Elastic Cloud vs Grafana Cloud
A comparison of Elastic Cloud and Grafana Cloud built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- Pick Elastic Cloud if
- Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
- 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.
2 sourced criteria separate them:
- Free tier
- Elastic Cloud: No
- Grafana Cloud: Yes
- Pricing model
- Elastic Cloud: Hosted: resource-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. Serverless: usage-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid.
- 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.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Elastic Cloud 0
Grafana Cloud 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Elastic Cloud | Grafana Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Pricing model | Hosted: resource-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. Serverless: usage-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. | 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. |
| Observability | ||
| Self-hostable | Supported | Supported |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- Elastic Cloud
- No
- Grafana Cloud
- Yes
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“Only a free trial is offered on this page; no ongoing free tier is listed alongside the Hosted and Serverless plans.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- Pricing — Grafana Cloud ↗
“Limited to 50 GB ingested per month 14 day retention Community support”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Elastic Cloud
- Hosted: resource-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid. Serverless: usage-based pricing, pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid.
- 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) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“Hosted: Resource based pricing. Pay as you go (monthly) or prepaid. Serverless: Usage based pricing. Pay as you go (monthly) or prepaid.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing
- 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
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Which should you choose?
Choose Elastic Cloud if…
Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
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…
- Elastic Cloud: The need is narrowly error tracking or APM — a purpose-built tool is usually simpler to operate than standing up an Elasticsearch cluster for one workload, and Elastic Cloud's per-resource pricing doesn't publish a flat entry price the way single-purpose competitors do.
- 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.
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.
Questions this comparison answers.
Free tier: Elastic Cloud or Grafana Cloud?
Elastic Cloud: No
Grafana Cloud: Yes
Should I choose Elastic Cloud or Grafana Cloud?
Pick Elastic Cloud if Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
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.