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Grafana

✓ Verified FOSSAGPL-3.0
Top open-source alternative to Datadog
⭐ 77,279 StarsOfficial Website ↗

The open and composable observability and data visualization platform. Visualize metrics, logs, and traces from multiple sources like Prometheus, Loki, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, Postgres and many more.

Tech StackGo, TypeScript, React
Self-Host DifficultyEasy
License ModelAGPL-3.0
GitHub Repositorygrafana/grafana

Recommended VPS & Hardware Sizing

Estimated Hosting: $4 - $6/mo (e.g. Hetzner CX22 or DigitalOcean)
Min RAM:1 GB
Rec RAM:2 GB
Compute:1 vCPU
Disk Space:10 GB SSD

Grafana vs Datadog Comparison Matrix

Evaluation CriteriaGrafana (Open Source)Datadog (Proprietary)
Host MeteringMonitor 10,000+ servers with zero host licenses$15 - $23 / host / month (Datadog)
Custom Metrics SurchargeUnconstrained high-cardinality metrics$5 per 100 custom metric sets
INTERACTIVE TCO MODELEstimated Rate: $19/user/mo

Financial Impact: Migrating from Datadog to Self-Hosted Grafana

Detailed Stack Calculator →
5 Users (Early Startup)50 Users (Scaleup)200 Users (Enterprise Org)
Datadog (Cloud SaaS)Per-Seat Tax
$5,700per year ($475/mo)
3-Year Spend:$17,100

* Excludes enterprise SSO add-ons & usage overages

Grafana (Self-Hosted)Zero Per-Seat Fee
$120per year ($10/mo Linux VPS)
3-Year Compute:$360

* Commodity Hetzner / DigitalOcean compute instance

Cumulative 3-Year ROI+$16,740Net savings across 36 months (98% reduction)
Annual Free Cash:+$5,580/yr
Need C-Level Buy-In? Generate an instant ROI proposal memo to present to your CTO or CFO.
HEAD-TO-HEAD BATTLES // SIDE-BY-SIDE AUDIT

Compare Grafana Head-to-Head

Custom Comparison Engine →
★ PRIMARY REPLACEMENTFOSS vs SaaS
Grafana logo
Grafanavs
Datadog logo
Datadog

Comprehensive benchmark comparing Grafana against proprietary Datadog licensing and features.

View Full Battle Report→
MonitoringPEER BENCHMARK
uptime-kuma logo
Uptime Kumavs
netdata logo
Netdata

External Service Uptime Pings vs Realtime Host System Metrics

Inspect Comparison→
MonitoringPEER BENCHMARK
grafana logo
Grafanavs
netdata logo
Netdata

Custom Analytical Dashboard Builder vs Out-of-the-Box Server Telemetry

Inspect Comparison→
MonitoringPEER BENCHMARK
signoz logo
SigNozvs
datadog logo
Datadog

Native OpenTelemetry APM, Traces & Logs vs Datadog Host & Custom Metric Bills

Inspect Comparison→
MonitoringPEER BENCHMARK
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Changedetection.iovs
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Visualping

Unlimited Website Change Detection vs Visualping Quota Invoices

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MonitoringPEER BENCHMARK
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OpenObservevs
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Datadog

Rust & Object Storage Observability (140x Cheaper) vs Datadog Cloud Invoices

Inspect Comparison→

Core Capabilities & Features

✓Dynamic interactive dashboards with panel templates
✓Unified alerting engine routing to Slack, PagerDuty, Webhooks
✓Composed multi-source panels (combine SQL + Prometheus)
✓Granular log exploration via Loki and tracing via Tempo

Self-Host Grafana with Docker Compose

Tweak configuration ports, secrets, and volumes live. Download or copy your ready-to-run container file:

1-Click Docker Compose Generator

Generate production-ready container definitions with customizable ports and volumes.

GrafanaAGPL-3.0

The open and composable observability and data visualization platform

Difficulty: Easy77,279 ⭐
Configure Parameters
docker-compose.grafana.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana:latest
    container_name: grafana
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "${SERVER_PORT:-3000}:3000"
    environment:
      - GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER=${ADMIN_USER:-admin}
      - GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=${ADMIN_PASSWORD:-admin_secret_pwd}
    volumes:
      - grafana-storage:/var/lib/grafana

volumes:
  grafana-storage:
$docker compose up -d

Frequently Asked Questions: Self-Hosting Grafana

How do I self-host Grafana using Docker Compose?

You can deploy Grafana (grafana/grafana) on any Linux server by copying the docker-compose.yml template on this page, configuring your desired host port and persistent volume directory, and running 'docker compose up -d'.

How does Grafana compare to Datadog?

Grafana is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Datadog built with Go, TypeScript, React. Unlike Datadog ($15 - $23 / host / month + surprise bills), Grafana has zero per-user licensing fees and keeps 100% of your data on your own infrastructure.

What are the minimum VPS RAM and CPU requirements for Grafana?

For production self-hosting (Easy difficulty tier), we recommend at least 2 GB RAM (minimum 1 GB), 1 vCPU, and 10 GB SSD storage, which typically costs $4 - $6/mo (e.g. Hetzner CX22 or DigitalOcean).

Is Grafana free for commercial business use under the AGPL-3.0 license?

Yes. Distributed under the AGPL-3.0 license, Grafana can be self-hosted internally by businesses and engineering teams of any size without per-seat royalties.

README INTEGRATION // REPO EMBED

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SIMILAR REPOSITORIES // PEER COMPARISON

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