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Graphite

Graphite to Grafana Cloud

What it’s for: Teams migrating from Graphite who want managed storage in Grafana Cloud.

For Graphite metrics, you can use either Telegraf or OpenTelemetry as a bridge to Grafana Cloud.

Graphite to Grafana Cloud options

Option 1: Telegraf

Best for: Teams migrating from Graphite who want managed storage

ProsCons
Simple Graphite input pluginAnother tool to manage
Prometheus remote write outputInfluxData ecosystem
Well-documented, mature

Option 2: OpenTelemetry Collector

ProsCons
Unified collector for metrics, logs, tracesMore complex configuration
Graphite receiver built-inNewer, less Graphite-specific docs
Modern, vendor-neutral standard

Note: The OpenTelemetry docs mention Grafana Alloy as the recommended collector. Alloy is Grafana’s distribution of the OTel Collector. If you’re starting fresh, consider using Grafana Alloy. This course is for teams already running the standard OTel Collector.

Documentation

View the full documentation. Learning path coming soon!

Script

If you’re running Graphite, you have two main options for sending metrics to Grafana Cloud: Telegraf and OpenTelemetry.

Telegraf is InfluxData’s collection agent, but it works with many formats including Graphite. You can configure Telegraf to receive Graphite metrics and output them in Prometheus remote write format. It’s a straightforward bridge if you’re already familiar with Telegraf.

OpenTelemetry is the more modern approach. The OpenTelemetry Collector can receive Graphite metrics and export them via OTLP to Grafana Cloud. This is a good choice if you’re moving toward OpenTelemetry as a standard, or if you want a single collector that handles multiple telemetry types.

Both approaches work well. Telegraf is simpler if you just need Graphite-to-Prometheus translation. OpenTelemetry is more flexible if you’re also handling logs and traces, or if you want to consolidate on a single collector.

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