IBM Application Performance Management vs New Relic comparison

IBM and New Relic are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. IBM is ranked #55, while New Relic is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.2. IBM holds a 0.6% mindshare in APM, compared to New Relic’s 4.0% mindshare. Additionally, 62% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of New Relic users who would recommend it.

IBM Application Performance...

Read 7 IBM Application Performance Management reviews

1,160 Views
1,137 Comparison Views

62% willing to recommend

New Relic

Read 172 New Relic reviews

13,480 Views
9,975 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM Application Performance...

New Relic

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

New Relic and IBM Application Performance Management offer robust solutions for application performance monitoring. User reviews show New Relic is favored for its features and ease of deployment, but IBM stands out for its advanced capabilities, making it a valuable investment despite potentially higher costs.

Features: New Relic: Comprehensive monitoring, real-time analytics, AI-driven insights. IBM: Advanced diagnostic tools, integration capabilities, predictive analytics.

Room for Improvement: New Relic: Alerting features, reduced pricing, interface intuitiveness. IBM: Intuitive interface, better third-party integration, interface intuitiveness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: New Relic: Straightforward deployment, responsive support. IBM: Complex deployment, appreciated support quality.

Pricing and ROI: New Relic: Reasonable pricing, strong ROI, flexible cost structure. IBM: Higher pricing, significant value, good ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Application Performance Management vs. New Relic Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Application Performance Management vs. New Relic

February 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM Application Performance...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

55th

Average Rating

6.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

New Relic

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

172

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (8th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (9th), IT Operations Analytics (3rd), Mobile APM (3rd), Cloud Monitoring Software (5th), AIOps (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of IBM Application Performance Management is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of New Relic is 4.0%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
New Relic	4.0%
IBM Application Performance Management	0.6%
Other	95.4%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Daniel Tamiru

Manager, Database & System Administration at Awash International Bank

A multi-functional solution but has poor stability and performance-related issues

We are using version 4 of IBM Application Performance Management, and it is deployed on-premises. We use it for internet banking and mainly for application performance on-site. For example, if we face performance-related issues in one of our software or managed services, we use this solution to…

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BasilJiji

System Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Real-time alerts have reduced server outage impact and support fast incident response

In the dashboard, if they could show a little more metrics regarding the application and related things, that would be how New Relic could be improved. Currently, there are things showing from the server level and application level, but it can be improved. That is what I felt. Regarding user interface, I do not feel much concern, but for some kind of issues when we are trying to get support from the New Relic team, their SLA seems to be long. They are taking seven to ten working days for resolving some kind of scenario or issue. That is a bit difficult for us. If they could improve the customer support by reducing their SLA within three to five days, if they could remediate everything, that will be so much helpful. When it comes to the customer support part, I felt they need to be a little more improved on that part. The support overall is good, but they can improve. That is the reason I have given it eight out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It's easy to use."

"The transaction tracking feature from IBM is the most important feature for us. It is something that provides a terrific value for us and our clients. It has a lot of data sources and agents that are collectors. It is also stable."

"I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten."

"The most valuable feature is the breakdown that it provides, such as a description of the fields for a particular transaction."

"The initial setup was straightforward and took minimal effort."

"Because we have partnerships with other partners, I can share a bit about what I've noticed with IBM APM compared to other vendor solutions. Specifically, with IBM, the visibility into detailed process information is more tangible. On the OS level, APM displays all processes (or the top 10 processes) that are consuming CPU or resident memory. This is the most important thing that is not always available with other vendors."

"IBM Application Performance Management helped us increased our response time by 80% and cost 60% less."

"New Relic is suitable for banking domains, investment brokerage products, or anything related to high-security data, and it works as a whole monitoring solution, including logging, monitoring, and application profiling tools."

"Using New Relic speeds up troubleshooting and resolution, giving us a clearer picture of where issues are, thus saving time and effort."

"New Relic has positively impacted my organization by providing peace of mind to my clients, and it also gives a lot of insight to their marketing department on how users interact with their websites or how they work with them."

"We like the performance of the product."

"The best feature of New Relic is its simple look and feel, making it easier to use than other tools."

"The synthetic alert is the most valuable feature in New Relic APM. I also like the time travel feature and find traceability useful in the solution. New Relic APM also has good response times."

"We were able to save $1,000 per month."

"One valuable feature is that the synthetic alert stays open until the issue is resolved. You can actually monitor whether your system is back up."

More New Relic pros

Cons

"The demo that was provided to us is not working very well. At times, there are errors."

"It's still missing some platforms. For example, if you look to applications itself, it is missing the interface."

"Technical support can be slow and needs improvement."

"They should focus on potentially enhancing the dashboard to make it more contemporary and adding some customization options. Furthermore, there might be room for improvement in the pricing policy."

"The stability is not great and should be better."

"Its web user interface is a little bit old in comparison to other solutions, such as New Relic, and it should be improved. Its scalability and technical support should also be improved. Currently, it is scalable, but only in a vertical way. They provide good technical support, but the initial steps for a new case can be improved to fasten the resolution process."

"With APM, we noticed that the agent can cause a lot of issues for the application, making the agent very unreliable. Many issues are happening, and we've had to discuss it with support to try and get a fix. It affects application availability, and sometimes actions fail because of the agent, degrading the performance of the application."

"I chose a rating of 8 out of 10 because the UI requires me to dig in and find the needed traces, and it can be more user-friendly."

