7 min to read
What is Grafana?
Overview, features, and comparison with other visualization tools
Overview
Grafana is an open-source dashboard tool for visualizing and monitoring time-series data. It connects to various data sources such as Prometheus, Loki, InfluxDB, Elasticsearch, MySQL, and more, enabling intuitive real-time data analysis. With its integrated dashboard management, Grafana is widely used in DevOps, infrastructure operations, and application monitoring.
What is Grafana?
Grafana is fundamentally a "UI platform for visualizing time-series data." However, it has evolved beyond a simple visualization tool into a powerful solution that encompasses monitoring, alerting, data exploration, and sharing capabilities.
graph TD
A[Grafana] --> B[Visualization]
A --> C[Data Source Integration]
A --> D[Alerting]
A --> E[Dashboard Management]
B --> B1[Graphs]
B --> B2[Gauges]
B --> B3[Tables]
B --> B4[Heatmaps]
C --> C1[Prometheus]
C --> C2[Loki]
C --> C3[Elasticsearch]
C --> C4[CloudWatch]
D --> D1[Slack]
D --> D2[Email]
D --> D3[PagerDuty]
D --> D4[Webhook]
style A stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#e0f2f1
style B stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#b2dfdb
style C stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#80cbc4
style D stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#4db6ac
style E stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#26a69a
Key Features Summary
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Visualization | Utilizes various panels (graphs, tables, gauges, etc.) to represent data |
| Data Source Connection | Supports dozens of sources including Prometheus, Loki, Graphite, InfluxDB, Elasticsearch |
| Alerting | Sends notifications to Slack, Teams, Webhook, etc., when specific conditions are met |
| Dashboard Sharing | Optimized for collaboration with URL, snapshot, and read-only link options |
| User/Permission Management | Configurable view/edit permissions per user (supports LDAP, OAuth authentication) |
| Data Exploration | Query builder + explorer functionality for real-time log and metric queries |
| Plugin Support | Expandable with various community plugins (data sources, panels, etc.) |
Why Use Grafana?
Grafana's Core Advantages
-
Native Integration with Prometheus, Loki, Tempo
Excellent integration with projects created directly by Grafana Labs -
Unified DevOps/Observability Platform
Handle metrics, logs, and traces in a single interface -
Cloud/Multi-cloud Friendly
Connects to AWS CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, GCP Stackdriver, and more -
Modular Dashboard Design
Manageable in JSON format → Easily integrates with GitOps -
Open Source + Grafana Cloud Option
Supports both on-premises and SaaS deployments
flowchart TD
A[Grafana] --> B{Data Source Integration}
B -->|Metrics| C[Prometheus]
B -->|Logs| D[Loki]
B -->|Traces| E[Tempo]
B -->|Cloud| F[AWS/GCP/Azure]
B -->|DB| G[MySQL/PostgreSQL]
A --> H{Dashboard Management}
H --> I[JSON-based Definition]
H --> J[Version Control]
H --> K[Template Variables]
A --> L{Alert Management}
L --> M[Condition Definition]
L --> N[Multiple Channels]
L --> O[Alert Grouping]
style A stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#bbdefb
style B stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#90caf9
style H stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#90caf9
style L stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px,fill:#90caf9
Practical Grafana Use Cases
Practical Grafana Applications
- Kubernetes cluster monitoring (node status, pod resources, PV usage, etc.)
- Application metric tracking (error rates, response times, QPS, etc.)
- Log analysis (label-based log filtering with Loki)
- Infrastructure status dashboards (server status, DB, Redis, external APIs, etc.)
- SLA, SLO tracking and alerting
Kubernetes cluster monitoring dashboard example
Comparison with Other Visualization Tools
Visualization tools have diverse purposes and functionalities. Here's how Grafana compares with other major visualization tools in the market.
Note: Scroll horizontally to see all columns in the comparison table.
| Feature | Grafana | Kibana | Tableau | Datadog | Superset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Purpose | Metrics & log monitoring | Log-centric search & visualization | Business data analysis | Integrated monitoring SaaS | BI visualization (open source) |
| Backend Data | Prometheus, Loki, InfluxDB, and dozens more | Elasticsearch | SQL, Excel, etc. | Internal Agent-based | SQL-based |
| Installation | Lightweight, easy Helm installation | Requires ELK Stack | Requires license | SaaS-focused | Docker/Helm installation |
| Customization | Highly configurable with JSON/YAML | Limited | GUI-focused | Low | Both Python and YAML |
| Plugins | Very diverse ecosystem | Limited | Limited | None | Limited |
| Alert Integration | Slack, Webhook, PagerDuty, etc. | Limited | None | Very powerful | Limited |
| Cost | Free (cloud version available) | Free | Paid | Paid (limited free tier) | Free |
| GitOps Support | Strong (code-based dashboards) | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Possible |
| Suitable Fields | DevOps, infrastructure, cloud monitoring | Log analysis | BI dashboard analysis | SaaS-based operational monitoring | Business intelligence |
Summary
- Grafana is optimized for viewing metrics/logs/tracing in a single screen
- Kibana focuses on log-centered analysis
- Tableau/Superset are suitable for data analysis (BI)
- Datadog is ideal for commercial SaaS integrated monitoring
🔚 Conclusion: Grafana, the Visualization Tool for the DevOps Era
Grafana is not just a simple graphing tool. It's an essential DevOps solution that helps monitor the status of all IT stacks—operations, development, security—in a single dashboard and enables quick responses to problems.
Anyone can start using it for free, and its YAML-based dashboard and configuration management make it an excellent choice for GitOps environments.
👉 In the next post, I'll provide a detailed guide on installing Grafana (Helm-based) and connecting it to Loki/Prometheus data sources. I'll also cover installation guides and customization tips that can be applied directly in professional environments, so stay tuned!
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