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.
Grafana vs Kibana — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Open-source visualization and observability platform supporting 80+ data sources
Elasticsearch-native analytics and visualization platform for logs, metrics, and events
Data Source Support. Full-Text Search Capabilities. Dashboard Creation Speed. Alert Management. APM Integration. Pricing Model (Self-Hosted). Learning Curve for Operators
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.
Grafana: Yes, full support | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Free (open-source) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Requires Loki plugin | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Plugin-based with limited support | Kibana: N/A
Mean Time to Response (MTTR) Improvement
Grafana: Available (Apache 2.0) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Alert grouping available | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Requires integration (OnCall) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 58,000+ (as of 2026) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 90+ (Prometheus, Elasticsearch, Datadog, etc.) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: None (external source dependent) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 2-4 (depends on datasource type) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Basic (via connected datasources) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: No—requires external datasource | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 30-60 (needs datasource setup) | Kibana: N/A
Supported Technologies (Languages/Frameworks)
Grafana: 300+ via integrations | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 500K+ monthly active users | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 100+ | Kibana: Elasticsearch/Opensearch only
Grafana: $25-150+ per user | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: PromQL, SQL, or source-native language | Kibana: Lucene syntax + Elasticsearch Query DSL
Grafana: Visualization only (external routing required) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: $0 (open-source) or $9 (Grafana Cloud) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 450+ pre-built plugins | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 100+ via plugins (manual integration required) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 2-5 days (infrastructure knowledge required) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, managed cloud (Grafana Cloud) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Limited; basic alerting rules, ML via separate module | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Community support; no guaranteed SLA | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Unlimited (self-hosted) or 15 days (Grafana Cloud free) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Unlimited on self-hosted; 1 on Grafana Cloud free | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 5-10 minutes | Kibana: 10-15 minutes
Grafana: $79/month | Kibana: $300+/month
Grafana: $0 (free open-source) | Kibana: $0 (Opensearch) or $15-50k (Elasticsearch)
Grafana: Basic text filtering | Kibana: Advanced Lucene/KQL query language
Grafana: Limited (requires integration with APM platforms) | Kibana: Native APM application with service maps & traces
Grafana: AGPL v3 (user-friendly for most use cases) | Kibana: SSPL + Elastic License (restricted distribution)
Grafana: 0.001 seconds (milliseconds) | Kibana: N/A
Enterprise Annual License Cost (Single Server)
Grafana: $0 (self-hosted free tier) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 5-10 (intuitive interface) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Supported via RBAC and data source filtering | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: $10 (Grafana Cloud Starter) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 5,000-10,000 (Loki) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 3-5 (basic anomaly detection) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Basic RBAC, no SIEM module | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: $12,000 for Grafana Enterprise | Kibana: Varies with Elasticsearch cluster size; typically $15,000+
Grafana: Limited—primarily Prometheus-style queries | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Single container with optional Prometheus | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: $0-3 (self-hosted) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: No, requires external tools | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 30-240 minutes (varies) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: No native features | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: $0-2,500 (self-hosted) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 400+ plugins (Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, etc.) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 5-10 seconds (typical) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 7-14 days (JSON, API, plugin config) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: $120-$3,588/year (Grafana Cloud) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: Basic math and aggregation functions | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: No (time-series focused) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 3-5 (via plugins) | Kibana: N/A
Grafana: 80+ | Kibana: Primarily 1 (Elasticsearch)
Grafana: 5-10 minutes with templates | Kibana: 30-60 minutes with configuration
Grafana: Basic text filters | Kibana: Advanced Lucene-based search
Grafana: No (plugin-based) | Kibana: Yes (Elastic APM)
How to choose between Grafana and Kibana
Grafana vs Kibana — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Grafana vs Kibana. Contains 100 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Grafana vs Kibana — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Grafana vs Kibana.
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.
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.
Can Grafana replace Kibana for log analysis?
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.
Can Kibana visualize Prometheus metrics?
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.
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.
How to Choose Between Grafana and Kibana
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.
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.
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.
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.
APM Integration: Grafana has Requires third-party plugins; no native APM, while Kibana has Native Elastic APM integration; seamless observability stack.
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.
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.