GlitchTip vs Grafana Cloud
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of GlitchTip and Grafana Cloud built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose GlitchTip if…
Anyone who wants Sentry-shaped error tracking without Sentry's bill — the SDKs are compatible, so switching is a DSN change, and self-hosting is free and genuinely supported.
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…
- GlitchTip: It tracks errors and nothing else. No tracing, no replays, no uptime monitoring, so a team wanting one pane of glass will be assembling it from parts.
- 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.
3 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
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.
GlitchTip 0
Grafana Cloud 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | GlitchTip | Grafana Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million | $19/month platform fee for Pro, which includes 10,000 active series before usage billing starts. |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all | 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 | ||
| Retention window | 90 days by default when self-hosted, set by GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS and configurable per data type — events, transactions, logs, uptime checks and files all inherit it, releases keep 365 days. Events move from Postgres to cold storage after 30 days but stay queryable. GlitchTip publishes no retention figure for its hosted plans. | 13 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, profiles and k6 tests on Pro. The free tier is 14 days for everything. |
| Self-hostable | Supported | Supported |
Where they differ.
Entry paid plan
- GlitchTip
- $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million
- Grafana Cloud
- $19/month platform fee for Pro, which includes 10,000 active series before usage billing starts.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — GlitchTip ↗
“Up to 100k events/mo [...] $15 / month [...] Up to 500k events/mo [...] $50 / month [...] Up to 3 million events/mo [...] $250 / month”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- 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
Pricing model
- GlitchTip
- Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to paying at all
- 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 ↓
- Pricing — GlitchTip ↗
“Self-hosted version Free [...] Up to 100k events/mo $15 / month [...] Up to 500k events/mo $50 / month [...] Up to 3 million events/mo $250 / month”
Read 2026-09-06 · 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
Retention window
- GlitchTip
- 90 days by default when self-hosted, set by GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS and configurable per data type — events, transactions, logs, uptime checks and files all inherit it, releases keep 365 days. Events move from Postgres to cold storage after 30 days but stay queryable. GlitchTip publishes no retention figure for its hosted plans.
- 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) →Sources ↓
- Installation — GlitchTip documentation ↗
“Data Retention [...] GlitchTip automatically cleans up old data based on configurable retention periods. [...] GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS 90 Master default for all retention periods [...] GLITCHTIP_EVENT_HOT_DAYS 30 Days to keep events in PostgreSQL before archival [...] GLITCHTIP_RELEASE_RETENTION_DAYS 365 Release retention”
Read 2026-09-06 · official docs
- Pricing — Grafana Cloud ↗
“13 months retention for metrics; 30 days retention for logs, traces, profiles, & k6 performance tests [...] Limited to 50 GB ingested per month 14 day retention”
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.
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.
Entry paid plan: GlitchTip or Grafana Cloud?
GlitchTip: $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million
Grafana Cloud: $19/month platform fee for Pro, which includes 10,000 active series before usage billing starts.
Should I choose GlitchTip or Grafana Cloud?
Pick GlitchTip if Anyone who wants Sentry-shaped error tracking without Sentry's bill — the SDKs are compatible, so switching is a DSN change, and self-hosting is free and genuinely supported.
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.