Journey summary
Six things to remember
| # | Takeaway |
|---|---|
| 1 | External collectors work: Bring your own collectors, let Grafana Cloud store |
| 2 | Match method to source: Prometheus → remote write, InfluxDB → exporter, Graphite → carbon-relay-ng, etc. |
| 3 | OpenTelemetry is universal: OTLP works for both metrics and logs |
| 4 | HTTP API is flexible: Any HTTP client can send logs |
| 5 | Grafana Cloud Metrics stores metrics: Prometheus-compatible, scalable |
| 6 | Grafana Cloud Logs stores logs: Query with LogQL, correlate with metrics |
If you’re starting fresh, Grafana recommends collecting with Grafana Alloy, or a Grafana Cloud integration for common systems. This journey is for teams sending data from existing collectors.
Quick reference
| Your source | Method | Destination |
|---|---|---|
| Prometheus | Remote write | Grafana Cloud Metrics |
| InfluxDB | InfluxDB exporter or Telegraf | Grafana Cloud Metrics |
| Graphite | carbon-relay-ng (native) or HTTP API | Grafana Cloud Graphite |
| OpenTelemetry metrics | OTLP endpoint | Grafana Cloud Metrics |
| OpenTelemetry logs | OTLP endpoint | Grafana Cloud Logs |
| Any HTTP client | HTTP API | Grafana Cloud Logs |
Script
First, using external collectors is a valid approach when you already have collection in place. You don’t have to use Grafana tools for collection. Bring your own and let Grafana Cloud handle storage. Just remember that if you’re starting fresh, Grafana recommends collecting with Alloy, or a Grafana Cloud integration for common systems.
Second, for metrics, match the method to your source. Prometheus uses remote write. InfluxDB uses the exporter or Telegraf. Graphite has a native hosted service you reach with carbon-relay-ng or the Graphite HTTP API. Native OpenTelemetry uses
Third, for logs,
Finally, once your data is in Grafana Cloud, you get all of its visualization, alerting, and analysis capabilities regardless of how you sent it.