystems
- Dominant open standard for instrumenting code
- Free or low-cost use via open-source tooling
- Limited OpenTelemetry support
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 100%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “New Relic vs OpenTelemetry”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/new-relic-vs-opentelemetry, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.