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reviewer2126454 - PeerSpot reviewer
Backend Dev with 11-50 employees
Real User
Gives the visibility we need, and increases productivity and observability
Pros and Cons
  • "It gives us the visibility we need. I like that when we add deployment markers or release markers, we know exactly when an issue arises. For instance, if there is an increased usage of CPU, we can link it directly to the deployment that might have caused the issue. It increases productivity and observability. We can now easily tell when a certain issue arises. It's way easier to debug because it can point you to certain things based on these markers, and we can debug easier."
  • "It's difficult to see the trends on the graph when the range is too long."

What is our primary use case?

We have a few use cases. We have charts for infrastructure, CPU usage, etc. We have included a lot of metrics for WAFs. We also have some customer metrics and business metrics, such as any number of transactions for a specific action happening on the site. 

What is most valuable?

It gives us the visibility we need. I like that when we add deployment markers or release markers, we know exactly when an issue arises. For instance, if there is an increased usage of CPU, we can link it directly to the deployment that might have caused the issue. It increases productivity and observability. We can now easily tell when a certain issue arises. It's way easier to debug because it can point you to certain things based on these markers, and we can debug easier.

What needs improvement?

It's difficult to see the trends on the graph when the range is too long. 

For how long have I used the solution?

At the company, they'd been using Grafana since I joined. It has been about three years.

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March 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been working fine for us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With our workload, it's working fine. Going by that, I'd rate it a 10 out of 10, but I don't know about the other cases.

How are customer service and support?

I've not contacted them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I don't know if it's the same, but we were using CloudWatch in AWS.

Honeycomb is also similar to this. With all the metrics and performances, you can build dashboards, but I'm new to it.

How was the initial setup?

Our team has two people who are in charge of that, but I'm not aware of its implementation.  

What other advice do I have?

I don't have much experience with other tools, but for my specific case, it has been working great. I'd rate it a 10 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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    Jorge Florez - PeerSpot reviewer
    Head SRE Latam at PayU
    Real User
    Feature-rich and has many integrations and good community support
    Pros and Cons
    • "What I found most valuable in Grafana is that it has a lot of integrations and features that I need for data processing and visualization."
    • "One area for improvement in Grafana is that depending on your version, you have to pay for the features, making the license expensive. It would be great if the licensing model could be more flexible. In the next release of Grafana, I want cluster creation to be available, which would help in Grafana deployment and scaling. Currently, the scaling process for the solution is a bit complicated."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Grafana for application metrics and data utilization for consumer databases. We also use it to connect and evaluate clients and create databases where we upload client data.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We find Grafana essential for our company because of the visualization function for all application metrics in our environment.

    What is most valuable?

    What I found most valuable in Grafana is that it has a lot of integrations and features that I need for data processing and visualization.

    What needs improvement?

    One area for improvement in Grafana is that depending on your version, you have to pay for the features, making the license expensive. It would be great if the licensing model could be more flexible.

    In the next release of Grafana, I want cluster creation to be available, which would help in Grafana deployment and scaling. Currently, the scaling process for the solution is a bit complicated.

    Easier integration is also what I want to see in Grafana in the future.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using Grafana for four years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Grafana is a very stable solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scaling Grafana is a bit complicated, so I want to create a cluster to promote high availability in the solution, deploy in one step, and for Grafana to scale automatically.

    How are customer service and support?

    My company has the open-source version of Grafana, so it gets support from the community. The community support is good.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    In terms of standalone visualization tools, I've only used Grafana. I used another monitoring solution, but the visualization was only integrated.

    Other solutions can provide what Grafana provides, but you need to pay. Grafana, on the other hand, has an open-source version, and as an open-source solution, it's complete, at least for my company's needs.

    Compared to other software, it can take some time to get used to how Grafana works, but you can live with it because you can learn to use it.

    How was the initial setup?

    One person deployed Grafana for my company, and the process only took twenty minutes maximum.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    My company uses the open-source version of Grafana, so it's free.

