Important: This documentation is about an older version. It's relevant only to the release noted, many of the features and functions have been updated or replaced. Please view the current version.
Grafana basics
This section provides basic information about observability topics in general and Grafana in particular. These topics will help people who are just starting out with observability and monitoring.
What is Grafana?
Grafana is open source visualization and analytics software. It allows you to query, visualize, alert on, and explore your metrics no matter where they are stored. In plain English, it provides you with tools to turn your time-series database (TSDB) data into beautiful graphs and visualizations.
Grafana Cloud
Grafana Cloud is a highly available, fast, fully managed OpenSaaS logging and metrics platform. Everything you love about Grafana, but Grafana Labs hosts it for you and handles all the headaches.
Learn more about Grafana Cloud or try the Grafana Cloud Linux host quickstart.
Grafana Enterprise
Grafana Enterprise is a commercial edition of Grafana that includes additional features not found in the open source version.
Building on everything you already know and love about Grafana, Grafana Enterprise adds enterprise data sources, advanced authentication options, more permission controls, 24x7x365 support, and training from the core Grafana team.
Learn more about Grafana Enterprise. To purchase Enterprise or obtain a trial license, contact the Grafana Labs Sales Team.