Last updated: March 2026
TraceKit vs New Relic: Full APM Without Per-Seat Pricing
New Relic is a full-platform observability suite with a generous free tier. TraceKit is the developer-first APM that gives you complete observability -- including frontend error tracking and session replay -- at a flat price with no per-user fees.
Pricing and feature information is based on publicly available data as of March 2026. Check New Relic's website for the latest.
Why developers choose TraceKit
Live Code Monitoring
Set live breakpoints in production code and capture variable state without redeploying. New Relic's CodeStream is IDE-only -- it helps with code context but cannot set live breakpoints in running production code.
Pricing Simplicity
$29/month flat vs per-user + per-GB pricing. No surprise bills when your team grows or data volume spikes. Three developers on New Relic means $297/month in user fees alone.
All-in-One at Indie Scale
Everything included at one price. New Relic gates features behind Standard, Pro, and Enterprise tiers -- you need to upgrade to unlock the full platform.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | TraceKit | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| Tracing | ||
| Distributed Tracing | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-Instrumentation | Yes (OpenTelemetry) | Yes (New Relic agents) |
| Trace Visualization | Waterfall + Flamegraph | Waterfall + Flamegraph |
| Monitoring | ||
| Live Code Monitoring | Yes -- breakpoints without redeploy | CodeStream (IDE-only, not production) |
| Custom Dashboards | Yes | Yes (extensive) |
| Alerting | Yes | Yes |
| Custom Metrics | Yes | Yes |
| Frontend Observability | ||
| Release Tracking | Yes (linked to traces) | Yes (deployments) |
| Source Maps | Yes (debug ID + upload CLI) | Yes (browser agent) |
| Session Replay | Yes (linked to traces) | Yes (browser agent) |
| Browser-to-Backend Traces | Yes (W3C traceparent) | Yes (browser + APM) |
| Platform | ||
| Security Scanning | Built-in | Yes (separate capability) |
| Vulnerability Management | No | Yes (built-in) |
| Setup Time | Under 5 minutes | 10-20 minutes |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing Model | $29/month flat | $99/user/month + per-GB data |
| All Features Included | Yes | No -- tiered (Standard/Pro/Enterprise) |
Pricing Comparison
TraceKit
$29/month
Flat monthly
One price includes distributed tracing, live code monitoring, custom metrics, dashboards, alerts, and security scanning. No per-user fees.
None. What you see is what you pay.
New Relic
Free tier (100 GB/month), then $99/additional full platform user
Per-user + per-GB
New Relic offers a generous free tier with 100 GB/month of data ingest and one full platform user. Additional full platform users cost $99/month each. Data beyond the free tier is billed at $0.30-$0.40/GB depending on data type.
Per-user costs scale quickly with team growth. Data ingest charges can spike with high-throughput applications. Advanced features are gated behind Standard, Pro, and Enterprise tiers.
Pricing considerations with New Relic
- 3 full platform users on New Relic = $297/month in user fees alone
- Data ingest beyond 100 GB/month is billed per-GB -- high-throughput apps can see surprise charges
- Advanced features like vulnerability management require Pro or Enterprise tiers
- Per-user pricing penalizes you for growing your team
Setup Comparison
See how TraceKit's setup compares to New Relic:
// New Relic: Install agent, configure license key
// newrelic.ConfigAppName("My App"),
// newrelic.ConfigLicense("NEW_RELIC_LICENSE_KEY"),
// app, _ := newrelic.NewApplication(
// newrelic.ConfigAppName("My App"),
// newrelic.ConfigLicense("NR_LICENSE_KEY"),
// )
// TraceKit: One-line SDK setup
tracekit.Init("tk_your_key")When to choose New Relic
We believe in honesty. New Relic is a great product, and there are situations where it is the better choice.
- You need a generous free tier (100 GB/month) to get started without any commitment
- You want built-in vulnerability management and security compliance features
- You need full observability for a large enterprise with dedicated platform teams
- You want AI-powered alerting and anomaly detection at enterprise scale
Frequently Asked Questions
For APM, distributed tracing, frontend error tracking, session replay, and production debugging -- yes. TraceKit covers the core observability needs of indie developers and small teams at a fraction of the cost. If you need vulnerability management, enterprise compliance features, or a 100 GB/month free tier to evaluate, New Relic may be the better starting point.
TraceKit is $29/month flat for all features and unlimited users. New Relic charges $99/month per additional full platform user plus per-GB data ingest fees beyond the free tier. For a 3-person team, New Relic user fees alone are $297/month.
TraceKit's live code monitoring lets you set breakpoints in your running production code and capture variable state in real time. New Relic CodeStream is an IDE extension that brings observability data into your editor -- it is useful for code context but does not offer live production breakpoints.
Yes. TraceKit is built on OpenTelemetry, the industry standard. If you are already using OpenTelemetry instrumentation, you can point your exporters to TraceKit with minimal changes. If you are using New Relic's proprietary agents, you will need to switch to OpenTelemetry SDKs.
New Relic's free tier is genuinely generous -- 100 GB/month of data ingest and one full platform user at no cost. TraceKit does not have a free tier but starts at $29/month with all features included and no per-user or per-GB limits. If you are a solo developer evaluating tools, New Relic's free tier is a great way to start.
Related Resources
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