    What other advice do I have?

    I'm currently using Grafana.

    My company is a Grafana customer.

    I'm using the open-source version of Grafana, 9.3.

    Between sixty and one hundred people, mostly software engineers, use the solution in my company.

    Grafana requires maintenance, and that's the responsibility of the entire team.

    There's a plan to increase the usage of Grafana in other areas besides engineering. My company plans to create dashboards for data in other areas.

    I advise people who want to use the solution to try it out first. For example, Grafana has many good integrations if you need to gather metrics, and you can technically use any query to create dashboards and graphs inside Grafana. I advise that you explore the solution.

    My rating for Grafana is eight out of ten because it's a very good product. It's complete and has an open-source version with many features. However, some of its interface capabilities could be cheaper.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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      Buyer's Guide
      Grafana
      March 2025
      Learn what your peers think about Grafana. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
      845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
      reviewer2535048 - PeerSpot reviewer
      Senior Site Reliability Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
      Real User
      Top 5
      Can monitor metrics on dashboards but needs to have own query language
      Pros and Cons
      • "It's easy to make changes. We can put many dashboards in one place. There's no delay in showing data - what you see on Grafana matches the server metrics."
      • "Grafana could improve by having its own query language. Currently, it uses languages like Prometheus or InfluxDB, which not everyone knows. Their query language should be easier."

      What is our primary use case?

      We use the tool to monitor metrics on dashboards. 

      What is most valuable?

      It's easy to make changes. We can put many dashboards in one place. There's no delay in showing data - what you see on Grafana matches the server metrics.

      What needs improvement?

      Grafana could improve by having its own query language. Currently, it uses languages like Prometheus or InfluxDB, which not everyone knows. Their query language should be easier.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using the product for four years. 

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      Stability-wise, our on-premises version was mixed, but the cloud version is stable.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      My company has 2000 users. 

      How was the initial setup?

      Setting up Grafana is moderately difficult, especially writing query languages and custom metrics. Creating custom metrics requires writing new query language at the server level, which can be challenging.

      What other advice do I have?

      If you want to use Grafana for the first time, I'd say you can. It's cost-effective compared to other products like Datadog. But if cost isn't an issue, I'd recommend Datadog. For beginners, learning to use Grafana is moderately difficult. I rate it a seven out of ten. 

      If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

      Google
      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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        PankajSingh4 - PeerSpot reviewer
        Senior Specialist at Qualitest
        Real User
        Leaderboard
        The solution has a good UI dashboard, is easy to deploy, and is easy to monitor data
        Pros and Cons
        • "The most valuable feature of the solution is the UI dashboard because we need to create a dashboard on Grafana to monitor our data."
        • "I would like the ability to download my results into any format in order to share the information with my clients."

        What is our primary use case?

        The solution is used for monitoring the live monitoring of our load test.

        What is most valuable?

        The most valuable feature of the solution is the UI dashboard because we need to create a dashboard on Grafana to monitor our data.

        What needs improvement?

        The solution's integration with other tools needs improvement.

        I would like the ability to download my results into any format in order to share the information with my clients.

        For how long have I used the solution?

        I have been using the solution for over three years.

        What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

        We currently have over 50 people using the solution.

        How was the initial setup?

        The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment usually takes one and a half hours.

        What other advice do I have?

        I give the solution an eight out of ten.

        Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

        On-premises
        Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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          Cloud Engineer at REDtone Digital Services
          Real User
          Top 5
          An open-source analytics and monitoring platform that excels in flexible data visualization and diverse data source integration, but may require improvement in automating daily reports
          Pros and Cons
          • "It excels in providing comprehensive details when there are downtimes or fluctuations, offering thorough reports."
          • "There is a need for improvement in automating daily monitoring reports, especially when alerts are triggered due to system downtimes or fluctuations."

          What is our primary use case?

          We use it internally to monitor both hardware and virtual machines running on our servers and then generate reports based on the monitoring data.

