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Axiom vs Grafana Cloud

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Axiom and Grafana Cloud built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 27 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Axiom if…

Small projects that want a real telemetry platform for nothing — 500 GB a month loaded with 30-day retention, permanently, is the most generous free allowance in this category.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Choose Grafana Cloud if…

Metrics-heavy monitoring where 13 months of retention matters — that window is an order of magnitude beyond what the error trackers and most telemetry platforms keep.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • Axiom: Query compute is billed as its own meter in GB-hours, so an expensive dashboard costs money even when ingest is inside the allowance.
  • Grafana Cloud: Logs and traces get 30 days rather than 13 months, so the headline retention figure does not describe most of what you send it.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Axiom alternatives · Grafana Cloud alternatives

18 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Axiom documentationVisit Grafana Cloud documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionAxiomGrafana Cloud
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerAlways freeFree tier
What the free plan includes
500 GB of data loading a month, 10 GB-hours of query compute, 25 GB of storage and 30-day retention, with no credit card.
50 GB ingested a month with 14-day retention and community support, described as always free.
Credit card to startNoNo
Entry paid plan
$25/month platform fee for Cloud, plus usage, with no minimum commitment. The plan carries an always-free allowance of 1 TB loaded, 100 GB-hours of query compute and 100 GB stored.
$19/month platform fee for Pro, which includes 10,000 active series before usage billing starts.
Pricing modelA platform fee plus three separate meters — data loaded, query compute in GB-hours, and stored GB — each with an always-free allowance included on every plan and automatic volume discounts above it.A $19 platform fee plus metered usage, with volume discounts applied automatically rather than negotiated. The enterprise tier starts at a $25,000 annual spend commitment.
Infrastructure
Regions
Two, both on AWS: US East 1 and EU Central 1. Axiom calls them edge deployments — you pick one per organisation and event data is stored at rest there, while the console stays at app.axiom.co. Datasets in one organisation can sit in different deployments. New ones are added on request rather than published as a roadmap.
28 region/provider combinations across AWS, GCP and Azure, from US East and EU Germany to UK, India, Singapore, Japan, Brazil and Australia; a stack cannot change region after creation.
Observability
Events includedNot counted in events: 500 GB/month data loading, 10 GB-hours query compute and 25 GB storage on free Personal; 1 TB, 100 GB-hours and 100 GB included in the Cloud platform fee.Free plan, per month: 10k active metrics series; 50 GB each of logs, traces and profiles; 50k frontend-observability sessions; 500 k6 virtual user hours; 100k API test executions. Grafana meters series, GB, sessions and host hours; no event-count meter is published.
Retention window
30 days on the free Personal plan; configurable on Cloud rather than fixed.
13 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, profiles and k6 tests on Pro. The free tier is 14 days for everything.
Session replay
Not supported — Axiom's own product-analytics page sends session replay to dedicated tools.
Limited — Public preview add-on to Frontend Observability, disabled by default and enabled per stack on request.
Self-hostable
Limited — Docs FAQ names a Bring Your Own Cloud plan; the deployment answer on the same page describes only managed Axiom Cloud.
Supported
Ingest price per GBNo per-GB rate published: 1 TB/month of data loading is included in the $25/month Cloud platform fee, with further usage metered as compute credits under automatic volume discounts.From $0.050 per GB processed, falling to $0.046 above 10,000 GB and $0.044 above 25,000 with automatic volume discounts.
Support
Support on entry paid planCommunity support on the free Personal plan; email support on the paid plan, with a paid SLA and dedicated support offered as add-ons.Community support on Free; 8x5 email support on Pro, from $19/month plus usage. Enterprise starts at $25,000/year.
Compliance
SOC 2SOC 2 Type II audited; report available under NDA in the Trust Center.SOC 2 report listed in the Grafana Labs Trust Center, available on request.
ISO 27001ISO 27001 certified information security management.ISO/IEC 27001 certificate and Statement of Applicability listed in the Trust Center.
GDPR / data residencyBuilt to support GDPR with a DPA available; regional residency lets you keep data in your chosen region via the multi-region edge architecture.GDPR, EU-US DPF and UK/Swiss extensions listed in the Trust Center with a DPA; residency comes from choosing one of the published regions at stack creation.
Encryption at restAES-256 at rest and TLS 1.2+ in transit; keys are managed and rotated by Axiom.AES-256 for storage and HTTPS/TLS in transit; Grafana Cloud manages the keys with industry-standard key management systems.
Role-based access controlAvailable as a $50/month self-serve add-on on Axiom Cloud, scoped to datasets and actions.Grafana Cloud administrative controls and role-based access control (RBAC).
Private networking / VPCAWS PrivateLink supported, so AWS workloads can reach Axiom without an internet gateway or NAT.AWS PrivateLink, Azure Private Link and GCP Private Service Connect are documented connectivity options for Grafana Cloud.
Dedicated infrastructure
Multi-tenant by design: workspaces are logically isolated on a managed multi-tenant event store; pricing lists dedicated only as a support add-on.
Bring Your Own Cloud deploys the managed stack into a dedicated cloud account in your AWS or GCP (Azure case-by-case) rather than a Grafana Labs-owned account.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Kind of free offer

