Grafana vs Kibana
type: Article
description: Grafana is a universal visualization platform supporting 80+ data sources including Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Elasticsearch, while Kibana is Elasticsearch's native analytics tool optimized specifically for log and event data. Grafana excels in multi-source dashboarding; Kibana dominates in full-text search and log analysis.
language: en-US
date published: 2026-07-08T12:42:16.350Z
date created: 2026-07-08T12:42:16.350Z
date modified: 2026-07-08T12:42:16.399Z
content reference time: 2026-07-08T12:42:16.399Z
author: A Versus B
publisher: A Versus B
about: Grafana
about: Kibana
abstract: Grafana is a universal visualization platform supporting 80+ data sources including Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Elasticsearch, while Kibana is Elasticsearch's native analytics tool optimized specifically for log and event data. Grafana excels in multi-source dashboarding; Kibana dominates in full-text search and log analysis.
text: Data Source Support. Full-Text Search Capabilities. Dashboard Creation Speed. Alert Management. APM Integration. Pricing Model (Self-Hosted). Learning Curve for Operators
conclusion text: Choose Grafana if you need a multi-source observability platform that consolidates metrics from Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, and other systems into unified dashboards with powerful alerting. Choose Kibana if you're heavily invested in the Elastic Stack and require advanced log search, forensics, and integrated APM for complete application performance monitoring.
additional property: Supported Data Sources
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 70+ | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Self-Hosting Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Yes, full support | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Starting Monthly Cost
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Free (open-source) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Time to First Dashboard
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 60-120 | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Log Management
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Requires Loki plugin | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Pre-built Integrations
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 300+ | Kibana: N/A
additional property: APM Capabilities
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Plugin-based with limited support | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Community Size
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 500K+ users | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Base Monthly Cost Per User
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: $69 | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Free Tier User Limit
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Unlimited users | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Mean Time to Response (MTTR) Improvement
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Not measured | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Open-Source Self-Hosted Availability
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Available (Apache 2.0) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Alert Fatigue Reduction
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Alert grouping available | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Customer Retention Rate
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 94% | Kibana: N/A
additional property: On-Call Scheduling Features
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Requires integration (OnCall) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: GitHub Stars (Community Adoption)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 58,000+ (as of 2026) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Data Sources Supported
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 90+ (Prometheus, Elasticsearch, Datadog, etc.) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Default Data Retention
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: None (external source dependent) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Memory Usage (Typical Instance)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 200-500 | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Query Language Learning Curve
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 2-4 (depends on datasource type) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Built-in Alerting Capabilities
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Basic (via connected datasources) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Standalone Operation
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: No—requires external datasource | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Time to First Dashboard
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 30-60 (needs datasource setup) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Base Pricing (Annual, 100 hosts)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: $0 (self-hosted) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Initial Deployment Time
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 14-28 days | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Data Source Integrations
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 800+ | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Supported Technologies (Languages/Frameworks)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 300+ via integrations | Kibana: N/A
additional property: AI-Powered Anomaly Detection Accuracy
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Not available | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Alert Management Channels
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 50+ | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Grafana/Dynatrace Community Size
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 500K+ monthly active users | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Required IT Staff for 10,000 hosts
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 3-5 FTE | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Memory Footprint (Minimal Setup)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: ~200 MB | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Supported Data Sources
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 100+ | Kibana: Elasticsearch/Opensearch only
  value reference: Grafana
additional property: Community Dashboard Templates
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 2,000+ | Kibana: 500+
  value reference: Grafana
additional property: Commercial Support Cost
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: $25-150+ per user | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Setup Time (Basic Production)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 15-30 minutes | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Query Language Complexity
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: PromQL, SQL, or source-native language | Kibana: Lucene syntax + Elasticsearch Query DSL
additional property: Built-in Alerting Rules
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Visualization only (external routing required) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Minimum Monthly Cost (Small Org)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: $0 (open-source) or $9 (Grafana Cloud) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Data Source Integrations Available
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 450+ pre-built plugins | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Supported APM Frameworks
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 100+ via plugins (manual integration required) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Setup Time for Basic Monitoring
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 2-5 days (infrastructure knowledge required) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Deployment Flexibility
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, managed cloud (Grafana Cloud) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: AI Anomaly Detection
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Limited; basic alerting rules, ML via separate module | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Enterprise Support SLA
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Community support; no guaranteed SLA | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Data Retention (Free Tier)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Unlimited (self-hosted) or 15 days (Grafana Cloud free) | Kibana: N/A
additional property: User Seats Included (Starter)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: Unlimited on self-hosted; 1 on Grafana Cloud free | Kibana: N/A
additional property: Dashboard Creation Time
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: 5-10 minutes | Kibana: 10-15 minutes
  value reference: Grafana
additional property: Cloud Hosting Starting Price
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Grafana: $79/month | Kibana: $300+/month
  value reference: Grafana
interactivity type: active
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/entity/grafana
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/alternatives/grafana
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/entity/kibana
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/alternatives/kibana
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/api/answer/grafana-vs-kibana)
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/api/v1/schema/grafana-vs-kibana)
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/grafana-vs-kibana
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/pagerduty-vs-grafana
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/grafana-vs-prometheus
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/grafana-vs-dynatrace
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/grafana-vs-new-relic
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/tableau-vs-grafana
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/grafana-vs-splunk
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/metabase-vs-grafana
teaches: How to choose between Grafana and Kibana
genre: Software

