New Relic vs Splunk
Side-by-side from the Top 11 ranking of The 11 Best IT Infrastructure Monitoring Software Tools (2026). Last verified June 19, 2026.
The short answer
New Relic ranks higher on Top 11 (#3 vs #5) for IT teams monitoring server uptime, network health, and application performance. Top choice for deep application insights with a generous free tier.
At a glance
| New Relic | Splunk | |
|---|---|---|
| Top 11 rank | #3 / The 11 Best IT Infrastructure Monitoring Software Tools (2026) | #5 / The 11 Best IT Infrastructure Monitoring Software Tools (2026) |
| Score (out of 9.4) | 8.9 | 8.4 |
| Best for | Developer-centric observability | Extending log analytics to monitoring |
| Pricing | $$$ (Usage-based) | $$$$ (Usage-based) |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | San Francisco, USA |
| Founded | 2008 | 2003 |
New Relic
Top choice for deep application insights with a generous free tier.
newrelic.com/See full entry in The 11 Best IT Infrastructure Monitoring Software Tools (2026)
Splunk
Powerful for troubleshooting via deep log correlation.
www.splunk.com/See full entry in The 11 Best IT Infrastructure Monitoring Software Tools (2026)
Methodology and scoring weights live at /methodology. No vendor pays for placement — see about.