Axiom
Always free
Grafana Cloud
Free tier
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Axiom ↗

    “Personal For individual developers and small projects. $0 / month Permanent. No credit card required. → 500 GB/mo data loading → 10 GB-hours query compute → 25 GB storage → 30-day retention → Full APL access”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Grafana Cloud ↗

    “Limited to 50 GB ingested per month 14 day retention Community support”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

What the free plan includes

Axiom

500 GB of data loading a month, 10 GB-hours of query compute, 25 GB of storage and 30-day retention, with no credit card.

Grafana Cloud

50 GB ingested a month with 14-day retention and community support, described as always free.

Sources (2) →
  • Axiom Pricing ↗

    “→ 500 gb/mo data loading → 10 gb-hours query compute → 25 gb storage → 30-day retention → full apl access → all integrations → community support”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Grafana Cloud Pricing ↗

    “Perfect for personal projects, exploring new ideas, and early-stage startups. [...] Limited to 50 GB ingested per month 14 day retention Community support”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction

Entry paid plan

Axiom
$25/month platform fee for Cloud, plus usage, with no minimum commitment. The plan carries an always-free allowance of 1 TB loaded, 100 GB-hours of query compute and 100 GB stored.
Grafana Cloud
$19/month platform fee for Pro, which includes 10,000 active series before usage billing starts.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Axiom ↗

    “Cloud For teams scaling from first deployment to hyperscale. $25 / month Platform fee + usage. No minimum commitment. → Always Free allowance (1 TB / 100 GB-hrs / 100 GB) included”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Grafana Cloud ↗

    “Pro Self-serve From $19 / month + usage with volume discounts [...] Platform fee of $19 per month includes: 10k active series per month then pay as you go 13 months retention”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

Pricing model

Axiom
A platform fee plus three separate meters — data loaded, query compute in GB-hours, and stored GB — each with an always-free allowance included on every plan and automatic volume discounts above it.
Grafana Cloud
A $19 platform fee plus metered usage, with volume discounts applied automatically rather than negotiated. The enterprise tier starts at a $25,000 annual spend commitment.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Axiom ↗

    “Platform fee + usage. No minimum commitment. → Always Free allowance (1 TB / 100 GB-hrs / 100 GB) included → Automatic volume discounts on usage beyond the allowance → Configurable retention”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Grafana Cloud ↗

    “From $19 / month + usage with volume discounts [...] Automatic volume discounts [...] Enterprise Full service Starts at $25,000 / year spend commit”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

Regions

Axiom

Two, both on AWS: US East 1 and EU Central 1. Axiom calls them edge deployments — you pick one per organisation and event data is stored at rest there, while the console stays at app.axiom.co. Datasets in one organisation can sit in different deployments. New ones are added on request rather than published as a roadmap.

