Best offer on record: Perpetual Free Tier (all accounts; no .edu or startup requirement). 3 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Perpetual Free Tier (all accounts; no .edu or startup requirement) high confidence
Free forever plan verified on newrelic.com/pricing as of 2026-10-22: 100 GB data ingest/month (account-wide, not per user), 1 full-platform user with access to all 50+ platform capabilities (APM with distributed tracing, infrastructure monitoring, error tracking, digital experience monitoring), unlimited basic users (view custom non-quickstart dashboards, query, alert), 500 synthetic checks/month, unlimited hosts/agents/containers/devices/AWS Fargate tasks/cloud functions, default data retention at least 8 days, default log obfuscation. Explicitly no data egress or hydration charges. Overage: if you exceed 100 GB in a month, data ingest ceases and you lose platform access until you upgrade or the 1st of the following month (auto re-enables). Paid contrast for context: Pro full user $349/user annual or $418.80/month; Core user $49; overage $0.40/GB standard or $0.60/GB 'Data Plus' add-on; EU data-center storage +$0.05/GB/month.
Eligibility
Anyone: no .edu email, no startup age/funding cap, no credit card required ('No credit card required to start' per pricing FAQ), no stated region limits.
How to claim
1) Create a free New Relic account at newrelic.com (no credit card). 2) Free tier is active immediately with the 100 GB/mo + 1 full user + 500 synthetic checks. 3) Overage suspends ingest until the 1st or an upgrade — never billed.
Expiry
Perpetual; no expiry date. Monthly limits reset on the 1st of each month.
Gotchas
Exceeding 100 GB halts ingest AND platform access for the month (not a bill, but you go dark). Only 1 full-platform user is free — team collaboration relies on unlimited basic users (restricted access). The '10,000 synthetic monitors' figure that appears in a pay-as-you-go FAQ is a different (paid-edition) benefit, not the free 500 checks. No separate time-boxed free trial is advertised — the perpetual tier is the trial replacement.
New Relic for Students (education program) high confidence
Verified on newrelic.com/students as of 2026-10-22: 500 GB data ingest per month and 3 full-platform users (vs. 100 GB / 1 user on the standard free tier), plus access to 30+ platform capabilities, a monthly newsletter, exclusive certifications/workshops, potential sponsorships, and office hours with New Relic staff. Benefits are gated behind linking an education partner account.
Eligibility
Students (and select technical-bootcamp students) at accredited colleges, universities, or technical schools; 'proof of current student status is required'. Two routes: (a) GitHub Education — students in the GitHub Student Developer Pack, verified via GitHub; (b) Platzi — open to Spanish/Portuguese-speaking learners in Latin America and beyond, but Platzi's side requires a monthly course subscription. Select bootcamps only; others email students@newrelic.com. No .edu-email-only shortcut is documented.
How to claim
1) Create a free New Relic account (no credit card). 2) Have an active account with a partner: GitHub Education (verify student status in GitHub) or Platzi. 3) GitHub path: in New Relic go to Help icon → 'New Relic for Students' → 'GitHub Education' → 'Authorize with GitHub'. Platzi/other-partner path: submit the form with your 7-digit New Relic account number; benefits land in 5–10 business days. 4) Non-eligible bootcamp students email students@newrelic.com for manual verification.
Expiry
Not stated on the page. No renewal date, cap, or grace period is published; presumably reverts to the standard 100 GB/month free tier if student status is lost.
Gotchas
Perks only activate after linking a partner account. Platzi route: the New Relic tier is free but Platzi itself costs a subscription. Graduating or losing student status has no documented re-enrollment or grace language — expect to drop to the base free tier. 3 full users is for 'collaborative projects' (class group work).
Verified on newrelic.com/startups as of 2026-10-22: 5 full-platform users plus 'generous data ingest per month, free' — the exact GB figure is not published on the page. Full platform 'from day one — no gating, no tool switching' (AI Monitoring, APM, Logs), explicitly 'not just bankrolled with credits'; also includes a New Relic engineer alongside launch, office hours, and quarterly architecture reviews.
Eligibility
Early-stage startups; the page itself publishes NO startup-age cap, funding cap, headcount cap, or region limit — thresholds are applied during application review. No credit-card requirement mentioned (consistent with the no-CC free signup).
How to claim
1) Submit the multi-step 'New Relic for Startups Registration' form on newrelic.com/startups. 2) 'Our team will reach out shortly, to process your application, and to confirm your place and next steps' — benefits are confirmed post-review rather than instantly granted.
Expiry
Not disclosed on the page (no program length, renewal terms, or end date).
Gotchas
Key numbers (monthly GB allotment, program duration, funding/age caps) are not public — the page is a marketing/registration funnel, so treat the exact benefit as 'confirmed after application'. Do not assume 100 GB: that figure on the site belongs to the standard free tier, not the startup program. If not accepted, you fall back to the perpetual free tier.
No New Relic free offer was sunset or materially changed in 2025-2026 per pages fetched today (2026-10-22): the perpetual free tier (100 GB/month, 1 full user, unlimited basic users, 500 synthetic checks) is still advertised on newrelic.com/pricing, the site navigation still shows '100GB/month free' / 'New Relic Free Tier', the students program (500 GB/mo, 3 users) is live at newrelic.com/students, and the startups program is live at newrelic.com/startups. No separate time-boxed 'free trial' is currently advertised — the perpetual free tier with no credit card is the entry point. Note: WebSearch could not be run this session (search budget exhausted), so 2025-2026 change-verification relied on fetching official pages and the blog index rather than searching; the blog index (Oct 2026 posts) shows no pricing/plan sunset announcements. Also: New Relic has no free CDN offer at all (CDN is not a New Relic product); the 'Uptime' front maps to the 500 free synthetic checks in the free tier. 'Observability for Good' (nonprofits) exists but is out of scope (not a student/startup program).