          What is most valuable?

          One standout feature is its open-source nature. It excels in providing comprehensive details when there are downtimes or fluctuations, offering thorough reports. From a cost perspective, it stands out positively, especially when compared to other tools, given its robust functionality as an open-source solution.

          What needs improvement?

          There is a need for improvement in automating daily monitoring reports, especially when alerts are triggered due to system downtimes or fluctuations. This enhancement would make the monitoring tool more efficient and streamlined. While it does produce reports, the quality might not be optimal.

          For how long have I used the solution?

          I have approximately two years of experience working with it.

          What do I think about the stability of the solution?

          I haven't encountered any issues or bugs while using it, and it has been stable throughout.

          What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

          Numerous users, ranging from five hundred to a maximum of three hundred, frequently engage in upscaling and downscaling activities. The system handles this well, and the performance remains stable, even when multiple users log in and out simultaneously.

          How was the initial setup?

          The initial setup is not overly complicated nor excessively straightforward. It's a manageable process that involves following a step-by-step approach.

          What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

          It's free of cost; it operates as an open-source tool.

          What other advice do I have?

          It is recommended for use, and in parallel, WebEx is another open-source tool. Both are straightforward to deploy on a Linux server. The process is simple and similar to each other, and there's no need for any complex procedures. Deploying these monitoring tools on a Linux server is hassle-free. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.

          Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

          On-premises
          Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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            BahmanJafari - PeerSpot reviewer
            Head of Operations Engineer at RayanHamAfza
            Real User
            Top 5
            A stable solution that enables seamless visualization and movement of data between teams
            Pros and Cons
            • "The comparison feature is very good."
            • "The service dashboard is very hard and needs improvement."

            How has it helped my organization?

            Our team used a Grafana for training.

            What is most valuable?

            The comparison feature is very good. 

            What needs improvement?

            The service dashboard is very hard and needs improvement. 

            For how long have I used the solution?

            I have been using Grafana for six to seven years. 

            What do I think about the stability of the solution?

            It is a stable solution. 

            How was the initial setup?

            The solution was deployed with Kubernetes. The deployment took an hour to complete. It is not difficult to maintain as Kubernetes gives easy updates. 

            What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

            I am using the open source version. 

            What other advice do I have?

            I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

            Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

            On-premises
            Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

            PeerSpot user
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              Faustine Chisasa - PeerSpot reviewer
              System Administrator at TZ Telecom Ltd.
              Real User
              Top 5Leaderboard
              Customizable, flexible, open source dashboarding tool supporting a lot of data sources
              Pros and Cons
              • "Almost any kind of visualization is possible with Grafana and all dashboards are configurable."
              • "It is limited on the reporting type supported, which is important for managerial-level officers who want reports that are either general or specific."

              What is our primary use case?

              We use Grafana to visualize IT infrastructure monitoring data. We have real-time, historical, and trend data that we can visualize in a flexible manner using Grafana. We use Zabbix to collect, process, and store the data. Zabbix has its own inbuilt visualization widgets, dashboards, and graphs, however, Grafana adds more flexibility. We have integrated Zabbix with Grafana using the Zabbix API which gives access to almost all components of the Zabbix Software.

              Our environment is on-premises so we have both Zabbix and Grafana locally installed.

              How has it helped my organization?

              Grafana has greatly improved the way we visualize monitoring data. Now, every team member from directors, managers, sales representatives, to technical engineers can be granted access to custom dashboards relevant to their line of work.

              With the latest Grafana versions, reports can be generated from dashboards to update senior management officers. 

              The dashboards are not only intuitive and insightful, but they are also beautiful so it makes monitoring and data visualization more enjoyable.

              Since it can easily be integrated with other software, having that important part of data processing taken care of makes technical teams more focused on improving data sources and enriching the data.

              What is most valuable?

              The ability to create almost all kinds of graphs and visualize any kind of information in an appealing way is extremely useful to us.