primaryImage
type: ImageObject
width: 1200
height: 630
caption: Grafana vs Kibana — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B

A Versus B
type: Organization

Grafana
type: Thing
language: en-US
description: Open-source visualization and observability platform supporting 80+ data sources
image: ImageObject
  caption: Grafana
subject of: Grafana vs Kibana
image: ImageObject
  caption: Grafana

Kibana
type: SoftwareApplication
language: en-US
description: Elasticsearch-native analytics and visualization platform for logs, metrics, and events
image: ImageObject
  caption: Kibana
subject of: Grafana vs Kibana
image: ImageObject
  caption: Kibana

Grafana vs Kibana — Structured Comparison Data
type: Dataset
description: Machine-readable comparison dataset for Grafana vs Kibana. Contains 100 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
language: en-US
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
creator: A Versus B
distribution: JSON-LD knowledge graph
  type: DataDownload
  encoding format: application/json+ld
distribution: Raw comparison JSON
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  encoding format: application/json
distribution: Structured FAQ pairs JSON
  type: DataDownload
  encoding format: application/json
distribution: AI Answer API (citation-ready)
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distribution: Related comparisons JSON
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variable measured: Supported Data Sources
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  value reference: Integration
variable measured: Self-Hosting Support
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variable measured: Starting Monthly Cost
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variable measured: Time to First Dashboard
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Implementation
variable measured: Log Management
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Pre-built Integrations
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: APM Capabilities
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variable measured: Community Size
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Community
variable measured: Base Monthly Cost Per User
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Pricing
variable measured: Free Tier User Limit
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Pricing
variable measured: Mean Time to Response (MTTR) Improvement
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Open-Source Self-Hosted Availability
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Deployment
variable measured: Alert Fatigue Reduction
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Customer Retention Rate
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Customer Success
variable measured: On-Call Scheduling Features
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: GitHub Stars (Community Adoption)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Community
variable measured: Data Sources Supported
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Default Data Retention
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Memory Usage (Typical Instance)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Query Language Learning Curve
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Ease of Use
variable measured: Built-in Alerting Capabilities
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Standalone Operation
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Time to First Dashboard
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Base Pricing (Annual, 100 hosts)
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Initial Deployment Time
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Data Source Integrations
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Integration
variable measured: Supported Technologies (Languages/Frameworks)
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: AI-Powered Anomaly Detection Accuracy
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Alert Management Channels
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Grafana/Dynatrace Community Size
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Required IT Staff for 10,000 hosts
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Memory Footprint (Minimal Setup)
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variable measured: Supported Data Sources
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Community Dashboard Templates
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variable measured: Commercial Support Cost
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variable measured: Setup Time (Basic Production)
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Query Language Complexity
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Built-in Alerting Rules
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Alerting
variable measured: Minimum Monthly Cost (Small Org)
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Data Source Integrations Available
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Supported APM Frameworks
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Setup Time for Basic Monitoring
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Deployment Flexibility
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: AI Anomaly Detection
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Capabilities
variable measured: Enterprise Support SLA
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Support
variable measured: Data Retention (Free Tier)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Data Management
variable measured: User Seats Included (Starter)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Limits & Quotas
variable measured: Dashboard Creation Time
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Cloud Hosting Starting Price
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Self-Hosted Cost
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Log Search Capability
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: APM Features
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Open Source License Type
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Licensing
variable measured: Starting Monthly Cost Per User
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Pricing
variable measured: Native Data Connectors
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Minimum Dashboard Refresh Interval
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Visualization Chart Types
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Enterprise Annual License Cost (Single Server)
  type: PropertyValue
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variable measured: Time to First Dashboard Creation
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Ease of Use
variable measured: Maximum Dashboard Rows Per Organization
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Scalability
variable measured: Row-Level Security (RLS)
variable measured: Base Monthly Cost (Single User Cloud)
variable measured: Annual Cost (1GB/day Log Ingestion)
variable measured: Log Query Response Time
variable measured: Event Ingestion Rate (Single Indexer)
variable measured: Native Data Source Integrations
variable measured: Built-in Machine Learning Algorithms
variable measured: Minimum RAM Requirement (Self-Hosted)
variable measured: Enterprise Security Features
is based on: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/grafana-vs-kibana)

Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary
type: DefinedTermSet
language: en-US
description: Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Grafana vs Kibana.
has defined term: Integration
has defined term: Deployment
has defined term: Pricing
has defined term: Implementation
has defined term: Features
has defined term: Community
has defined term: Performance
has defined term: Customer Success
has defined term: Ease of Use
has defined term: Architecture
has defined term: Deployment Speed
has defined term: Cost
has defined term: Compatibility
has defined term: Operations
has defined term: Ecosystem
has defined term: Licensing
has defined term: Usability
has defined term: Alerting
has defined term: Pricing & Cost
has defined term: Features & Integration
has defined term: Infrastructure
has defined term: Capabilities
has defined term: Support
has defined term: Data Management
has defined term: Limits & Quotas
has defined term: Scalability
has defined term: Security
has defined term: Core Features
has defined term: Privacy & Control
has defined term: Analytics

Integration
type: DefinedTerm
term code: integration
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Deployment
type: DefinedTerm
term code: deployment
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Pricing
type: DefinedTerm
term code: pricing
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Implementation
type: DefinedTerm
term code: implementation
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Features
type: DefinedTerm
term code: features
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Community
type: DefinedTerm
term code: community
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Performance
type: DefinedTerm
term code: performance
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Customer Success
type: DefinedTerm
term code: customer-success
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Ease of Use
type: DefinedTerm
term code: ease-of-use
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Architecture
type: DefinedTerm
term code: architecture
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Deployment Speed
type: DefinedTerm
term code: deployment-speed
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Cost
type: DefinedTerm
term code: cost
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Compatibility
type: DefinedTerm
term code: compatibility
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Operations
type: DefinedTerm
term code: operations
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Ecosystem
type: DefinedTerm
term code: ecosystem
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Licensing
type: DefinedTerm
term code: licensing
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Usability
type: DefinedTerm
term code: usability
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Alerting
type: DefinedTerm
term code: alerting
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Pricing & Cost
type: DefinedTerm
term code: pricing-&-cost
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Features & Integration
type: DefinedTerm
term code: features-&-integration
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Infrastructure
type: DefinedTerm
term code: infrastructure
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Capabilities
type: DefinedTerm
term code: capabilities
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Support
type: DefinedTerm
term code: support
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Data Management
type: DefinedTerm
term code: data-management
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Limits & Quotas
type: DefinedTerm
term code: limits-&-quotas
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Scalability
type: DefinedTerm
term code: scalability
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Security
type: DefinedTerm
term code: security
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Core Features
type: DefinedTerm
term code: core-features
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Privacy & Control
type: DefinedTerm
term code: privacy-&-control
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Analytics
type: DefinedTerm
term code: analytics
in defined term set: Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary

faq
type: FAQPage
language: en-US
is accessible for free: true
conditions of access: Free
date modified: 2026-07-08T12:42:16.399Z
author: A Versus B
publisher: A Versus B
is part of: grafana-vs-kibana)
main entity: What's the learning curve difference?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Grafana has a moderate learning curve focusing on dashboard design and PromQL (simple, SQL-like syntax). Kibana's learning curve is steep, requiring mastery of Elasticsearch internals, Lucene query syntax, index mappings, and aggregation pipelines. Expect 2-4 weeks for Grafana competency; 4-12 weeks for Kibana.
    language: en-US
main entity: Can both tools work together?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Yes. Many organizations use Grafana as the primary dashboard platform (querying Prometheus, InfluxDB, and other sources) while using Kibana for deep log investigation and forensics queries against Elasticsearch. They complement each other in a complete observability stack, though this increases operational complexity.
    language: en-US
main entity: Can Grafana replace Kibana for log analysis?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Partially. Grafana handles basic log filtering and pattern detection through Loki or Elasticsearch data sources, but lacks Kibana's advanced full-text search optimization and Lucene syntax support. For forensic-grade log analysis of billions of events, Kibana remains superior. Grafana excels when logs are one of many data sources you need to visualize together.
    language: en-US
main entity: Can Kibana visualize Prometheus metrics?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Not natively. Kibana is tightly coupled to Elasticsearch. You would need to export Prometheus metrics to Elasticsearch first using tools like Metricbeat or Prometheus Elasticsearch exporter, adding complexity. Grafana queries Prometheus directly, making it the better choice for Prometheus-based monitoring.
    language: en-US
main entity: Which requires more infrastructure?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Kibana typically requires larger Elasticsearch clusters (minimum 3 nodes for production) consuming 16-64GB RAM depending on data volume, while Grafana is lightweight (1-4GB RAM). Grafana also works with simpler backends like Prometheus. For organizations with <1TB/day of logs, Grafana+Loki is more cost-efficient.
    language: en-US

How to Choose Between Grafana and Kibana
type: HowTo
description: Grafana is a universal visualization platform supporting 80+ data sources including Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Elasticsearch, while Kibana is Elasticsearch's native analytics tool optimized specifically for log and event data. Grafana excels in multi-source dashboarding; Kibana dominates in full-text search and log analysis.
language: en-US
total time: PT3M
step: Consider: Data Source Support
step: Consider: Full-Text Search Capabilities
step: Consider: Dashboard Creation Speed
step: Consider: Alert Management
step: Consider: APM Integration
step: Consider: Pricing Model (Self-Hosted)
step: Consider: Learning Curve for Operators
tool: A Versus B Comparison Guide
tip: HowToTip
  text: Choose Grafana if you need a multi-source observability platform that consolidates metrics from Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, and other systems into unified dashboards with powerful alerting. Choose Kibana if you're heavily invested in the Elastic Stack and require advanced log search, forensics, and integrated APM for complete application performance monitoring.

Consider: Data Source Support
type: HowToStep
position: 1
text: Data Source Support: Grafana has 80+ integrations (Prometheus, InfluxDB, Graphite, AWS CloudWatch, Elasticsearch, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.), while Kibana has Primarily Elasticsearch; limited support for other sources.

Consider: Full-Text Search Capabilities
type: HowToStep
position: 2
text: Full-Text Search Capabilities: Grafana has Basic text search; not optimized for log analysis, while Kibana has Advanced full-text search with Lucene syntax; built for log exploration.

Consider: Dashboard Creation Speed
type: HowToStep
position: 3
text: Dashboard Creation Speed: Grafana has Faster with pre-built templates; 5-10 minutes to deploy, while Kibana has Slower setup; requires Elasticsearch configuration and mapping understanding.

