Section 1 · Drilldown fundamentals

What the Drilldown apps are and when to use them

Estimated time: 2 min

What are the Grafana Drilldown apps?

Grafana Drilldown apps are queryless interfaces for metrics, logs, profiles, and traces. You point, click, and filter.

This journey covers Metrics Drilldown and Logs Drilldown. Profiles Drilldown and Traces Drilldown are the other two apps. In Grafana 12 and later, Grafana includes the Drilldown apps in the same Drilldown section.

What you can do

  • Navigate metrics by label and by keywords in the search bar, and logs by service, label, field, and text
  • Filter without writing PromQL or LogQL
  • Visualize metrics and log volume automatically
  • Continue in Explore to see the same selections there. For logs, Explore opens with a query based on what you selected. For metrics, Explore opens the visualization.

From the Grafana menu, select Drilldown, then Metrics or Logs.

What each tool is for

ToolWhat it is for
Drilldown appsInvestigate metrics or logs without writing a query
ExploreQuery and analyze data directly. From a logs panel, Explore opens with a query based on your selections. From a metrics panel, Explore opens the visualization
Add to DashboardOn a Logs Drilldown panel, add that panel to a new or existing dashboard, when the action is shown
Create alertOn a Logs Drilldown panel, create an alert rule from the panel query, when the action is shown