"However, there could be problems or hiccups with the integration with Java-based services and microservices."

"New Relic can be improved in a few areas. I noticed that some things can be easily done through Splunk but not through New Relic."

"The solution should include more detailed reports for SQL database requests."

"I would like a feature where I can turn off alerting at a policy level. Thus, when a policy is inactive, I can shut down all of my alerts within the policy."

"Email alert customization is limited; it cannot be tailored much, which makes the system more rigid than optimal."

"They could improve the education process and how people understand that these tools are very technical. Right now, if someone was to pick it up from day one, it is a very steep learning curve."

"The solution could improve by having more network monitoring features, such as for all the infrastructure."

More New Relic cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As I previously indicated, I initiated the IBM and uncovered all its elements. Consequently, I'm not inclined towards a licensing approach."

"The licensing fees can be paid every six months or on a yearly basis."

"IBM APM is one of the cheaper products on the market, while everything necessary to get started is included in the license."

"They gave us aggressive discounts when they were brought in for the first time, but they have also kept them for the year-on-year renewals, which has been absolutely fine."

"Comparatively, the pricing is expensive."

"I think the pricing is reasonable."

"This solution required a license and it is better than some other competitors."

"The solution is quite expensive. It costs around $5,000 a month. There aren't any additional costs above that."

"I recommend using the free version of New Relic. If you like the free version and understand its importance for your company, you can move to the trial. Then, you can migrate to the paid version."

"The pricing is fine."

"The new licensing model is great, as we pay for what we use (in computational units). However, the pricing is expensive compared to other tools."

More New Relic pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Retailer

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	65
Midsize Enterprise	50
Large Enterprise	76

Questions from the Community

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Any advice about APM solutions?

There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...

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What do you like most about New Relic Insights?

The product's initial setup phase was very easy.

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What needs improvement with New Relic Insights?

When considering how New Relic can be improved, the only thing that could be a bit confusing is that there are many things in New Relic, and sometimes I need to know where to find some visualizatio...

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Comparisons

BMC AMI Strobe vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 16% of the time

Instana Dynamic APM vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 10% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 10% of the time

Dynatrace vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 9% of the time

More IBM Application Performance Management Competitors

Dynatrace vs New Relic

Compared 9% of the time

Datadog vs New Relic

Compared 7% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs New Relic

Compared 6% of the time

Elastic Observability vs New Relic

Compared 3% of the time

Azure Monitor vs New Relic

Compared 3% of the time

More New Relic Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

February 2026

IBM Application Performance Management report

Download IBM Application Performance Management product report

Buyer's Guide

New Relic

January 2026

Download New Relic product report

Also Known As

IBM APM

New Relic Browser, New Relic Applied Intelligence, New Relic Insights, New Relic Synthetics, New Relic Servers, New Relic APM

Overview

The IBM Application Performance Management portfolio provides visibility, control and automation of your mission-critical applications. It helps pinpoint the root cause of application's issue more quickly and resolve the problem. The integrated capabilities cover the five key areas: discovery, end-use experience, transaction tracking, enterprise diagnostics and analytics. It also easily monitors applications to ensure optimal performance to extend your hybrid management environment capabilities, to measure the customer experience from multiple locations and to further eliminate blind spots in your application environment.

IBM

New Relic offers real-time application monitoring and insight into performance bottlenecks. Its customizable dashboards and APM integration provide efficient operational support, while server performance alerts ensure quick issue detection.

New Relic provides comprehensive monitoring of application performance, tracking bottlenecks across databases and front-end components. Users employ it for server and infrastructure monitoring, as well as analyzing key metrics such as CPU and memory usage. The solution's ability to integrate with tools like PagerDuty enhances incident management capabilities. However, users have expressed a need for improvements in query language simplicity, more detailed historical insights, and better mobile app monitoring support.

What are New Relic's most important features?

Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant visibility into application performance.
Detailed Transaction Tracing: Identifies specific transaction issues quickly.
Error Rate Tracking: Monitors and reports on error occurrences efficiently.
Customizable Dashboards: Tailors dashboard views for specific needs.
APM Integration: Seamlessly integrates with application performance management tools.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Operational Efficiency: Quick issue detection reduces downtime.
Improved Debugging: Enhanced error analysis supports rapid problem resolution.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Offers a holistic view of application performance and user behavior.
Incident Management: Integration with incident tools helps streamline responses.
Efficient Alerts: Rapid alert systems ensure timely notifications of issues.

In industries like e-commerce and financial services, New Relic supports application performance monitoring to enhance user experience and system reliability. Organizations leverage its insights for optimizing performance, particularly in server operations and infrastructure management. Its ability to monitor API failures through synthetic monitoring is crucial for maintaining high service levels.

New Relic

Sample Customers

Mibtree, EatDrinkDeals.com, IT Performance Advisor

World Fuel Services, Verizon, FootLocker, McDonald's, Trainline, Mondia Media, Confused, Costa Coffee, Ryanair, Marks & Spencer, William Hill, Delivery Hero, Skyscanner, BASF, DAZN, Veygo, Virtuo, movingimage, talabat, Australia Post, Tokopedia, Seven Network, Virgin Australia, Zomato, BigBasket, Mercado Libre, Lending Club

Buyer's Guide

IBM Application Performance Management vs. New Relic

February 2026

Free Report: IBM Application Performance Management vs. New Relic

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