Prometheus vs Splunk
Observability pricing comparison · 2026
Prometheus pricing ranges from $0–$2500/month, while Splunk ranges from $0–$800000/undefined. These products use different pricing models (Per-seat subscription vs ), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.
VS
Prometheus and Splunk both operate in the observability category. This page compares their list pricing.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | Prometheus | Splunk |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Hosted (Open Source) | Free /month | Free / |
| Grafana Cloud Free | Free /month | Custom |
| Grafana Cloud Pro | $19 /month + usage | Custom |
| AWS Managed Service for Prometheus | $90 /month (usage-based, ~1B samples) | Custom |
| Google Cloud Managed Service for Prometheus | $60 /month (usage-based, ~1B samples) | — |
| Enterprise / Custom (Chronosphere, Sysdig, etc.) | Custom | — |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
Prometheus
9 scenarios$50
Self-Hosted Small Team (10 services)
$100/month
$400
Self-Hosted Production (High Availability)
$800/month
$0/month
Grafana Cloud Free Tier
Splunk
8 scenarios$1,800
Small Business (1-10GB daily)
$18,000 per year (license only), $20,000 - $56,500 first-year total including implementation and training
$50,000
Medium Enterprise (50GB daily)
$90,000 per year (license), additional 30-50% for infrastructure, storage, and maintenance
$400,000
Large Enterprise (500GB+ daily)
$800,000+ per year including licensing, infrastructure, storage overhead, and operational costs
Market Intelligence
Prometheus
- Median annual cost
- $20,000
- Based on
- 3 deals
Splunk
- Median annual cost
- $60,000
- Average negotiated discount
- 15%