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OpenTelemetry Protocol (logs)

OTLP for logs

What it’s for: Teams already using OpenTelemetry Collector or SDKs who want a unified pipeline for logs, metrics, and traces.

OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) is the standard way to send structured logs to Grafana Cloud’s Loki backend.

OTLP logs flow

Trade-offs

Best for: Teams using OpenTelemetry Collector or SDKs

ProsCons
Same protocol for logs, metrics, tracesRequires OTLP-compatible source
Structured logs with attributes preservedMore setup than simple HTTP
Native Loki support
Unified telemetry pipeline

Note: The linked documentation mentions Grafana Alloy as the recommended collector. Alloy is Grafana’s distribution of the OTel Collector with additional features. If you’re starting fresh, consider Alloy. This course is for teams already running the standard OTel Collector.

Documentation

View the full documentation. Learning path coming soon!

OpenTelemetry to Grafana Cloud

Script

OpenTelemetry Protocol, or OTLP, is the standard way to send logs if you’re using OpenTelemetry. It’s the same protocol used for metrics and traces, which means you can use a single endpoint and a single collector for all your telemetry.

Grafana Cloud’s Loki backend accepts OTLP logs natively. If you’re running the OpenTelemetry Collector, you configure it to export logs to Grafana Cloud’s OTLP endpoint. If your applications use OpenTelemetry SDKs, they can send logs directly.

OTLP logs include structured data like attributes, resource information, and severity levels, all preserved when they arrive in Loki. This makes querying and filtering more powerful than plain text logs.

This is the recommended approach if you’re building on OpenTelemetry or want a unified telemetry pipeline. It’s modern, well-supported, and gives you the most flexibility.

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