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Grafana Cloud

Understand Grafana Assistant usage and cost

View your Grafana Assistant token usage in the Usage tab of the Cost Management and Billing app, alongside your other Grafana Cloud usage data. Use this information to understand who uses Assistant, how token consumption contributes to your costs, and how adoption changes over time.

Before you begin

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

Measure Assistant usage

Assistant usage is measured in active AI users and AI tokens. A token is the basic unit of content that an AI model processes.

Grafana Cloud attributes token usage based on how the AI interaction starts:

  • User token usage comes from a person using Assistant. For example, sending a message or selecting an Assistant action. For the full list of activity that counts as user token usage, refer to Understand user token usage.
  • System-initiated token usage comes from Assistant API requests authenticated with a Grafana service account.

For the definitions of active AI users, included allowances, and how charges apply, refer to Understand your Grafana Assistant invoice.

View Assistant usage in the app

To access Assistant usage information:

  1. Sign in to your Grafana Cloud instance.
  2. In the navigation menu, select Cost Management and Billing.
  3. Select the Usage tab.
  4. In the Products Breakdown section, select Grafana Assistant from the View usage of dropdown menu.

Understand the Assistant usage breakdown

The Assistant usage view summarizes consumption for your organization and breaks it down by the user or service account that generated it.

The summary includes:

  • Total token usage: The AI tokens consumed during the selected period
  • Active users: The people who used Assistant during the selected period
  • Service accounts: The service accounts that made Assistant API requests during the selected period
  • Usage cost: The costs associated with your Assistant usage, including usage beyond the amounts included with your plan

The breakdown lists each user and service account with their token usage, separated into included and additional usage. Included usage draws from the allowance that comes with your plan. Additional usage is the portion above that allowance, and it contributes to your costs.

Use the breakdown to find which users and service accounts consume the most tokens, and to see whether a cost increase comes from people using Assistant or from automated API requests.

Compare usage across time periods

Filter the view by time period to compare Assistant usage between periods. Comparing periods helps you track adoption, spot usage trends, and plan for future costs.