← TrueCost
Updated 2026-06-25hybridSelf-host free
Grafana Cloud pricing: what it really costs
Pay-as-you-go on top of a small platform fee, with a per-active-user charge to view dashboards.
Best for: Teams already on the Grafana/Prometheus/Loki stack who want it hosted without running it.
The cost gotcha
The generous free tier hides that Pro adds a $19 platform fee, splits each GB into process plus write plus retain, and charges $8 per user just to view dashboards. Most teams report the real bill lands two to five times over their first estimate.
Every billing axis
| Metrics | $6.50 / 1k active series | After the 10k/mo included on Pro |
| Logs | $0.05 process + $0.40 write + $0.10 retain / GB | The per-GB rate splits three ways; keeping logs is about $0.55/GB effective |
| Traces | $0.05 process + $0.40 write + $0.10 retain / GB | Same three-part split as logs |
| Active users | $8 / active user / mo | Charged for users who actually log in to view dashboards |
Source: grafana.com · last checked 2026-06-25
Where it lands vs the rest
25 hosts, 300 GB/mo, 10 users. Grafana Cloud highlighted.
| Tool | Est. monthly | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|
| SigNozcheapest here | $90/mo | Data (300 GB x $0.3): $90 |
| Grafana Cloud | $264/mo | Platform fee: $19 · Data (300 GB x $0.55): $165 · Seats (10 x $8): $80 |
| Datadog | $405/mo | Hosts (25 x $15): $375 · Data (300 GB x $0.1): $30 |
| New Relic | $971/mo | Data (200 GB after 100 GB free x $0.4): $80 · Seats (9 after 1 free x $99): $891 |