New Relic vs Sumo Logic: Per-User Pricing Against Scan-Based Log Analytics
Prices and facts checked on vendor pages on Nov 8, 2026.
New Relic bundles APM, browser, mobile, synthetics, and logs behind one meter for data and another for users. Sumo Logic started as log analytics, sells a cloud SIEM beside it, and prices by credits with unlimited users. The decision usually turns on two questions: how many people need full access, and whether security work sits in the same tool as operations work.
The Short Answer
Pick New Relic when engineers want application performance monitoring, browser and mobile views, and a free tier to start on, and when only a handful of people need the full platform. Pick Sumo Logic when a security team needs a SIEM next to log search, when you want unlimited users, or when you need retention that you set per data source.
New Relic vs Sumo Logic at a Glance
How New Relic Charges
These are list prices from the New Relic pricing page, checked November 8, 2026. Data costs $0.40 per GB beyond the first 100 GB each month. Data Plus is $0.60 per GB and adds up to 90 days of extended retention, advanced log obfuscation, and, on Enterprise, FedRAMP Moderate and HIPAA eligibility. Storing data in the EU data center adds $0.05 per GB per month. Extra synthetic checks are $0.005 each.
Users are the second meter. Basic users are free. Core users are $49 per month on Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. Full platform users cost $10 for the first and $99 for each additional on Standard, capped at five. On Pro they cost $349 each on an annual commitment or $418.80 each pay as you go. Enterprise is by quote. New Relic also states that it does not charge per host.
The free tier stops ingesting once you pass 100 GB in a month. Data resumes when you upgrade or when the month rolls over.
A Worked Example
Assumptions: 1,000 GB of logs and telemetry a month, four engineers who need full platform access, everyone else on free basic seats, no compute or add-on charges.
The data line is $360 or $540 either way. The spread comes from which edition your four engineers sit on.
How Sumo Logic Charges
Sumo Logic sells two packages. Essentials is aimed at small and mid-sized DevOps and SecOps teams, with a free trial. Enterprise Suite adds cloud SIEM and is sold through sales. Both are described as unlimited-user.
Licensing runs on credits, which Sumo Logic describes as a pool you configure across platform capabilities. Its FAQ says spikes are visible in your account dashboard but do not trigger overage charges. Its Flex docs describe Flex as the default plan for new customers, where you pay for analytics and search rather than ingestion. On November 8, 2026 the estimator's default (North America: US, 500-750 scans per GB ingested) returned $3.14 per TB scanned. Two heavier profiles, 750-1500 and 1500-2000 scans per GB ingested, are also offered, and the page says pricing varies by deployment region.
You cannot compute a monthly Sumo Logic total from public pages the way you can for New Relic. The estimate is a per-TB rate, your scan volume depends on how often people search and how many dashboards and monitors run, and storage carries a separate "nominal" charge set per data source. Ask for a quote based on a real week of queries.
Where They Differ in Practice
Who is counted. New Relic charges for people, so cost climbs as more engineers need deep access. Sumo Logic charges for work done on data, so cost climbs as searches, dashboards, and monitors multiply. A large team with light querying fits Sumo Logic's model. A small team with heavy telemetry fits New Relic's.
Security. Sumo Logic's Cloud SIEM page describes MITRE ATT&CK coverage, entity-centric detections, and playbook automation, and the pricing page lists 900+ out-of-the-box rules. The New Relic pages we reviewed describe observability capabilities and do not list a SIEM.
AI assistants. New Relic's Autopilot, formerly SRE Agent, requires the Pro or Enterprise edition with the Advanced Compute add-on or a legacy compute plan, is limited to 100 requests per hour per organization, and recommends actions without taking them. It also works from Slack. Sumo Logic's DojoAI is an add-on: Mobot includes 10 prompts per user per day, with DojoAI Credits for pooled capacity, and the SOC Analyst Agent needs a SIEM subscription. Sumo Logic lists its Root Cause Agent as in development. Both vendors offer an MCP server for outside AI clients. Sumo Logic's AI features are on by default and administrators can opt out.
Data control. Sumo Logic's Data Pipelines filter and route telemetry before storage, but its page says routing is into Sumo Logic and AWS at present. New Relic's log page describes Federated Logs for analyzing logs without moving them or paying rehydration costs.
