Quick answer
New Relic - New Relic wins for most builders who want the broadest free observability toolbox with no card required, while Embrace is better if your free-tier limit is defined by session volume and you need mobile-first session analysis.
How the free tiers compare
These free tiers solve different problems. Embrace is narrower and more opinionated: it centers on user/session-based monitoring for mobile and web apps, with crash reporting, basic dashboards, alerting, and only 3 days of retention. Its free tier is generous on usage, but the jump to paid is straightforward and relatively low, starting at $80/month with more users, more retention, and forwarding features. New Relic is the broader platform choice: one full user, unlimited basic users, 100 GB ingest, logs, traces, browser and mobile telemetry, and synthetic checks. It is better if you want to explore multiple observability workflows before committing. The big practical difference is also friction: New Relic explicitly requires no credit card for free use, while Embrace does require one to start.
Embrace vs New Relic free tier, side by side
| EmbraceFTV 62 | New RelicFTV 63 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free user limitEmbrace free is team-capped; New Relic splits full vs basic access. | Up to 5 users | 1 Full Platform User, unlimited Basic Users |
| Usage quotaThese are different meters, so they are not directly comparable. | Up to 1 million sessions per year | 100 GB data ingest per month |
| RetentionNew Relic keeps free data longer. | 3 days of events data retention | At least 8 days of data retention |
| Monitoring coverageNew Relic is much broader on free tier scope. | Errors, exceptions, crashes, basic performance monitoring, basic dashboards and alerting | Full platform access including APM, tracing, logs, and more than 50 platform capabilities |
| Synthetic monitoringOnly include what is explicitly stated. | Not specified | Unlimited ping monitors, including 500 synthetic monitoring checks |
| Credit card required for free tierState only because the field is present for both products. | Yes | No |
After you outgrow the free tier
Embrace uses usage-based pricing with a clear floor: Pro starts at $80/month and includes up to 10 users, 14 days of retention, custom dashboards, and data forwarding. Costs rise with session volume. New Relic is also usage-based above free limits, but the input does not provide concrete list prices for standard overage, so paid costs are best described as pay-as-you-go or contact sales for larger commitments. For small teams, Embrace has the more legible paid starting point; New Relic is cheaper to keep evaluating because the free tier has no card requirement.
Cost at real usage
| Usage | Embrace | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| 50k sessions/monthNew Relic cost cannot be calculated from the provided rates if ingest stays under the free cap. | $80/mo minimum | Free (within 100 GB ingest and free user limits) |
| 100k sessions/monthEmbrace is still at its minimum spend; New Relic pricing above free is not specified. | $80/mo minimum | Free (within 100 GB ingest and free user limits) |
| 1M sessions/yearEmbrace free tier includes up to 1M sessions per year. | Free (within tier) | Free (within tier) |
Estimates, not quotes. Usage-based rates change - verify with the vendor's pricing page before committing.
When to pick each one
Pick Embrace when…
- You want a free tier built around real user monitoring, session timelines, crashes, ANRs, and performance issues in mobile or web apps.
- Your main constraint is session volume, not ingest volume, and 1 million sessions per year is enough for early product work.
- You only need a small team, since the free tier covers up to 5 users and the paid jump starts at 10 users.
- You care more about a focused observability workflow than a broad platform with many adjacent tools.
Pick New Relic when…
- You want to try a broader observability platform with APM, logs, traces, browser telemetry, mobile telemetry, infrastructure signals, and security data.
- You need no-credit-card signup for free evaluation.
- You want unlimited basic users so more teammates can view dashboards, alerts, and query data without consuming the single full user.
- You want synthetic monitoring out of the box, including unlimited ping monitors and 500 synthetic checks.
- You expect to exceed 3 days of retention quickly and want at least 8 days even on the free tier.
Bottom line
For the most common builder use case, New Relic is the safer free-tier pick because it is broader, has no card requirement, and lets more people in as basic users. Choose Embrace if you specifically want mobile and web session monitoring, crash analysis, and a free tier sized around session volume rather than ingest. Once paid, Embrace is more concrete and easier to forecast from the provided data, while New Relic stays flexible but less transparent in the input.
Read the full listings: Embrace and New Relic. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more head-to-heads on /compare, or see the top-ranked free tiers on /top.