Consider: Alert Management
type: HowToStep
position: 4
text: Alert Management: Grafana has Unified alerting across all data sources with 50+ notification channels, while Kibana has Alerting limited to Elasticsearch queries; fewer notification options.

Consider: APM Integration
type: HowToStep
position: 5
text: APM Integration: Grafana has Requires third-party plugins; no native APM, while Kibana has Native Elastic APM integration; seamless observability stack.

Consider: Pricing Model (Self-Hosted)
type: HowToStep
position: 6
text: Pricing Model (Self-Hosted): Grafana has Open-source (Grafana Community); Grafana Enterprise starts at $12,000/year, while Kibana has Free with Elasticsearch; premium features require Elasticsearch paid tier.

Consider: Learning Curve for Operators
type: HowToStep
position: 7
text: Learning Curve for Operators: Grafana has Moderate; PromQL/SQL learning required for advanced queries, while Kibana has Steep; requires deep Elasticsearch, Lucene syntax, and mapping knowledge.

claimreview
type: ClaimReview
is accessible for free: true
conditions of access: Free
claim reviewed: Grafana vs Kibana
review body: Grafana is a universal visualization platform supporting 80+ data sources including Prometheus, InfluxDB, and Elasticsearch, while Kibana is Elasticsearch's native analytics tool optimized specifically for log and event data. Grafana excels in multi-source dashboarding; Kibana dominates in full-text search and log analysis.
review rating: Rating
  rating: 5
  worst rating: 1
  best rating: 5
  alternate name: Verified Comparison
author: A Versus B
item reviewed: Grafana vs Kibana

Self-Hosted Cost
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $0 (free open-source) | Kibana: $0 (Opensearch) or $15-50k (Elasticsearch)

Log Search Capability
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Basic text filtering | Kibana: Advanced Lucene/KQL query language

APM Features
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Limited (requires integration with APM platforms) | Kibana: Native APM application with service maps & traces

Open Source License Type
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: AGPL v3 (user-friendly for most use cases) | Kibana: SSPL + Elastic License (restricted distribution)

Starting Monthly Cost Per User
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $0 (open-source) | Kibana: N/A

Native Data Connectors
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 60+ | Kibana: N/A

Minimum Dashboard Refresh Interval
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 0.001 seconds (milliseconds) | Kibana: N/A

Visualization Chart Types
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 15+ | Kibana: N/A

Enterprise Annual License Cost (Single Server)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $0 (self-hosted free tier) | Kibana: N/A

Time to First Dashboard Creation
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 5-10 (intuitive interface) | Kibana: N/A

Maximum Dashboard Rows Per Organization
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Unlimited | Kibana: N/A

Row-Level Security (RLS)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Supported via RBAC and data source filtering | Kibana: N/A

Base Monthly Cost (Single User Cloud)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $10 (Grafana Cloud Starter) | Kibana: N/A

Annual Cost (1GB/day Log Ingestion)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $2,400-$7,200 | Kibana: N/A

Log Query Response Time
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 5,000-10,000 (Loki) | Kibana: N/A

Event Ingestion Rate (Single Indexer)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 1,000-2,000 | Kibana: N/A

Native Data Source Integrations
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 150+ | Kibana: N/A

Built-in Machine Learning Algorithms
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 3-5 (basic anomaly detection) | Kibana: N/A

Minimum RAM Requirement (Self-Hosted)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: <2 | Kibana: N/A

Enterprise Security Features
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Basic RBAC, no SIEM module | Kibana: N/A

GitHub Stars
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 56,000 | Kibana: N/A

Initial Setup Time
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 15-30 | Kibana: N/A

Enterprise License Cost (Annual)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $12,000 for Grafana Enterprise | Kibana: Varies with Elasticsearch cluster size; typically $15,000+
value reference: Grafana

SQL Query Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Limited—primarily Prometheus-style queries | Kibana: N/A

Real-Time Dashboard Latency
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 50-500 | Kibana: N/A

Docker Deployment
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Single container with optional Prometheus | Kibana: N/A

