Azure Network Watcher vs New Relic comparison

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Azure Network Watcher

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

New Relic and Azure Network Watcher compete in application and network performance management. New Relic has the upper hand due to its deep application insights and ease of use, whereas Azure Network Watcher is strong in network diagnostics.

Features: New Relic offers custom dashboards, real-time monitoring, and detailed transaction tracing. Azure Network Watcher provides network diagnostic features, visualization capabilities, and connection monitoring.

Room for Improvement: New Relic needs better data privacy, more granular error analysis, and improved Azure integration. Azure Network Watcher requires better documentation, more built-in application features, and efficient log clarification.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: New Relic caters to public, hybrid, and on-premises environments with praised customer service, though support quality may vary. Azure Network Watcher supports public cloud deployment and its customer service is generally well-regarded, though technical support needs enhancement.

Pricing and ROI: New Relic is expensive with a demand for clearer pricing models but offers positive ROI. Azure Network Watcher's pricing is reasonable but can escalate with premium specifications, appealing to a broader range of businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Network Watcher vs. New Relic Report (Updated: August 2026).

Azure Network Watcher vs. New Relic

August 2026

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Helped 908,800 peers since 2012

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

Azure Network Watcher

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

46th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

New Relic

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

176

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (4th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (9th), IT Operations Analytics (3rd), Mobile APM (2nd), Cloud Monitoring Software (3rd), AIOps (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Network Watcher is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of New Relic is 1.5%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
New Relic	1.5%
Azure Network Watcher	0.5%
Other	98.0%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Bijoyendra Roychowdhury

Program Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Network monitoring provides comprehensive analytics while the interface requires further development

The quality of Azure Network Watcher is quite good in terms of the in-depth analysis you can create from these matrices. There are other monitoring tools such as New Relic, AppDynamics, and Dynatrace which provide very detailed network tracing. Cloud providers such as Azure or AWS do not have that kind of GUI-based capability at this point, but using PowerShell or Python, you can develop it yourself. From the GUI perspective, it still needs to evolve in terms of quality and standard, though overall, it is quite good for troubleshooting. Regarding areas for improvement, when comparing to other network tools beyond Azure Monitor or Azure Network Watcher, those tools can identify single failed packets. This level of granularity is not currently possible with cloud providers as they only go to a certain level rather than the granular level needed for deep troubleshooting, though they do provide hints with available matrices.

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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

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is the cloud-native application firewall, which is helpful for securing databases."

"The stability is very good. I rate it a ten out of ten."

"We use the solution to monitor network services. It helps to capture any network issues."

"Azure Network Watcher provides valuable features based on your specific requirements and use cases, helping you monitor network bandwidth, throughput, data flow consumption, and control costs by giving insight into egress and ingress traffic, total input and output operations, bandwidth, and threats through IP identification."

"The solution is good for monitoring device behavior."

"I like the visibility."

"The most valuable features I have found are typology, visualization, and capture."

"It provides good visibility."

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"Their technical support is pretty good and responsive. We have a real good relationship with them."

"The initial set-up was at the time the most straightforward and easy as imaginable, which really pushed us over the edge of giving it a go and loving it from day one."

"From the perspective of effort and time taken while identifying issues and resolution, we have gained a lot."

"It was able to really effectively find the problem and solve it – it sped up the pages considerably."

"Reduced the worry in supporting live websites."

"We use it for monitoring, identifying when services go down, or when they are outside of what we would consider normal operations."

"Real-time error monitoring means I can drill down and see what’s happening."

"As a QA manager, it helps me to know exactly where to focus our attentions because we can pinpoint specifically where there may be issues -- where geographically, which browsers, which browser versions, and other very granular details."

More New Relic pros

Cons

"The initial setup and initial learning curve could be improved to be easier."

"I still use Wireshark and Azure Network Watcher to get the required data. My team captures the traffic from Azure Network Watcher, downloads it, then imports that traffic into Wireshark to get more details on the number of hits and replies, for example. If you can do that on Azure Network Watcher and have Wireshark built-in, that would make Azure Network Watcher better. If Azure Network Watcher has that functionality where you won't need a third-party tool to get what you need, that would be helpful. I'm also expecting more from Azure Network Watcher. It's more complex than knowing how the IP flows from its source to the destination. The tool also needs more open-source features, such as having some built-in Wireshark that improves monitoring for customers. Sometimes, you encounter a VPN tunnel, network, or routing issue, but finding out more about the blockage is challenging. Is it one hundred percent an Azure issue? Is it a peer issue? You don't get complete information from Azure Network Watcher, so you must use other tools and depend on your strategies to resolve a specific issue. If more features could be added in the next release of Azure Network Watcher, specifically ones you can find on open-source tools, then that would be a plus point for the tool."

"It's not the most friendly or straightforward to set up. I don't see the value versus the way you have to set it up at first."

