# Grafana Cloud vs OpenObserve

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/grafana-cloud-vs-openobserve/

Every value below is read from Grafana Cloud's and OpenObserve's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Grafana Cloud | OpenObserve |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | 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. | Two meters and nothing else: $0.50 per GB ingested and $0.01 per GB queried, with retention included rather than sold as a tier. OpenObserve frames it as no hidden tiers and no surprise bills. |
| Retention window | 13 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, profiles and k6 tests on Pro. The free tier is 14 days for everything. | Included rather than priced: 15 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, RUM and everything else, at no extra cost on pay-as-you-go. |
| Self-hostable | Supported | Supported |
| Ingest price per GB | From $0.050 per GB processed, falling to $0.046 above 10,000 GB and $0.044 above 25,000 with automatic volume discounts. | $0.50 per GB ingested, quoted with a 30% annual-commitment discount already applied. |

## Where they differ

### Pricing model

- 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. ([source](https://grafana.com/pricing/))
- OpenObserve: Two meters and nothing else: $0.50 per GB ingested and $0.01 per GB queried, with retention included rather than sold as a tier. OpenObserve frames it as no hidden tiers and no surprise bills. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing))

### Retention window

- 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. ([source](https://grafana.com/pricing/))
- OpenObserve: Included rather than priced: 15 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, RUM and everything else, at no extra cost on pay-as-you-go. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing))

### Ingest price per GB

- 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. ([source](https://grafana.com/pricing/))
- OpenObserve: $0.50 per GB ingested, quoted with a 30% annual-commitment discount already applied. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

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.

Pick OpenObserve if Teams that want one bill they can predict — ingest, query, and retention included — with session replay and RUM in the same product rather than as separate purchases.

Consider something else: 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.

Consider something else: OpenObserve — Ingest is $0.50 per GB against Grafana Cloud's $0.050, so the simplicity costs an order of magnitude at volume.

## Documented by only one

- Free tier: Grafana Cloud: Yes
- Entry paid plan: Grafana Cloud: $19/month platform fee for Pro, which includes 10,000 active series before usage billing starts.
- Session replay: OpenObserve: Supported
- Query price: OpenObserve: $0.01 per GB queried, billed separately from ingest.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Should I choose Grafana Cloud or OpenObserve?**

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.
Pick OpenObserve if Teams that want one bill they can predict — ingest, query, and retention included — with session replay and RUM in the same product rather than as separate purchases.