---
id: newrelic
version: "13.4.0"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# newrelic — New Relic Python Agent

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 4.8M/mo

## What it is and what it does

The newrelic package is a production-grade APM agent that instruments Python web applications to send performance data to New Relic's monitoring platform. It works by wrapping WSGI servers and application code to capture request traces, database queries, external API calls, and errors in real time. The agent runs as a background process with no runtime dependencies, collecting metrics on response times, throughput, and error rates.

Integration happens via either a wrapper script (prefixing your WSGI server startup with `newrelic-admin run-program`) or manual code initialization at the top of your WSGI application file. After configuration with your license key and environment variables, the agent automatically begins sending data to New Relic's UI where you can view dashboards, drill into slow transactions, and set up alerts. It supports Python 3.9 through 3.14 and both CPython and PyPy implementations.

Use it for:

- Monitor response times and identify slow endpoints in production WSGI applications.
- Trace database queries and third-party API calls to pinpoint performance bottlenecks.
- Capture and analyze application errors with stack traces and context for debugging.
- Track application scalability and throughput under production traffic loads.
- Set up alerts for performance degradation or error rate spikes in real time.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Instruments Python web applications to collect performance metrics, traces, and errors for real-time monitoring and analysis through New Relic's APM platform.

Yes, if you run a Python WSGI application in production and need real-time performance visibility. The agent is actively maintained, has no external dependencies, and integrates cleanly with standard deployment patterns. Requires a New Relic account and license key; the medium install friction is offset by comprehensive platform integration and production-grade stability.

## Install

pip install newrelic
uv add newrelic
poetry add newrelic

## Installing newrelic

Before you install: Medium install friction due to compiled wheels for multiple Python versions and architectures, but actively maintained with a recent release (15 days ago) and active repository status.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache 2.0, a permissive license allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—safe to use in most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install newrelic
newrelic-admin generate-config $YOUR_LICENSE_KEY newrelic.ini
NEW_RELIC_CONFIG_FILE=newrelic.ini newrelic-admin run-program gunicorn app.wsgi

Requires a New Relic license key and account; agent initialization must happen before application startup.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the agent supports async frameworks beyond WSGI (e.g., FastAPI, Starlette) or only traditional WSGI applications.
- Performance overhead and memory footprint of the agent in production environments.
- Whether PyPy support listed in classifiers is fully tested and production-ready.

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: medium
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 4.8M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

application performance monitoring python, apm agent python, new relic python integration, python application monitoring, performance tracing python, error tracking python, wsgi application monitoring, apm, observability, production-monitoring

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