Beszel vs New Relic
New Relic's "free" tier caps at 100GB/mo of data ingestion, then charges $0.40/GB. Beszel is open source with no data limits - self-host it on InstaPods for $3/mo.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | New Relic | Beszel |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | Free (100GB/mo), then $0.40/GB | $3/mo total (self-hosted on InstaPods) |
| Data Ingestion Limits | 100GB free, then $0.40/GB | No limits - stored on your server |
| Infrastructure Monitoring | Included | CPU, memory, disk, network, temperature |
| Docker Monitoring | Included | Built-in container stats |
| APM / Tracing | Full APM suite | Not included (infrastructure only) |
| Log Management | $0.30/GB ingested | Not included (use separate tool) |
| User Seats | 1 full user free, then $99/user (additional) | Unlimited - no per-user fees |
| Data Retention | 8 days (free), 30+ days (paid) | Unlimited - your storage, your rules |
| Agent Resource Usage | ~200-400MB RAM | ~15MB RAM |
| Source Code | Closed source | Open source (MIT license) |
Where New Relic Gets Expensive
Trade-offs to weigh before committing.
Data Ingestion Billing Surprises
New Relic charges $0.40/GB after 100GB. A busy infrastructure can easily ingest 500GB/mo in metrics and logs, creating $160+/mo bills that weren't in the budget.
Per-User Pricing for Full Access
Only 1 full-platform user is free. Additional full-platform users cost $99/user/mo (Standard). Team monitoring gets expensive fast.
Short Data Retention on Free Tier
Free accounts retain data for just 8 days. Want to compare this month to last month? That requires a paid plan with longer retention.
Heavy Agent Overhead
The New Relic infrastructure agent uses 200-400MB of RAM. On small servers, that's a significant portion of your available resources.
Why Self-Host with Beszel?
What you get when you pick this stack.
Zero Data Fees
Beszel stores metrics locally on your pod. No per-GB charges, no ingestion metering, no surprise bills at month-end.
Unlimited Team Access
Share your Beszel dashboard with your entire team. No per-user licensing or seat limits.
15MB Agent vs 300MB+
Beszel's agent barely touches system resources. Monitor small VPS instances without the monitoring tool eating your RAM.
Keep Data Forever
Historical data stays on your server as long as you want it. Compare performance across months or years with no retention limits.
Real Cost Comparison
Monitoring 5 servers with 3 team members needing dashboard access.
- New Relic: 1 free user + 2 full users ($10 + $99): $109/mo
- Data ingestion (100 GB over the 100 GB free tier): $40/mo ($0.40/GB)
- Infrastructure agents: included
- Extended retention (30 days): paid tier required
- InstaPods Launch plan: $3/mo
- Beszel hub: free (open source)
- Beszel agents: free (unlimited servers)
- Unlimited users and data retention
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Beszel compare to New Relic for infrastructure monitoring?
For core infrastructure metrics (CPU, memory, disk, network, Docker), Beszel covers everything most teams need. New Relic offers much more - APM, distributed tracing, log management, synthetics - but at a significant cost. If you primarily need server monitoring, Beszel gives you that at 1/40th the price.
Does Beszel support application performance monitoring (APM)?
No. Beszel focuses on infrastructure monitoring - server resources and Docker containers. If you need request tracing, error tracking, or code-level performance data, you'd need a separate APM tool.
Can I use Beszel alongside New Relic?
Absolutely. Some teams use Beszel for infrastructure monitoring (saving on New Relic's per-host fees) and keep New Relic only for APM on their most critical applications. This hybrid approach can cut New Relic costs by 50%+.
Is Beszel suitable for production monitoring?
Yes. Beszel provides real-time metrics, historical charts, and alerting via email, webhook, and Telegram. It's used in production by teams monitoring everything from a single server to 50+ host clusters.
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