---
title: "Two approaches | Grafana Labs"
description: "Compare storing data in Grafana Cloud vs. visualizing without storing."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

## Two approaches to cloud observability

[Two approaches comparison: Store in Grafana Cloud vs Visualize Without Storing](cp-olly-two-approaches-1.svg "Two approaches comparison: Store in Grafana Cloud vs Visualize Without Storing")

| Approach                          | Best for                                                        | Product                          |
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| **Store in Grafana Cloud**        | Long-term retention, unified alerting, cross-cloud visibility   | **Cloud Provider Observability** |
| **Visualize Without Storing**     | Quick setup, cost sensitivity, existing cloud investments       | Grafana Data Sources             |
| **Store in Self-Managed Backend** | Data residency requirements, existing Mimir/Loki infrastructure | Grafana Alloy                    |

## Which approach is right for you?

Most organizations benefit from storing data, which unlocks unified alerting, cross-cloud correlation, and long-term analysis. But if you just need quick visualizations of existing cloud data, data source connections work great too.

> Note
> 
> If you’re running self-managed Grafana with your own Mimir/Loki backends, you can use [Grafana Alloy](https://grafana.com/docs/alloy/latest/) to collect cloud provider data and store it in your own infrastructure. The Alloy collection methods covered in this course apply to both Grafana Cloud and self-managed scenarios.

Continue to learn more, then choose your path after the prerequisites.