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Head-to-head · Application Performance Monitoring

Middleware vs New Relic APM

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 6 checks side by side
Higher score Middleware #2 in Application Performance Monitoring 9.3/10 Free plan · 14-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Middleware
New Relic APM #7 in Application Performance Monitoring 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit New Relic

Middleware leads on 0 checks, New Relic APM on 0, and 6 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 6 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreMiddleware · 9.3/10
  • Free planboth
  • Free trialonly Middleware

Middleware scores higher on our rubric for application performance monitoring: 9.3 against 8.8 out of 10; our editors rank them #2 and #7.

On deployment model, Middleware gives you Hybrid where New Relic APM offers Cloud.

Middleware is the better fit for flexible hybrid monitoring on a free plan. New Relic APM is the better fit for teams wanting a mature cloud platform.

  • Middleware fits best

    Flexible hybrid monitoring on a free plan

  • New Relic APM fits best

    Teams wanting a mature cloud platform

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Side by side

Feature Middleware 9.3/10 Visit ↗ New Relic APM 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 8.8
Ranking #2 in Application Performance Monitoring #7 in Application Performance Monitoring
Best for Flexible hybrid monitoring on a free plan Teams wanting a mature cloud platform
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $0.30/GB usage-based $10/user/mo
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial 14 days —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud
Platforms Web, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android Web
Support Community, Email, Live chat · 24/7 Tickets, Docs, Community
Compliance SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA SSO/SAML
Integrations 450+ integrations 780+ integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Middleware 5/5 · New Relic APM 5/5
Distributed tracing ✓ ✓
Transaction tracing ✓ ✓
Dependency mapping ✓ ✓
Real user monitoring ✓ ✓
Log correlation ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment model Hybrid Cloud
Our review
Pros
  • Free Forever plan includes up to 100GB of data
  • Correlates traces, logs, metrics, and frontend sessions
  • Supports cloud, self-hosted, browser, and mobile environments
  • Distributed traces, transaction traces, and database query analysis
  • Service maps, error tracking, alerts, and logs in trace context
  • Free plan includes 100 GB monthly data ingest and 50+ capabilities
Cons
  • Paid usage starts at $0.30 per GB of metrics, logs, and traces
  • Usage-based billing may be harder to forecast than per-seat plans
  • Advanced deployment options and custom retention are in BYOC
  • Free plan includes just one full platform user
  • Standard is limited to five full platform users
  • Pricing also depends on data ingest or compute usage
Our verdict

Middleware is a full-stack observability platform for engineering, DevOps, and SRE teams. Its application performance monitoring covers distributed tracing, service health metrics, dependency maps, profiling, error detection, root-cause…

Read the review →

New Relic APM helps engineering teams monitor application and service performance, investigate slowdowns, and trace failures across distributed systems. It suits teams that want APM alongside broader observability capabilities, from small…

Read the review →
  1. MiddlewareApplication Performance Monitoring 9.3Free plan · 14-day trial
  2. New Relic APMApplication Performance Monitoring 8.8Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Middleware — where it wins

    • Free Forever plan includes up to 100GB of data
    • Correlates traces, logs, metrics, and frontend sessions
    • Supports cloud, self-hosted, browser, and mobile environments

    Where it doesn't

    • Paid usage starts at $0.30 per GB of metrics, logs, and traces
    • Usage-based billing may be harder to forecast than per-seat plans
    • Advanced deployment options and custom retention are in BYOC

  • New Relic APM — where it wins

    • Distributed traces, transaction traces, and database query analysis
    • Service maps, error tracking, alerts, and logs in trace context
    • Free plan includes 100 GB monthly data ingest and 50+ capabilities

    Where it doesn't

    • Free plan includes just one full platform user
    • Standard is limited to five full platform users
    • Pricing also depends on data ingest or compute usage

More comparisons

All application performance monitoring comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update