Grafana vs Kibana
Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial
Grafana
Open-source dashboards for metrics, logs and traces, with a hosted Grafana Cloud stack.
Kibana
Elastic's web interface for searching, visualising and managing data stored in Elasticsearch.
The short answer
Grafana is a dashboard and observability tool that connects to dozens of data sources, from Prometheus and Loki to SQL databases. Kibana is the front end for Elasticsearch and works only with it, but integrates deeply with Elastic's search, logging, APM and machine learning. Pick Grafana for flexibility across sources; pick Kibana if your data already lives in Elasticsearch.
Grafana or Kibana: our take
The core difference is scope. Grafana turns data from Prometheus, Loki, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, SQL databases and many other sources into dashboards and alerts, and Grafana Labs builds a wider open stack around it: Loki for logs, Tempo for traces, Mimir for metrics, Pyroscope for profiling and k6 for load testing. Kibana is the browser interface of the Elastic Stack. It offers Discover for exploring indexed data, Lens, Canvas, maps and Vega for visualisations, a Dev Tools console for raw queries, and built-in apps for logs, metrics, uptime and APM, plus anomaly detection and rule-based alerting to email, webhooks, Slack, PagerDuty and more.
Both can be self-hosted for free. Grafana is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Grafana Cloud runs the stack for you with a free tier of 10k metric series, 50 GB logs and 14-day retention; the Pro plan starts from $19/month plus usage, and its many meters take some tracking. Kibana is free to self-manage alongside Elasticsearch, with advanced features in paid subscriptions or as part of Elastic Cloud. Machine learning and some alerting connectors need a paid tier.
Running either at scale takes work. Self-hosting Loki, Tempo and Mimir is real operational effort, and good Grafana dashboards need query knowledge. Kibana is heavy to run just for basic index administration. Teams with mixed data sources, or that want to avoid lock-in and use Prometheus-style metrics, will find Grafana the better base. Teams that already store logs, metrics or security events in Elasticsearch and want search, APM and anomaly detection in one place will get more from Kibana. Many organisations run both, with Grafana reading from Elasticsearch where needed.
Which should you pick?
Choose Grafana if…
- Teams that want flexible dashboards over many data sources, self-hosted or as a managed cloud
- Connects to almost any metrics, logs or SQL data source
- Fully open-source stack you can self-host
Choose Kibana if…
- Teams storing logs, metrics or events in Elasticsearch who want dashboards and alerting
- Deep integration with Elasticsearch features
- Dashboards, maps, Lens and Canvas visualisations
About each app
What is Grafana?
Grafana started as a dashboard tool and is now the centre of an open observability stack. Grafana itself connects to dozens of data sources such as Prometheus, Loki, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB and SQL databases and turns them into dashboards and alerts. Grafana Labs also builds Loki for logs, Tempo for traces, Mimir for metrics, Pyroscope for profiling and k6 for load testing. You can self-host all of it for free under the AGPL, or use Grafana Cloud, which runs the stack for you with a free tier and usage-based paid plans. The appeal is flexibility and avoiding lock-in: it works with whatever you already collect. The downside is that running the full stack yourself is real operational work, and stitching the pieces together takes more effort than an all-in-one SaaS. Grafana runs in the browser; the server runs on Linux, Windows, macOS or Kubernetes.
What is Kibana?
Kibana is the browser-based front end of the Elastic Stack. It lets you explore indexed data with Discover, build charts and dashboards with Lens, Canvas, maps and Vega, and run requests against Elasticsearch from the Dev Tools console. On top of that it hosts Elastic's log, metrics, uptime and APM apps, machine learning jobs such as anomaly detection, and rule-based alerting that can notify email, Slack, PagerDuty and other services. It is used by operations, security and data teams who already store logs, metrics or events in Elasticsearch. You can self-manage Kibana for free alongside Elasticsearch, with more advanced features in paid subscriptions, or use it as part of Elastic Cloud. It runs in the browser against a Kibana server you host or Elastic hosts. It only works with Elasticsearch, and several useful features, including some alerting connectors and machine learning, require a paid tier.
