Before you switch
New Relic sells multiple products. Map what you actually use:
| New Relic product | NightOwl covers? | If not, use |
|---|---|---|
| APM (application monitoring) | Yes | — |
| Browser / RUM | No | Sentry Performance / SpeedCurve |
| Infrastructure agent | No | Prometheus + Grafana / Netdata |
| Synthetic monitoring | No | Better Uptime / UptimeRobot |
| Logs | Yes (Laravel logs) | — |
| Distributed tracing (multi-service) | Partial (per-app) | OpenTelemetry + Tempo / Jaeger |
Install NightOwl
bash
composer require nightowl/agent
php artisan nightowl:install
# The New Relic PHP agent stays active — both can run in parallel.Uninstall the New Relic PHP agent
Ubuntu/Debian
bash
sudo apt-get remove newrelic-php5
sudo rm -f /etc/php/8.2/mods-available/newrelic.ini
sudo rm -f /etc/php/8.2/fpm/conf.d/20-newrelic.ini
sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm
# Verify it's gone:
php -i | grep newrelic # should return emptyDocker (remove install layer)
dockerfile
# Remove these lines from your Dockerfile:
# RUN curl -L https://download.newrelic.com/... | tar -xz
# RUN NR_INSTALL_USE_CP_NOT_LN=1 NR_INSTALL_SILENT=1 newrelic-install install
# Rebuild and redeploy your image.Replace infrastructure monitoring
If you relied on New Relic's infrastructure agent for server metrics, set up a replacement before cancelling. Common picks:
- Netdata — free, single-binary install, excellent for single-server visibility
- Prometheus + Grafana — flexible, OSS, steeper learning curve but best-in-class
- Grafana Cloud — hosted Prometheus + Loki at modest cost, good middle ground
- Datadog Infrastructure — enterprise-priced but comprehensive if you already use Datadog
Cancel New Relic
Wait until NightOwl has been your sole APM for 1-2 weeks. Cancel via your New Relic account settings. Historical data remains accessible read-only for a grace period depending on your plan.
Cost comparison
| Scenario | New Relic | NightOwl + alt infra |
|---|---|---|
| Small (~100GB/mo data) | Free tier | $5-15 |
| Medium (~500GB/mo) | $150-300 | $15-69 |
| Large (~2TB/mo) | $600-1200+ | $69-100 |
AFTER MIGRATION
Flat pricing, Laravel-native depth
From $5/month flat. Framework-aware views. Data in your PostgreSQL. No more surprise bills when a new feature spikes data ingest.