Comparing Level 1 approaches
Level 1 courses for getting data into Grafana Cloud
| Approach | Course | Best for | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Integrations (recommended) | Introduction to integrations | Common technologies, starting fresh | Pre-built dashboards, alerts, Alloy config |
| External collectors | This course | Already running Prometheus, InfluxDB, etc. | Keep your setup, Grafana Cloud storage |
| Data sources | Introduction to data sources | Data must stay in place | Query without storing |
| Cloud providers | Introduction to Cloud Provider Observability | AWS, Azure, GCP resources | Native cloud metrics and logs |
Not sure? If you’re starting fresh or want the easiest path, start with Integrations. Come back here if you have existing collectors you want to keep.
Script
Before we go further, let’s see how this course fits alongside the other ways to get data into Grafana Cloud. There are several Level 1 courses that cover data ingestion, and each serves a different scenario.
Integrations is our recommended starting point for most users. You get pre-built dashboards, alerts, and Grafana Alloy configuration out of the box. If you’re monitoring common technologies like Linux, databases, or Kubernetes, integrations are the fastest path.
This course, Send Data from External Collectors, is for when you already have collection infrastructure. You’re running Prometheus, InfluxDB, Graphite, or something else, and you want to keep using it. You just need Grafana Cloud as your storage backend.
Data Sources is for when your data needs to stay where it is. Maybe for compliance reasons, maybe because you already have a working setup. Grafana queries the data directly without storing a copy.
Cloud Provider Observability is specifically for AWS, Azure, and GCP. It gives you native cloud metrics without running collectors in your cloud accounts.
Take a look at the comparison table. If you’re not sure which approach fits your situation, this should help clarify.