---
title: "Get started in Grafana Cloud | Grafana Cloud documentation"
description: "How to get started with Grafana Cloud"
---

# Get started with Grafana Cloud

You have several ways to get started with Grafana Cloud, but the first step is to sign up for an account.

## Obtain an account

The first step is to [create a Grafana Cloud account](/docs/grafana-cloud/get-started/create-account/).

## Connect or send data

Determine whether you want your data to be managed outside of Grafana Cloud, or sent to and managed in Grafana Cloud.

### Connect externally managed data to Grafana Cloud

Connect your [externally managed data](/docs/grafana-cloud/get-started/connect-send/#externally-managed-data-connected-to-grafana-cloud) to Grafana Cloud with a data source, and create a dashboard to visualize your data.

### Send data to Grafana Cloud

Send your telemetry data to Grafana Cloud. To learn more, refer to [Data managed in Grafana Cloud](/docs/grafana-cloud/get-started/connect-send/#data-managed-in-grafana-cloud).