Blackfire
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you run serious PHP or Python applications and need code-level profiling, not just dashboards.
New check
Comparison
Blackfire vs New Relic
Blackfire and New Relic both land on Depends.
New Relic
Depends
Confidence: High
Buy if you run a complex, distributed stack and want metrics, logs, and traces in one platform.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | PHP/Symfony teams hunting bottlenecks | Mid-to-large engineering orgs |
| Who it's not for | Small sites wanting basic uptime monitoring | Small apps or side projects . massive overkill |
| Privacy | HIPAA/PCI compliance pages published; one public 2020 CVE against the Blackfire Docker image (missing authentication).⁶ | Disclosed 2023 intrusion via stolen credentials; older agent CVEs are patched; no open critical issues found in sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | Docs exist; no reviews on support | No direct support evidence found |
| Public sentiment | Public user reviews for are scarce; comparison sites mostly frame it against Sentry and other APM tools.⁹ | Users praise real-time visibility and platform breadth, but cost and complexity draw the loudest complaints. |
| Biggest gotcha | 2020 CVE: Blackfire Docker image shipped with missing authentication . patch old deployments.⁶ | Usage-based ingest means a busy month can silently balloon your bill. |
Pick Blackfire when
- PHP/Symfony teams hunting bottlenecks
- Python shops needing production profiling
- E-commerce sites with performance pain
- Platform.sh / Upsun customers
When Blackfire is not a fit
- Small sites wanting basic uptime monitoring
- Node, Ruby, or Go stacks
- Budget buyers wanting a full-APM free tier
- Teams without a developer to read profiles
Pick New Relic when
- Mid-to-large engineering orgs
- Microservices-heavy stacks
- Teams wanting one observability platform
- SRE/DevOps groups tracking MTTR
When New Relic is not a fit
- Small apps or side projects . massive overkill
- Bootstrapped startups watching every dollar
- Low-traffic sites (free alternatives exist)
- Teams needing only simple uptime monitoring
Sources
official
- What is Blackfire?docs.blackfire.ioofficial
- Blackfire Pricingblackfire.ioofficial
- Blackfire Code Security Checksblackfire.ioofficial
- Blackfire HIPAA and PCI complianceblackfire.ioofficial
- CVE-2020-35466 Detailnvd.nist.govsecurity
- Blackfire.io Revenue 2025: $330K Est. ARRgetlatka.comnews
- Companies that use Blackfire.io (12)theirstack.comnews
- blackfire.io vs Sentrytrustradius.comreview
review
- Profiling services discussion, r/PHPreddit.comreview
news
news
- Dirt Bike Spec Case Studykanukadigital.comnews
- New Relic Pricingnewrelic.comofficial