Monthly Cost Per Host
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $0-3 (self-hosted) | Kibana: N/A

Built-in APM
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: No, requires external tools | Kibana: N/A

Time to Production Deployment
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 30-240 minutes (varies) | Kibana: N/A

Self-Hosted Deployment
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Fully supported | Kibana: N/A

AI/ML Analytics
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: No native features | Kibana: N/A

Enterprise Compliance
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: SOC 2, ISO 27001 | Kibana: N/A

Annual Cost (100 hosts, moderate usage)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $0-2,500 (self-hosted) | Kibana: N/A

Starting Price (Monthly)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Free (open-source) | Kibana: N/A

Data Source Connectors
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 400+ plugins (Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, etc.) | Kibana: N/A

Minimum Dashboard Refresh Rate
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 5-10 seconds (typical) | Kibana: N/A

Deployment Options
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud | Kibana: N/A

User Onboarding Time
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 7-14 days (JSON, API, plugin config) | Kibana: N/A

Annual per-User Cost (Creator Tier)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $120-$3,588/year (Grafana Cloud) | Kibana: N/A

Advanced Statistical Functions
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Basic math and aggregation functions | Kibana: N/A

Base License Cost (Annual)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $0 (open-source) | Kibana: N/A

Typical Enterprise Implementation Cost
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: $10,000-$30,000 | Kibana: N/A

Full-Text Log Indexing
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: No (time-series focused) | Kibana: N/A

Average Search Query Time (1GB dataset)
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 0.5-2 seconds | Kibana: N/A

Built-in Machine Learning Models
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 3-5 (via plugins) | Kibana: N/A

Typical Deployment Time
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 2-4 weeks | Kibana: N/A

Data Source Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 80+ | Kibana: Primarily 1 (Elasticsearch)
value reference: Grafana

Time to Deploy Dashboard
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 5-10 minutes with templates | Kibana: 30-60 minutes with configuration
value reference: Grafana

Full-Text Search Optimization
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: Basic text filters | Kibana: Advanced Lucene-based search

Notification Channels
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: 50+ | Kibana: 25+
value reference: Grafana

Native APM Integration
type: PropertyValue
value: Grafana: No (plugin-based) | Kibana: Yes (Elastic APM)

SpeakableSpecification
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Grafana — Wikipedia
type: CreativeWork

Kibana — Wikipedia
type: CreativeWork

Compare Grafana vs Kibana
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target: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/grafana-vs-kibana)
object: Grafana
object: Kibana

Row-Level Security (RLS)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Security

Base Monthly Cost (Single User Cloud)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Annual Cost (1GB/day Log Ingestion)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Log Query Response Time
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Event Ingestion Rate (Single Indexer)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Native Data Source Integrations
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Built-in Machine Learning Algorithms
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Minimum RAM Requirement (Self-Hosted)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Infrastructure

Enterprise Security Features
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Security

GitHub Stars
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Community

Initial Setup Time
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Implementation

Enterprise License Cost (Annual)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

SQL Query Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Real-Time Dashboard Latency
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Docker Deployment
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Deployment

Monthly Cost Per Host
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Built-in APM
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Core Features

Time to Production Deployment
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Operations

Self-Hosted Deployment
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Privacy & Control

AI/ML Analytics
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Core Features

Enterprise Compliance
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Security

Annual Cost (100 hosts, moderate usage)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Starting Price (Monthly)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Data Source Connectors
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Integration

Minimum Dashboard Refresh Rate
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Deployment Options
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Infrastructure

User Onboarding Time
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Ease of Use

Annual per-User Cost (Creator Tier)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Advanced Statistical Functions
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Analytics

Base License Cost (Annual)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Typical Enterprise Implementation Cost
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Full-Text Log Indexing
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Average Search Query Time (1GB dataset)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Built-in Machine Learning Models
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Typical Deployment Time
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Implementation

Data Source Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Compatibility

Time to Deploy Dashboard
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Full-Text Search Optimization
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Notification Channels
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Alerting

Native APM Integration
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features