Documentation Grafana Cloud Introduction Find and use plugins

Find and use Grafana plugins

Plugins extend Grafana by adding capabilities that are not available by default. For example, you can install plugins that add the ability to import data from diverse sources, that bundle data sources and panels, or that provide new visualization types for use in dashboards.

To find new plugins, browse the Grafana plugins catalog which is available both within Grafana and on the Grafana website.

Types of plugins

Grafana supports three types of plugins:

• Panels: These plugins make it easy to create and add any kind of visualization, to show your data, or improve your favorite dashboards.
• Data sources: These plugins allow you to pull data from various data sources such as databases, APIs, log files, and so on, and display it in the form of graphs, charts, and dashboards in Grafana.
• Apps: These plugins enable the bundling of data sources, panels, dashboards, and Grafana pages into a cohesive experience.

Installing plugins

You can install plugins to your Grafana Cloud server from the Grafana plugins catalog. After you request an installation, it may take a few minutes for the plugin to become available. To ensure no loss of availability, a new instance with the plugin installed is started in the background. Refresh your browser window to determine when the plugin is ready for use.

Before installing any plugins, add the list of source IP addresses to your allowlist.

Install a plugin from the Grafana website

1. Browse the Grafana plugin catalog to find a plugin.
2. Go to the Installation tab.
3. Optional: Select the desired version. We strongly recommend running the latest version of plugins.
4. Click Install plugin on the appropriate Grafana instance.

Install a plugin from Grafana

1. In Grafana’s right-hand menu, click Administration > Plugins and data > Plugins to view installed plugins.
2. Click the All filter to browse all available plugins.
3. Click the Data sources, Panels, or Applications buttons to filter by plugin type.
4. Click the logo of the plugin you want to install.
5. Click install.

Install a plugin using Terraform

To install a plugin using Terraform see Learn how to install plugins in Grafana Cloud using Terraform.

Available features

Besides the extension of functionality, other plugin features include:

• Plugin signature verification. Also known as signing, this security measure makes sure plugins haven’t been tampered with. Upon loading, Grafana checks to see if a plugin is signed or unsigned.
• Customization of the location where your app plugin pages appear in the navigation menu.
• Backend communication between installed plugins.
• Improved security by isolating plugins with the Plugin Frontend Sandbox.

For more information on Grafana plugins, refer to the Plugin Management documentation.