"Azure is good, however, the Fortinet GUI is more intuitive and I like it more than anything else."

"User experience could be improved."

"Technical support from Microsoft needs significant improvement compared to other product vendors."

"There are some occasional downtimes, but these were based on Azure-specific issues."

"Azure Network Watcher needs to have better documentation and it needs to capture information accurately."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"Currently, it is not the only solution we have for monitoring so there are things that it’s missing – for example what Datadog does for us."

"Stack traces don’t go far enough. They get to a point, indicate a question mark, and then stop."

"Documentation is one of the biggest things that I have a problem with since its documentation is not clear sometimes."

"They don't have an opportunity to share the dashboard with the public. If you want to share it with stakeholders or people outside the organization who just want to have a look at a couple of metrics, you can't do that without onboarding them to the product itself."

"Compared to their competitors, they are missing some features at the moment."

"The logs in New Relic are not showing the full logs. When I go and check the logs, they are not complete."

"The pricing and licensing are too high."

"Sometimes it’s too difficult to get more details about a problem. Sometimes it requires too much drilling down to find out about a problem for which we shouldn't need to do so much searching."

More New Relic cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Network Watcher is a little bit expensive."

"The pricing is good. It's not too expensive."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"Price-wise, I have no information on how much Azure Network Watcher costs."

"We deploy everything on AWS. Purchasing the product on AWS Marketplace made it easier for us."

"The price depends on how many agents you want."

"If I remember it correctly, the pricing was based on the core, and the monthly subscription used to cost us $1,500 or $2,000. We had pre-prod and production services. Costing was different for pre-prod and production. For pre-prod, it was 40% less than the production service cost. It was a combined package."

"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."

"This is an expensive tool."

"Because of budget, we are not using the mobile app part of this tool."

"New Relic is either free with low retention and minimal functionalities, or expensive with full options and retention."

"I think the pricing is reasonable."

More New Relic pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Construction Company

13%

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

14%

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	65
Midsize Enterprise	52
Large Enterprise	79

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Network Watcher?

I do not have the exact setup cost information on hand, but it is available in the public Azure portal. You can access the calculator there to get detailed pricing information.

What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?

The main area for improvement is AI-based features. Currently, many intelligent tools are coming from third parties, and Azure Network Watcher needs to improve in this area. The focus should be on ...

What is your primary use case for Azure Network Watcher?

Azure Network Watcher is used for monitoring network traffic. It provides insight into egress and ingress traffic, which helps determine whether consumption can be controlled. Most Azure services c...

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...

What needs improvement with New Relic Insights?

I find New Relic to be somewhat expensive. Our team shares logins, contrasting with other applications where individual team accounts are standard. Pricing is a primary concern since New Relic can ...

What is your primary use case for New Relic Insights?

As an Application Monitoring Engineer, my primary responsibilities include ensuring the uptime of services, managing infrastructure, and monitoring transactions. I use New Relic to set up incidents...

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Compared 5% of the time

Dynatrace vs New Relic

Compared 5% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs New Relic

Compared 4% of the time

Azure Monitor vs New Relic

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Azure Network Watcher product report

Azure Network Watcher

August 2026

Download New Relic product report

July 2026

Also Known As

No data available

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

Overview

Azure Network Watcher provides advanced network monitoring capabilities including packet capture, cloud-native firewall, and traffic diagnosis, aiding in VPN troubleshooting and security enforcement with enhanced visibility and alerting features.

Azure Network Watcher is essential for monitoring, diagnosing, and analyzing network traffic. It efficiently handles VPN connection issues and enhances network security by capturing and analyzing traffic to assess performance or latency problems. The tool facilitates traffic flow control, security rule verification, and bandwidth monitoring. Users benefit from its capabilities in diagnosing service connections, offering insights into network activity, and identifying potential threats, crucial for maintaining compliance and efficient network management.

What are the key features of Azure Network Watcher?

Packet Capture: Enables detailed network traffic inspection to troubleshoot issues.
Cloud-Native Application Firewall: Provides enhanced protection for applications running in the cloud.
Traffic Monitoring: Allows for real-time analysis and troubleshooting of network traffic.
NSG Flow Logs & AI-Based Monitoring: Enhances flow control and threat detection.
Alerting & Threshold Configuration: Offers customizable alerts via Azure Monitor for proactive management.

What benefits can users look for in reviews?

Improved Network Security: Helps in identifying and mitigating threats efficiently.
Enhanced Visibility: Provides clear insights into network operations and potential issues.
Compliance Support: Assists in maintaining regulatory compliance with thorough monitoring capabilities.
Effective Bandwidth Management: Facilitates control and optimization of network bandwidth.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Azure Network Watcher is implemented to ensure robust security and compliance, crucial for safeguarding sensitive data. It aids retail and manufacturing sectors in optimizing network performance and maintaining seamless connectivity, supporting their digital infrastructure needs.

Microsoft

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.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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