Billable user calculation and user downgrade rules

For our usage-based pricing model, the count of billable users is a billing factor.

What is a billable user?

Billable users are users with a user type of either core user or full platform user. Basic users are free.

Other details about what makes a user billable:

• For users on our newer user model: users are billable when they're added as billable users. Even if a billable user has never logged in to New Relic, and has a Pending invite tag in the UI, they're still billable.
• For our primary pricing version: there's a per-month charge for a billable user, and no pro-rating. This means that whether you keep a user as a billable user type for an entire month or only a minute during that month, it costs the same. Learn more about user calculations.
• Our Standard edition comes with one free full platform user.

View users in the UI

For how to view your billable user count in the UI, see Billing-related UI.

For how to manage users in the UI, see User management.

Pricing versions: with and without core users

We have two versions of our usage-based pricing model:

• Our primary usage-based pricing version, which includes core users. This was released January 12, 2022. This version gives you access to a third user type: the core user. It also has different billing calculations and user downgrade rules.
• The "without core users" version. If your New Relic organization existed prior to January 12, 2022, and hasn't switched to the newer version, this is your version. Organizations on this version can add only basic users and full platform users; they don't have access to core users. This version will be increasingly deprecated over time as customers on this version switch to the core user version. See the rules for this version.

Tips for determining which version you're on:

• If your organization has core users or has the ability to add core users, you're on our primary version. If you can only add basic users and full platform users, you're on the version of pricing without core users. You can view your users by going to the User management UI.
• Another way to determine your version is by going to the Manage your plan UI. If you see "New Relic One - Users", that means you're on the version of pricing without core users.

For more about the differences between these versions, see Core users release.

User calculation for the primary pricing version (with core users)

You can use the usage UI to get an overview of your billable user count. If you need more detail than the UI provides, you can also run usage-related NRQL queries.

To determine an organization's count of billable users in a calendar month, we count the users during that month who had a billable user type of either full platform user or core user. A user's billable user type is defined as the highest user type at which a user was set during a calendar month. We use UTC timezone to define the start and end of a calendar month.

For an example of how this works in practice: If a user is set as a full platform user at any point during a calendar month, their billable user type for that month is "full platform user," and won't change, even if they downgrade later that month. This is the case even if that user is changed to a full platform user only briefly.

If you're planning on adding billable users or changing your users' user type, you should keep these rules in mind. Some tips:

• If you want to add a billable user or upgrade a user, you might choose to do that at the beginning of the month.
• If you want to downgrade a user, you might choose to do that at the end of the month.

The count of your unique users is determined by email address. If there are multiple user records in an organization that have the same email address, for billing purposes those user records would count as a single user, and that user's billable user type would be their highest user type assigned during that month.

For users on our newer user model: users are billable when they're added as billable users. Even if a billable user has never logged in to New Relic, and has a Pending invite tag in the UI, they're still billable. (For users on our original user model, Pending invite users are not billable.)

The cost of your billable users depends on an organization's pricing edition (Standard, Pro, or Enterprise), or on any custom deal you might have with New Relic.

When a New Relic organization first starts being billed, their billable user count is pro-rated based on when during the month they started. If an organization cancels their subscription, prorating is also applied for their last month.

User downgrade rules for primary pricing version (with core users)

The rules pertaining to how many times you can downgrade full platform users differ depending on your usage plan:

Tiered pricing

Some Pro and Enterprise edition organizations have access to tiered pricing for billable users (full platform users). The prices and tier levels will vary depending on an organization's specific contract. Here's an example of how tiered pricing might work for an organization's full platform users:

• Users #1-10 at price x
• Users #11-20 at price y (lower than x)
• Users #21-30 at price z (lower than y)

Note that the billable users in lower tiers remain billable at that tier's cost, regardless of how many other, less expensive tiers are unlocked for subsequent users. In the example above, if the customer has 29 full platform users for the month, then the billable full platform users for the month would be the sum of: a) 10 users multiplied by price x, b) 10 users multiplied by price y, and c) 9 users multiplied by price z.

If you want access to tiered pricing, talk to your account representative.

Rules for the pricing version without core users

The following rules apply only for organizations on the version of pricing without core users:

• How billable users are determined. For a calendar month, an organization is billed based on a calculation of the number of full platform users for that month.
• Prorating in first and last month. The count of billable users is prorated based on when a New Relic organization starts their subscription, or based on when a user becomes a full platform user (added as a full platform user or converted to one).
• Users are billable when provisioned. A user counts as billable the moment they are set to a billable user type in New Relic. This applies regardless of whether that user has ever logged into or used New Relic.
• User count based on email address. If there are multiple user records in an organization that have the same email address, for billing purposes that would count as a single user.
• Caveat for our original user model. If your organization has users on our original user model: If a user is set as a basic user in one account in the organization and as a billable user in another account, the billable user status takes precedence.

For user downgrade rules, see below: