Grafana Free Plan 2026: What's Included & What's Not
Honest breakdown of the free tier limits and features
Grafana costs Free to $2.1K per month as of November 2026, with 4 plans available including a free tier. Plans: Grafana OSS (free), Free (free), Pro at $19/month, and Enterprise at $25K/year. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: Yes
Grafana offers 4 pricing tiers: Grafana OSS, Free, Pro, Enterprise. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Pro at $19/month, Enterprise at $25K/year. The Free plan is personal projects, exploring new ideas, and early-stage startups — no charges ever.
Yes, Grafana offers a forever free plan as of November 2026. The free tier includes 8 features with limits on hosting and support. Paid plans start at $19/month (Pro). Pricing verified from 3 sources by CostBench.
Grafana's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit.
What's Included in the Free Plan
- Full Grafana dashboard platform
- Self-hosted on your infrastructure
- All core visualizations and panels
- Alert management
- Data source plugins
- Community plugins
- Apache 2.0 license
- Community support
What's NOT Included (Paid Only)
- Everything in Free
- $19/month platform fee
- Pay-as-you-go above free tier limits with automatic volume discounts
- Metrics: $6.50 per 1,000 active series
- Logs — Process: $0.05/GB, Write: $0.40/GB, Retain: $0.10/GB
- Traces — Process: $0.05/GB, Write: $0.40/GB, Retain: $0.10/GB
- Profiles — Process: $0.05/GB, Write: $0.40/GB, Retain: $0.10/GB
- 13-month metrics retention
- 30-day log/trace/profile retention
- 8x5 email support
Free Plan Limits
| Limit | Free Plan | Paid Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-managed only | Unlimited/Higher |
| Support | Community only | Unlimited/Higher |
You'll Need to Upgrade When...
- You exceed the user limit
- You need features like Everything in Free or $19/month platform fee
- You require premium support or SLA guarantees
- You need to remove branding or watermarks
- You need advanced integrations or API access
Hidden Restrictions on Free Plan
- Grafana branding may appear on your content or communications
- Support is limited to community forums or email with longer response times
- Export options may be restricted or include watermarks
- API access is typically limited or not available
- Advanced reporting and analytics require paid plans
Free vs Paid: Which Do You Need?
Free Plan is Enough If...
- You're an individual or very small team
- You need only basic features
- You don't mind usage limits
- Branding on output is acceptable
- Community support is sufficient
You Need Paid If...
- Your team is growing beyond limits
- You need advanced features
- Professional branding is required
- You need priority support
- Integrations/API access is critical
Free vs Pro Plan Comparison
| Grafana OSS $0 | Pro $19/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 8 included | 10+ included |
| Support | Community/Email | Priority Support |
| Branding | Grafana branding | Your branding |
| Best For | Teams comfortable self-hosting who want full dashboard flexibility at zero cost | Growing teams needing extended retention, 8x5 support, and flexible usage-based billing |
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is Grafana free?
Yes, Grafana offers a forever free plan with 8 core features included. However, there are limits on hosting, support that may require upgrading.
02 What's included in Grafana's free plan?
Grafana's free plan includes: Full Grafana dashboard platform, Self-hosted on your infrastructure, All core visualizations and panels, Alert management, Data source plugins, and 3 more features. Key limits include Hosting: Self-managed only, Support: Community only.
03 What's NOT included in Grafana's free plan?
The free plan excludes: Everything in Free, $19/month platform fee, Pay-as-you-go above free tier limits with automatic volume discounts, Metrics: $6.50 per 1,000 active series, Logs — Process: $0.05/GB, Write: $0.40/GB, Retain: $0.10/GB. You'll also have Grafana branding and limited support options.
04 When should I upgrade from Grafana's free plan?
Consider upgrading when: you hit user or storage limits, need features like Everything in Free or $19/month platform fee, require premium support, or want to remove branding. The cheapest paid plan starts at $19/month.
05 Is Grafana's free plan really free forever?
Yes, Grafana's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit. However, feature and usage limits may restrict what you can do without upgrading to a paid plan.
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