IBM Application Performance Management vs New Relic comparison

IBM Application Performance...

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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: March 2026).

IBM Application Performance Management vs. New Relic

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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

56th

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

6.9

Number of Reviews

173

Ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

As of April 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 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
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

"Specifically, with IBM, the visibility into detailed process information is more tangible, as on the OS level APM displays all processes (or the top 10 processes) that are consuming CPU or resident memory, which is the most important thing that is not always available with other vendors."

"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."

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

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

"It's easy to use."

"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."

"I would recommend this solution to others."

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

More IBM Application Performance Management pros

"My advice is to learn to use it and learn all of the features because it has many of them, not all of which are documented, but they work wonders."

"This is the best tool for gaining insight into SaaS or cloud-based applications that we’ve seen."

"It does everything we wanted it to do."

"It’s a solid product; they continue to innovate year after year, and they’re a very solid product and a very solid company."

"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."

"Support for plug-ins (RMQ, Redis etc.) is a valuable feature."

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

"The simplicity of the dashboard is very good."

More New Relic pros

Cons

"With APM, we noticed that the agent can cause a lot of issues for the application, making the agent very unreliable."

"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."

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

"Its web user interface is a little bit old in comparison to other solutions, such as New Relic, and it should be improved."

"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."

"The solution, itself, has a negative impact on the performance of the machine."

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

More IBM Application Performance Management cons

"The integration and configuration of this product in our AWS environment needs improvement on the filtering part."

"It would have been great had it provided thread-dump analysis and a few additional JVM-related stats."

"More instruments with .NET and asynchronous calls, and New Relic says it’s on the way."

"More configurability through the dashboard, for example, being able to ignore transactions without the need to update the config or code."

"One of the things that our enterprise actually had a challenge with was the licensing structure for New Relic."

"I would like to have storage monitoring. E.g., being able to monitor SANS, specifically protocols, like NFS and CIFS metrics."

"The deployment process could be improved."

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

More New Relic cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

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

"We feel it's a little bit pricey."

"This is an expensive product."

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

"The pricing model is a little confusing for beginners. They find it a little expensive, and if you are using it already, then that is not good."

"The pricing and licensing are good if you have an account manager and a partner manager who are looking to help out."

"It would be nice if we could buy it annually instead of monthly."

"The pricing and licensing are too high."

"The monthly cost os $1000 per server per month, but it could be even more. We pay about $250 for the server, and then New Relic wants over $1000 to give us statistics on those servers."

More New Relic pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Construction Company

12%

Retailer

11%

Healthcare Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

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	77

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?

I have noticed discrepancies between New Relic's documentation and Terraform resources. For example, there have been instances where new features launched in the New Relic UI have not been updated ...

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Comparisons

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IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 10% of the time

Instana Dynamic APM vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 9% of the time

Dynatrace vs IBM Application Performance Management

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM Application Performance Management Competitors

Dynatrace vs New Relic

Compared 8% of the time

Datadog vs New Relic

Compared 7% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs New Relic

Compared 5% of the time

Azure Monitor vs New Relic

Compared 2% of the time

Elastic Observability vs New Relic

Compared 2% of the time

More New Relic Competitors

Product Reports

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Download IBM Application Performance Management product report

IBM Application Performance Management report

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.

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

IBM Application Performance Management vs. New Relic