              The customizability of dashboards and widgets is impressive.

              The flexibility in integration with other tools as data sources of data enriching tools has been great.

              It is open-source, so it saves a lot on costs and the community is friendly and powerful.

              The product can be used to cater to multiple use cases. Almost any kind of visualization is possible with Grafana and all dashboards are configurable.

              The ability to import and export dashboards saves us a lot of time for popular systems and dashboards.

              What needs improvement?

              The lack of native ability to aggregate data from multiple sources could be improved. As it is not a data store, it is challenging to correlate data from multiple data sources. Adding an out-of-box capability to aggregate and correlate different types of data would make Grafana even better.

              It is limited on the reporting type supported, which is important for managerial-level officers who want reports that are either general or specific. Improvements in that area would be great.

              Machine learning capabilities are still limited. This is an improvement in that area is needed.

              Performance improvement when querying and searching textual data would be beneficial.

              For how long have I used the solution?

              I've used the solution for more than three years

              What do I think about the stability of the solution?

              When computing resources are properly optimized Grafana runs in a quite stable manner. As Grafana is an analytics and visualization platform, it is a bit hungry on CPU and Memory usage. When Grafana instances are properly planned and configured, computing resources bottlenecks can be avoided. Our instances haven't given us headaches from the time we set them up. 

              What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

              Grafana is mainly for visualization, so many instances can be set as needed. Grafana can also be configured for high availability for some scenarios like alerting, authentication, and databases.

              How are customer service and support?

              We haven't bought technical support and haven't dealt with their customer service agents.

              Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

              We used native dashboards and graphs of another system we use. We use Zabbix for monitoring but we added Grafana to add more visualization flexibility.

              How was the initial setup?

              The initial setup was straightforward, however, some resource optimization and tuning were needed. We have experienced professionals in tuning OS systems and application resources so it was not too complex for us.

              What about the implementation team?

              We implemented everything fully in-house. Since we never had a vendor team, we don't know yet the level of expertise they have. The Grafana community has been so helpful in this regard.

              What was our ROI?

              I can confidently say we have a 100% return on investment. Grafana has greatly enriched our data visualization and analytics. We see the prospect of it appealing even to more senior management. They may not be quite technical, but they appreciate having data nicely visualized so they know what is going on.

              What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

              You can choose from the fully open-source or enterprise editions. We chose the open-source and did everything in-house. Thorough planning and performance considerations are important, as the tool can be heavy on memory and computing resources.

              Which other solutions did I evaluate?

              We considered Kibana before we chose this solution.

              What other advice do I have?

              The solution is great and is one of the best in the market for visualization.

              Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

              On-premises
              Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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                VardanSharma - PeerSpot reviewer
                Technical Lead at Ernst & Young
                Real User
                Good dashboards, stable, and scalable
                Pros and Cons
                • "The dashboards are the most valuable features."
                • "The technical support has room for improvement."

                What is our primary use case?

                We use the solution for integrated logging, which works on our Kubernetes cluster and our separate VM. 

                How has it helped my organization?

                The solution allows our teams to search and conduct application troubleshooting.

                What is most valuable?

                The dashboards are the most valuable features.

                What needs improvement?

                I would like to have a better configuration in the next release.

                The technical support has room for improvement.

                For how long have I used the solution?

                I have been using the solution for five years.

                What do I think about the stability of the solution?

                I give the stability an eight out of ten.

                What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

                I give the scalability an eight out of ten.

                We have five users in our organization.

                How was the initial setup?

                I give the initial setup an eight out of ten. There was a lack of support documents to help with the deployment. We just need to configure the file to plan the cluster.

                What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

                I give the price an eight out of ten.

                What other advice do I have?

                I give the solution an eight out of ten.

                We use Grafana with a Kubernetes filter and it works well. I am not sure how the solution will work on its own.

                Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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                  Buyer's Guide
                  Download our free Grafana Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
                  Updated: March 2025
                  Buyer's Guide
                  Download our free Grafana Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.