New Relic vs Sentry: Which Monitoring Tool Should You Use in 2026?

A practical comparison of New Relic and Sentry for error tracking, APM, and observability — pricing, features, and which one fits a small engineering team.

Updated 2026-09 · 2026

New Relic

Full-stack observability platform for infrastructure, APM, and logs

Free up to 100GB/month, then usage-basedper GB ingested + per full user/month

Strengths

+Unified platform: APM, infra, logs, browser, and mobile monitoring in one place
+Generous free tier — 100GB/month data ingest plus 1 full platform user
+Powerful NRQL query language for custom dashboards and analysis

Weaknesses

-Data ingest pricing can spike unpredictably as traffic or logging grows
-Steep learning curve — NRQL and dashboard setup take real ramp-up time
-Per-user pricing for full platform seats gets expensive for growing teams

Best for

Teams that need unified observability across infrastructure, APM, logs, and frontend/mobile performance in a single platform.

Sentry

Error tracking and performance monitoring built for developers

Free (Developer plan), Team $26/mo, Business $80/moper month, billed annually

Strengths

+Best-in-class error tracking with detailed stack traces and breadcrumbs
+Fast setup — SDK install takes minutes per language/framework
+Built-in source maps, release tracking, and session replay

Weaknesses

-Not a full replacement for infrastructure or server-level monitoring
-Performance/APM features are less mature than dedicated APM tools
-Event/transaction-based pricing can escalate quickly at high volume

Best for

Development teams that want fast, precise error tracking and release health monitoring without the overhead of a full observability suite.

Feature Comparison

Feature	New Relic	Sentry
Error tracking & stack traces	Available via APM, secondary focus	Core product, best-in-class
Infrastructure monitoring	Native, deep host/container metrics	Not supported
APM / distributed tracing	Full APM with tracing across services	Basic tracing tied to performance monitoring
Log management	Native log ingestion and correlation	Logs available on paid plans, more limited
Session replay	Available on browser monitoring add-on	Built-in on Team/Business plans
Free tier	100GB/month ingest, 1 full user	5K errors/month, 1 user, 30-day retention
Alerting	NRQL-based alert conditions, workflows	Issue and metric alerts, simpler setup
Self-hosted option	Not available	Open-source self-hosted (free)
Real user monitoring (browser)	Included in full platform	Included via performance monitoring
Pricing model	Data ingest (GB) + per-user seats	Flat monthly tiers by event volume
Learning curve	Steep — dashboards and NRQL take time	Low — SDK install and go

The Verdict

If you're mainly chasing bugs and crashes, Sentry is cheaper, faster to set up, and does that one job better than New Relic. New Relic earns its cost only if you need unified infrastructure, APM, and log monitoring in one platform — otherwise most small teams are overpaying for capabilities they won't use.

How to switch from New Relic to Sentry

1Export historical data and configs from New Relic: use NRQL queries with 'Export to CSV' in dashboards for metrics, and call the NerdGraph API to pull alert policies and dashboard JSON before your account access ends.
2Install the Sentry SDK for each language/framework you use (e.g., @sentry/node, sentry-python, sentry-java) and add your project DSN to each service.
3Create a Sentry project for each app or service, mirroring how apps were organized in New Relic's APM view.
4Rebuild your alerting rules in Sentry (issue alerts and metric alerts) to match the alert policies you exported from New Relic.
5Reconnect integrations in Sentry's settings — Slack, GitHub, Jira, PagerDuty — so notifications and issue links work the same as before.
6Run New Relic and Sentry in parallel for 1-2 weeks to confirm alert coverage matches, then remove New Relic agents from your codebase and cancel the subscription.

New Relic vs Sentry: common questions

How do I export my data from New Relic before switching?+

New Relic doesn't offer a single bulk export button. Use the NerdGraph API or NRQL queries to pull historical data as CSV/JSON, and export dashboard and alert policy configs via the NerdGraph API before you cancel. Do this before your billing period ends since data access stops once your account is downgraded or closed.

What features do I lose moving from New Relic to Sentry?+

You lose infrastructure and host-level monitoring, log aggregation at scale, and cross-service distributed tracing depth that New Relic provides. Sentry focuses on application errors and performance, so you'll need a separate tool (or Sentry's own limited logs) if you still need server/infra visibility.

Is Sentry's free tier enough for a small team?+

For a small team with low error volume (under 5K events/month) and one user, yes, the free Developer plan works fine for basic error tracking. Once you add teammates or exceed the event cap, you'll need the Team plan at $26/month to unlock shared projects and more retention.

Does Sentry integrate with the tools I already use?+

Yes — Sentry has native integrations for Slack, GitHub, GitLab, Jira, PagerDuty, and most CI/CD tools, configurable directly in project settings. Most integrations that existed in New Relic (Slack alerts, PagerDuty escalation, GitHub issue linking) have a direct equivalent in Sentry.

How does cost compare over a year, New Relic vs Sentry?+

A 5-person team on New Relic's full platform can easily hit $500-1000+/month once data ingest and full-user seats add up, while the same team on Sentry's Team plan runs about $26-80/month depending on volume. Sentry is cheaper unless you specifically need infrastructure and log monitoring bundled in.