Grafana Cloud

28 region/provider combinations across AWS, GCP and Azure, from US East and EU Germany to UK, India, Singapore, Japan, Brazil and Australia; a stack cannot change region after creation.

Sources (2) →

Events included

Axiom
Not counted in events: 500 GB/month data loading, 10 GB-hours query compute and 25 GB storage on free Personal; 1 TB, 100 GB-hours and 100 GB included in the Cloud platform fee.
Grafana Cloud
Free plan, per month: 10k active metrics series; 50 GB each of logs, traces and profiles; 50k frontend-observability sessions; 500 k6 virtual user hours; 100k API test executions. Grafana meters series, GB, sessions and host hours; no event-count meter is published.
Sources (2) →

Retention window

Axiom

30 days on the free Personal plan; configurable on Cloud rather than fixed.

Grafana Cloud

13 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, profiles and k6 tests on Pro. The free tier is 14 days for everything.

Sources (2) →

Session replay

Axiom
Not supported — Axiom's own product-analytics page sends session replay to dedicated tools.
Grafana Cloud
Limited — Public preview add-on to Frontend Observability, disabled by default and enabled per stack on request.
Sources (2) →
  • Product Analytics - Axiom ↗

    “Not a replacement for every analytics tool. Session replay, heatmaps, and marketing attribution still belong in dedicated tools.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

  • Session Replay | Grafana Cloud documentation ↗

    “Grafana Labs offers limited support, and breaking changes might occur prior to the feature being made generally available. [...] Session Replay is disabled by default and must be enabled per Grafana Cloud stack. [...] Session Replay is an add-on feature for Grafana Cloud Frontend Observability”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Self-hostable

Axiom
Limited — Docs FAQ names a Bring Your Own Cloud plan; the deployment answer on the same page describes only managed Axiom Cloud.
Grafana Cloud
Supported
Sources (2) →

Ingest price per GB

Axiom
No per-GB rate published: 1 TB/month of data loading is included in the $25/month Cloud platform fee, with further usage metered as compute credits under automatic volume discounts.
Grafana Cloud
From $0.050 per GB processed, falling to $0.046 above 10,000 GB and $0.044 above 25,000 with automatic volume discounts.
Sources (2) →

Support on entry paid plan

Axiom
Community support on the free Personal plan; email support on the paid plan, with a paid SLA and dedicated support offered as add-ons.
Grafana Cloud
Community support on Free; 8x5 email support on Pro, from $19/month plus usage. Enterprise starts at $25,000/year.
Sources (2) →
  • Axiom Pricing ↗

    “all integrations → community support [...] email support (paid SLA + dedicated available)”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Grafana Cloud Pricing ↗

    “benefits: all Grafana Cloud services, with limited usage community support 14 days retention for metrics, logs, traces, profiles, & k6 performance tests [...] everything in free plus: pay as you go above the free tier 8x5 email support 13 months retention for metrics”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

SOC 2

Axiom
SOC 2 Type II audited; report available under NDA in the Trust Center.
Grafana Cloud
SOC 2 report listed in the Grafana Labs Trust Center, available on request.
Sources (2) →

ISO 27001

Axiom
ISO 27001 certified information security management.
Grafana Cloud
ISO/IEC 27001 certificate and Statement of Applicability listed in the Trust Center.
Sources (2) →

GDPR / data residency

Axiom
Built to support GDPR with a DPA available; regional residency lets you keep data in your chosen region via the multi-region edge architecture.
Grafana Cloud
GDPR, EU-US DPF and UK/Swiss extensions listed in the Trust Center with a DPA; residency comes from choosing one of the published regions at stack creation.
Sources (2) →

