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Understand Grafana Cloud usage limits

Grafana Cloud continuously provides your account limits in the following metrics:

  • grafanacloud_instance_metrics_limits
  • grafanacloud_logs_instance_limits
  • grafanacloud_traces_instance_limits

To find these limits in your Grafana Cloud instance:

  1. Click Explore (compass icon).
  2. Select grafanacloud-usage from the drop-down menu.
  3. In the Metrics browser query field, enter the metric, for example grafanacloud_instance_metrics_limits.
  4. Click Run query.

The label limit_name provides the specific limit. See below for a complete reference.

Metric usage limits

To increase metrics usage limits, contact Grafana Support.

Ingestion limits

Limit nameLimit descriptionDefault limit
ingestion_rateThe maximum number of ingested samples per second for a series.10,000
ingestion_burst_sizeThe maximum allowed ingestion burst size in number of samples.200,000
max_global_series_per_metricThe total maximum series for each metric across the entire instance.20,000
max_global_series_per_userThe total maximum series for each user in an instance.150,000
max_global_exemplars_per_userThe total maximum exemplars for each user in an instance.100,000

Query limits

Limit nameLimit descriptionDefault limit
max_partial_query_lengthThe maximum time range for partial queries at the querier level.768h
max_series_per_queryThe maximum number of unique series for which a query can fetch samples100,000

Rules limits

Limit nameLimit descriptionDefault limit
ruler_max_rule_groups_per_tenantThe maximum number of rule groups for an instance.35
ruler_max_rules_per_rule_groupThe maximum number of rules per rule group for an instance.20

Logs usage limits

Ingestion limits

Limit nameLimit descriptionDefault limit
ingestion_rate_mbPer-user ingestion rate in MB.5
max_global_streams_per_userThe maximum number of active streams per user, across ingesters.5,000
retention_periodCompactor retention for storage, in hours.744
max_line_sizeThe maximum size of a log line. This limit can’t be modified.256kb
max_label_names_per_seriesThe maximum number of labels per stream.15
max_label_name_lengthThe maximum size label name.1024
max_label_value_lengthThe maximum size label value.2048

Query limits

Limit nameLimit descriptionDefault limit
max_query_lengthThe maximum time range for partial queries at the querier level.721h
max_query_lookbackQuerier limit on how far back data can be queried.0 (disabled)
max_query_seriesThe maximum unique series that can be returned by a metric query.500

Traces usage limits

Limit nameLimit descriptionDefault limit
max_bytes_per_traceThe maximum size of a trace in bytes.3,000,000
ingestion_rate_limit_bytesPer-user ingestion rate limit in bytes.500,000
ingestion_burst_size_bytesPer ingestion burst size in bytes.500,000
block_retentionThe duration to keep blocks/traces in seconds.2,592,000

Discarded Spans panel in the Billing dashboard

In the Billing dashboard, there is a panel that shows Discarded Spans and a color-coded legend with a reason why the spans were discarded. The table that follows defines each of those reasons.

Reason for discarded spanDescription
internal errorA general error that should be further explained in the logs.
live_traces_exceededExceeded the max number of traces allowed in the ingester per tenant.
rate limitedExceeded the ingestion_rate_limit_bytes limit.
trace_too_largeExceeded the max_bytes_per_trace limit.

You can use grafanacloud_traces_instance_percentage_complete_traces_flushed metric. This metric has a value between 0 and 1, indicating the percentage of traces without any orphaned spans when the trace is flushed to storage.

In addition, you can use the grafanacloud_traces_instance_discarded_spans_total:rate5m metric to review the number of discarded spans, including the reasons for discarding, in 5 minute periods.

Grafana Cloud usage

Grafana Cloud continuously provides your account usage in the following metrics:

  • grafanacloud_instance_metrics_*
  • grafanacloud_logs_instance_*
  • grafanacloud_traces_instance_*

For example, to monitor log stream count, you can use grafanacloud_logs_instance_active_streams.

Cloud Traces usage

If you need to have a limit raised, then contact Grafana Support for assistance.

MetricDescription
grafanacloud_traces_instance_bytes_received_per_secondNumber of bytes received by each Grafana Cloud Traces stack for the organization.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_created_dateDate (milliseconds since epoch) when the instance was created.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_discarded_spans_total:rate5mNumber of discarded spans, including the reasons for discarding, in 5 minute periods.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_percentage_complete_traces_flushedA value between 0 and 1 indicating the percentage of traces without any orphaned spans when the trace is flushed to storage.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_infoInformation about the instance such as org ID and customer ID.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_limitsSpan volume limits for the organization, on a per-stack basis.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_queries_per_secondNumber of queries that are carried out on a per-second rate basis.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_spans_received_total:rate5mNumber of spans received by each Grafana Cloud Traces stack for the organization, in 5 minute periods.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_usageBillable trace usage over the last month for stacks in the organization.
grafanacloud_traces_instance_metrics_generator_active_seriesNumber of active series being generated via ingested spans.