Side by side
| Attribute | Grafana | Kibana |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Open source | Free plan + paid |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | Web, Self-hosted | Web, Self-hosted |
| Best for | Teams that want flexible dashboards over many data sources, self-hosted or as a managed cloud | Teams storing logs, metrics or events in Elasticsearch who want dashboards and alerting |
| Status | Active | Active |
Grafana vs Kibana pricing
Grafana: open source
- License: AGPL-3.0 source
- Free tier: 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention source
- Pro plan: From $19/month + usage source
- Logs on free tier: 50 GB/month source
Kibana: free plan + paid
- Starting price: From $0.09 per VCU-hour (Elastic Cloud Serverless search) source
- Free plan: Yes, free Basic features when self-managed source
- Free trial: 14 days (Elastic Cloud) source
Platforms
| Platform | Grafana | Kibana |
|---|---|---|
| Web | ||
| Self-hosted |
Grafana facts
4 of 4 verified- License
- AGPL-3.0
- Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “License: AGPL-3.0 (GNU Affero General Public License v3.0).”
- Free tier
- 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention
- Checked Oct 29, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “Limited to 10k active series per month 14 days retention”
- Pro plan
- From $19/month + usage
- Checked Oct 29, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “From $19 / month + usage”
- Logs on free tier
- 50 GB/month
- Checked Oct 29, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “Limited to 50 GB ingested per month”
Kibana facts
7 of 7 verified- Open source
- Yes
- Checked Nov 1, 2026elastic.co(opens source in a new tab)
- “Kibana is the open source interface to query, analyze, visualize, and manage your data stored in Elasticsearch.”
- Query console
- Dev Tools Console
- Checked Nov 1, 2026elastic.co(opens source in a new tab)
- “Dev Tools Console”
- Alert notifications
- Email, webhooks, Slack, PagerDuty and more
- Checked Nov 1, 2026elastic.co(opens source in a new tab)
- “Notifications via email, webhooks”
- Anomaly detection
- Yes
- Checked Nov 1, 2026elastic.co(opens source in a new tab)
- “Anomaly detection on time series”
- Starting price
- From $0.09 per VCU-hour (Elastic Cloud Serverless search)
- Checked Nov 1, 2026elastic.co(opens source in a new tab)
- “Search* Per VCU per hour As low as $0.09”
- Free plan
- Yes, free Basic features when self-managed
- Checked Nov 1, 2026elastic.co(opens source in a new tab)
- “free Basic features of our software at no cost.”
- Free trial
- 14 days (Elastic Cloud)
- Checked Nov 1, 2026elastic.co(opens source in a new tab)
- “We offer a free 14-day trial of Elastic Cloud that starts the moment you create a cluster.”
Pros and cons of Grafana
- Connects to almost any metrics, logs or SQL data source
- Fully open-source stack you can self-host
- Hosted cloud has a usable free tier
- Self-hosting Loki, Tempo and Mimir at scale is real work
- Building good dashboards takes time and query knowledge
- Cloud usage pricing has many meters to track
Pros and cons of Kibana
- Deep integration with Elasticsearch features
- Dashboards, maps, Lens and Canvas visualisations
- Dev Tools console for raw queries
- Built-in apps for logs, metrics, uptime and APM
- Works only with Elasticsearch
- Machine learning and some alerting connectors need paid tiers
- Heavy to run just for basic index administration
Other apps to consider
DatadogInstead of Grafana
Fully managed and integrated, so there are no stack components to wire together.
SigNozInstead of Grafana
One open-source app for metrics, traces and logs instead of several separate projects.
GraylogInstead of Kibana
Purpose-built log management with search, streams and alerts if logs are your main use.
Grafana vs Kibana: common questions
Is Grafana better than Kibana?
Grafana is a dashboard and observability tool that connects to dozens of data sources, from Prometheus and Loki to SQL databases. Kibana is the front end for Elasticsearch and works only with it, but integrates deeply with Elastic's search, logging, APM and machine learning. Pick Grafana for flexibility across sources; pick Kibana if your data already lives in Elasticsearch.
Is Grafana free?
Yes. Grafana is free, open-source software you can host yourself.
Is Kibana free?
Kibana has a free plan, with paid plans for more features. See its verified pricing facts above for current limits.
Is Grafana or Kibana open source?
Both are open source.
Which platforms do Grafana and Kibana support?
Grafana: Web and Self-hosted. Kibana: Web and Self-hosted.