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Grafana Cloud

Understand metrics usage and cost

View your Prometheus metrics usage in Grafana Cloud using the Metrics section in the Usage tab. Use this information to monitor your consumption patterns and manage costs effectively.

Measure metrics usage

Grafana Cloud calculates metrics usage by looking at two primary components:

  • Active series: The number of unique time series that have received data within the last 20 minutes
  • Data points per minute (DPM): The number of individual data points sent to Grafana Cloud per minute

Active series billing

A time series becomes active when it receives new data points. When you stop writing new data points to a time series, it’s no longer considered active after 20 minutes. This applies to both Hosted Prometheus and Hosted Graphite.

Query the grafanacloud_instance_active_series metric in the grafanacloud-usage data source to view your active series data.

OpenTelemetry

There’s no additional cost for series ingested via the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) beyond standard active-series pricing. Use the grafanacloud_instance_active_otlp_series metric in the grafanacloud-usage data source to monitor usage and track OpenTelemetry Protocol adoption.

Data points per minute billing

Data points per minute (DPM) represent individual measured occurrences or samples of a metric within a time series. Each data point consists of a unique value and timestamp.

Calculate your DPM by multiplying your active series count by the number of data points per series per minute. Query the grafanacloud_instance_samples_per_second metric in the grafanacloud-usage data source and multiply by 60 to convert to minutes.

Calculate the bill

Grafana Cloud determines your usage based on the 95th percentile of both active series and total DPM over each billing period. This approach forgives the top 5% of usage time (approximately 36 hours per month) to avoid billing for temporary spikes.

Your usage equals the maximum of either:

  • Active series count
  • Total DPM divided by included DPM per series

Grafana Cloud Pro includes 1 DPM per active series. If your average DPM per active series exceeds this included amount, billing bases on total DPM.

Before you begin

You must have the permissions granted by the Billing and usage reader role.

View metrics usage in the app

Note

The Cost Management and Billing App will be available either in the top level navigation of your Grafana instance, or under More apps.

Access detailed Metrics usage information:

  1. Sign in to your Grafana Cloud instance.
  2. Navigate to Cost Management and Billing.
  3. Select the Usage tab.
  4. Find the Metrics option in the products drop-down menu and select it.

The interface displays:

  • Current usage: Your consumption during the selected billing period compared to plan limits
  • Usage trends: Historical metrics consumption patterns in interactive graphs
  • Cost information: Costs associated with your metrics usage, including overages beyond your subscription plan