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New Relic monitors Kubernetes by collecting cluster and workload telemetry—such as metrics, logs, events and Prometheus data—and connecting it with application performance information. Operators can use its dashboards, cluster explorer and alerts to move from a cluster-wide view to individual nodes, namespaces, deployments, pods and containers. It supports cloud, on-premises and hybrid deployments; an OpenTelemetry-based option is also available.
What New Relic monitors in a Kubernetes cluster
The Kubernetes integration covers the control plane, nodes, namespaces, deployments, replica sets, pods and containers. Kubernetes events and logs can be viewed within the same observability workflow. New Relic describes its integration as usable for clusters hosted on-premises or in the cloud: Kubernetes monitoring quickstart.
The telemetry can include infrastructure metrics, logs, events and data from Prometheus endpoints. With New Relic-instrumented applications, metadata injection can associate application telemetry with Kubernetes entities, helping operators inspect request rate, throughput, error rate and availability alongside infrastructure signals.
How the monitoring workflow works
Install the cluster integrations
Installation requires a New Relic license key and a supported Kubernetes version or distribution. New Relic’s installation guide describes a deployment that can include the Kubernetes events integration, Prometheus agent and New Relic Logs Kubernetes plugin. The architecture uses the newrelic-infrastructure chart for node, cluster-object and control-plane metrics; nri-metadata-injection enriches New Relic-instrumented applications with Kubernetes metadata. Kube-state-metrics and Kubernetes events are additional components. See the Kubernetes integration introduction for current installation and compatibility details.
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Explore health and troubleshoot
Prebuilt dashboards provide a starting view, and operators can customize them or create charts from collected data. Cluster Explorer supports multidimensional troubleshooting across metrics, events, logs and traces, so an operator can investigate a symptom in context rather than relying on a single infrastructure metric. Kubernetes events are available in the explorer as well.
Connect application performance
Linking APM data to Kubernetes entities puts application signals next to cluster and workload data. For example, an operator investigating a rise in errors can examine application error rate and request throughput alongside the affected workload’s events and infrastructure metrics. New Relic also documents monitoring services such as Apache, NGINX and Cassandra, and scraping Prometheus endpoints.
Set alerts
The deployment can include recommended alert policies. These provide a baseline, while dashboards and alert conditions can be adjusted to match the cluster and service’s operational needs. The documentation does not establish a universal alert configuration; operators should choose conditions appropriate to their workloads.
OpenTelemetry support and supported environments
New Relic announced generally available OpenTelemetry Kubernetes monitoring on July 1, 2025. Its open-source setup sends metrics, events and logs through the NRDOT collector into Kubernetes Navigator, overview dashboards, event views and APM summaries. New Relic lists support for Amazon EKS, Microsoft AKS, Google GKE, Red Hat OpenShift and on-premises clusters. Details are in the July 1, 2025 announcement.
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The announcement also describes Prometheus service discovery, predefined alerts, proxy support, multi-account routing and optimized ingest defaults. It says third-party collectors can be used if they meet New Relic’s requirements. The exact compatibility requirements and supported component versions can change, so consult the current documentation for the target cluster before deploying.
What to check before deployment
- Compatibility: Confirm the Kubernetes version or distribution and integration component versions are currently supported.
- Telemetry scope: Decide whether to enable logs, events, Prometheus collection and application instrumentation; these are configurable components, not a single mandatory bundle.
- Access and routing: Have a New Relic license key ready and plan for any proxy or multi-account routing requirements.
- Ingest and cost: Review current pricing and ingest limits for the account and telemetry volume. The cited product pages do not establish a universal price or limit.
- Operational ownership: Plan who will maintain the agents, dashboards and alert policies as clusters and workloads change.
When this approach is useful
New Relic is a fit when a team wants to correlate Kubernetes infrastructure and workload health with application performance in one observability workflow, including across cloud and on-premises clusters. Its OpenTelemetry option is relevant when the team wants an open-source collector-based path or needs the listed managed and on-premises environments. Selection still depends on current compatibility, ingest economics and how much telemetry the team intends to collect.
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