Encryption at rest

Axiom
AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.2+ in transit; keys are managed and rotated by Axiom.
Grafana Cloud
AES-256 for storage and HTTPS/TLS in transit; Grafana Cloud manages the keys with industry-standard key management systems.
Sources (2) →

Role-based access control

Axiom
Available as a $50/month self-serve add-on on Axiom Cloud, scoped to datasets and actions.
Grafana Cloud
Grafana Cloud administrative controls and role-based access control (RBAC).
Sources (2) →
  • Security | Axiom Docs ↗

    “SAML-based SSO, role-based access control (RBAC), and full access to the audit log are available as add-ons on the Axiom Cloud plan.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Trust Center ↗

    “Customers can manage access using Grafana Cloud administrative controls and role-based access control (RBAC).”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

Private networking / VPC

Axiom
AWS PrivateLink supported, so AWS workloads can reach Axiom without an internet gateway or NAT.
Grafana Cloud
AWS PrivateLink, Azure Private Link and GCP Private Service Connect are documented connectivity options for Grafana Cloud.
Sources (2) →

Dedicated infrastructure

Axiom
Multi-tenant by design: workspaces are logically isolated on a managed multi-tenant event store; pricing lists dedicated only as a support add-on.
Grafana Cloud
Bring Your Own Cloud deploys the managed stack into a dedicated cloud account in your AWS or GCP (Azure case-by-case) rather than a Grafana Labs-owned account.
Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

When you exceed a capAxiom: Billed, then paused per meter. Charges accrue past the Always Free allowance until they reach the spending limit you set, at which point Axiom stops the actions that cost money — and it stops them meter by meter: exhausting query compute halts queries and the monitors that depend on them while ingestion keeps running on an unspent data-loading allowance. Axiom says plainly that this can interrupt service.
Uptime SLAAxiom: Sold rather than included: the paid plan lists a paid SLA alongside dedicated support. No percentage is published on the pricing page.
Query priceAxiom: Metered in GB-hours of query compute: 10 GB-hours/month free on Personal and 100 GB-hours/month included on Cloud; no per-GB-hour rate is published.
Audit logsAxiom: Every access and configuration change is recorded to an immutable audit trail you can query in APL like any other dataset.
HIPAAAxiom: BAA available on the Axiom Cloud plan once the RBAC, SAML SSO and audit-log add-ons are enabled; sessions then time out after 24 hours.
PCI DSSGrafana Cloud: PCI DSS v4.0.1 listed among Trust Center compliance documents.
Customer-managed keysGrafana Cloud: Keys are managed by Grafana Cloud with industry-standard key management systems. — Read from the Grafana Assistant security page, which describes how Grafana Cloud stores customer data.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Axiom or Grafana Cloud?

Axiom: $25/month platform fee for Cloud, plus usage, with no minimum commitment. The plan carries an always-free allowance of 1 TB loaded, 100 GB-hours of query compute and 100 GB stored.

Grafana Cloud: $19/month platform fee for Pro, which includes 10,000 active series before usage billing starts.

Should I choose Axiom or Grafana Cloud?

Pick Axiom if Small projects that want a real telemetry platform for nothing — 500 GB a month loaded with 30-day retention, permanently, is the most generous free allowance in this category.

Pick Grafana Cloud if Metrics-heavy monitoring where 13 months of retention matters — that window is an order of magnitude beyond what the error trackers and most telemetry platforms keep.

Provider pages

AxiomEvent platform for logs and traces with a permanent free allowance on every plan and separate compute billing for queries.Grafana CloudHosted Grafana, Loki, Mimir and Tempo with a small platform fee, usage billing and unusually long metrics retention.

Related comparisons

Axiom vs Better StackAxiom vs DatadogAxiom vs Elastic CloudAxiom vs GlitchTipAxiom vs OpenObserveAxiom vs SentryAxiom vs SigNozBetter Stack vs Grafana Cloud

Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.