Understand Grafana Assistant pricing and usage

Grafana Assistant and Grafana Assistant Investigations in Grafana Cloud have no charge until January 1, 2026. After that date, billing begins based on usage. This article explains how pricing works, defines billing terms, and shows you where to find current rates and included usage.

Pricing details and plan tiers change over time. Refer to the Grafana pricing page for the latest rates and what each plan includes. Different plan types offer different pricing structures and included usage, including free tiers for trial and limited use.

Before you begin

Confirm you can open Assistant and Assistant Investigations in your stack.
Connect with your Grafana Labs account contact for billing and usage questions.

Understand what is billed

Assistant and Assistant Investigations are separate products with independent billing. Each product has its own billing unit and pricing model.

Assistant is billed per active user per month. This billing is independent from other Grafana Cloud features like visualization or IRM.

Assistant Investigations is billed per investigation. This billing is independent from Assistant. You can use one product without using the other.

The LLM plugin is open source and has no charge.

Know the pricing model

The pricing model uses different billing units for each product. Grafana Cloud offers different plan types for Assistant, including self-serve and contracted options. Each plan type has different pricing structures and included usage allowances. Refer to the Grafana pricing page for current plan details and what’s included in each tier.

Active users

An active user is anyone who sends a message to Assistant, presses an action button like Explain this panel, or uses another Assistant feature within the billing period. The billing period is one month.

Grafana Labs employees working on your stack on behalf of your organization don’t count as active users. This applies when Grafana Labs staff provide support or troubleshooting assistance.

Fair usage limits

Fair usage limits define a soft threshold for usage. Going past a fair usage limit doesn’t block access or stop the product from working. Grafana Labs may contact you if usage stays above the limit to align on your plans and ensure the pricing model fits your needs.

Volume discounts

Volume discounts are available for contracted accounts. Assistant and Assistant Investigations are billed separately, so discounts are applied per product rather than bundled across both.

View usage analytics

The Usage Analytics dashboard helps you track consumption and plan your budget before billing begins.

Navigate to Assistant > Usage to access the Usage Analytics dashboard. This dashboard shows active users, messages, and investigations for your stack. Admins have access to this dashboard by default through the grafana-assistant-app.usage:read permission.

You can filter the dashboard by time range to understand adoption patterns and usage trends before billing starts. Use the time range picker to select Last 7 days, Last 30 days, or Last 90 days. This helps you plan budgets and communicate with stakeholders about expected costs.

Ask your Grafana Labs contact for usage summaries if you don’t have access to Usage Analytics. Your contact can provide reports and help you understand your usage patterns.

Control access and limits

You can manage who has access to Assistant and configure usage caps before billing begins. Use the limits control to set monthly user caps or RBAC to restrict access to specific users and teams.

Set usage limits

Navigate to Assistant > Usage and click the Limits button in the controls bar. This opens the usage limits settings where you can configure the maximum unique users per month for your stack.

Set the limit to 0 to disable the cap and allow unlimited usage. When you set a positive number, the system tracks monthly active users against this cap. The settings display your current monthly active users count alongside the configured limit.

The limits control requires the grafana-assistant-app.usage:write permission. Changes save automatically after a short delay.

Restrict access with RBAC

Use role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict Assistant access to specific users or teams. You can modify custom roles to include or exclude Assistant permissions. This gives you fine-grained control over who can use Assistant features.

Changing basic role definitions to remove Assistant access may have other impacts on user permissions. Contact Grafana Labs support if you need help with RBAC configuration. Your support contact can review your requirements and recommend the best approach for restricting access or managing costs.

Plan for billing and communication

Prepare for the billing transition by understanding the timeline and communication plan.

Billing starts on January 1, 2026 for Assistant and Assistant Investigations. Grafana Labs will send email notifications and display in-product banners before billing starts. Stay subscribed to product updates for your organization to receive these notifications.

Use the free period to validate workflows and measure adoption. Review your usage dashboard regularly to understand patterns. This helps you decide how many users or investigations to budget for once billing begins.

Assistant remains enabled by default when billing starts. If you want to restrict access or turn off Assistant before January 1, 2026, review your usage dashboard and adjust access controls. Refer to Control access and limits for configuration options.