Query languages. New Relic uses NRQL, a SQL-like language shared by charts, dashboards, and alerts. Sumo Logic uses its own search query language with parse, group, and aggregate operators. Each takes time to learn, and both now offer natural-language entry points.
When to Pick New Relic
- You want APM, browser and mobile monitoring, and synthetics under one login.
- A permanent free tier matters, and 100 GB a month covers a side project or a small service.
- Few people need full platform access, so per-user fees stay small.
- You want your logs queried in place with Federated Logs, or kept for years with live archives.
- Your instrumentation already speaks OTLP, which New Relic ingests natively.
When to Pick Sumo Logic
- A security team needs a cloud SIEM, UEBA, and SOAR beside log analytics.
- You want unlimited users without a seat decision.
- You prefer buying a credit pool, with no overage charges for spikes, over metered ingest.
- You need retention up to 365 days, or customer-defined retention, set per source.
- Your team already has Sumo Logic queries, monitors, and dashboards worth keeping.
Where Sazabi Fits
Sazabi is AI-native observability and security that can run beside either tool. If your logs pass through an OpenTelemetry Collector, you add an otlphttp exporter pointing at Sazabi next to your New Relic or Sumo Logic exporter, as the Collector guide describes. Sazabi's agent then investigates problems and posts what it finds in Slack, so you can judge it on your own traffic without moving anything. Sazabi ingests OpenTelemetry metrics (Prometheus metrics through an OpenTelemetry Collector) and OTLP traces through the same intake as your logs. It stores each metric data point and each span as a log record that its agent queries alongside your logs, so there is no separate metrics store to run.
See Sazabi vs New Relic and Sazabi vs Sumo Logic for one-to-one comparisons, the OpenTelemetry integration for setup, and Sazabi pricing for its plans. If you are leaving either vendor, read the New Relic alternatives and Sumo Logic alternatives pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is New Relic or Sumo Logic cheaper?
It depends on who needs access and how much you search. New Relic publishes $0.40 per GB beyond 100 GB free, plus $49 per core user and up to $349 per full platform user. Sumo Logic lists unlimited users and a Flex price per TB scanned, with the final figure set by quote.
Does Sumo Logic charge to ingest data?
Not on Flex. Its pricing page shows $0 ingest and a price per TB scanned, so searches, dashboards and monitors drive the bill. Other licensing tiers exist, and retention is billed separately.
Which one keeps logs longer?
New Relic keeps logs 30 days by default and offers live archives up to seven years with separate storage and query charges. Sumo Logic lists retention of up to 365 days on Essentials and customer-defined retention on Enterprise Suite.
Which one includes a SIEM?
Sumo Logic does, as Cloud SIEM on its Enterprise Suite. The New Relic pages reviewed here describe observability capabilities and no SIEM product.
Can I send the same logs to New Relic and Sumo Logic?
Yes, through an OpenTelemetry Collector with one exporter for each destination. New Relic accepts OTLP directly, and Sumo Logic ships its own OpenTelemetry-based Collector.
Sources
- Free tier limits, $0.40 and $0.60 per GB data rates, user types and per-user prices by edition, EU data center add-on, synthetic check price (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Log ingest routes and Federated Logs (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Default 30-day log retention, live archives up to seven years, separate storage and compute billing (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Autopilot availability, request limit, Slack use and what it does not do (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- New Relic MCP server availability and supported clients (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Native OTLP ingest endpoints and recommended OTLP/HTTP protocol (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- NRQL is a SQL-like query language (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Essentials and Enterprise Suite, Flex estimator, credits FAQ, log retention, capacity limits, DojoAI prompts, plan feature list (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Flex is the default plan for new customers and bills for analytics and search rather than ingestion (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- DojoAI, Mobot, SOC Analyst Agent, MCP server, opt-out controls (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Cloud SIEM scope, MITRE ATT&CK coverage, automation playbooks (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Data Pipelines filtering and the destinations it routes to today (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Sumo Logic OpenTelemetry Collector for logs, metrics and traces (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Sazabi plan prices, included usage and overage rates (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Sazabi as an extra OTLP/HTTP exporter next to existing Collector exporters (accessed Nov 8, 2026)