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How the options differ

How the options differ

Grafana comes in several forms that differ on one core question: how much do you run yourself, and how much does someone else run for you?

This section walks through your options along that spectrum:

  • Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise: you self-host and operate everything
  • Amazon Managed Grafana and Azure Managed Grafana: AWS or Microsoft runs Grafana for you, focused on dashboards
  • Grafana Cloud: Grafana Labs runs a full managed observability platform for you

It also clears up a common mix-up: buying Grafana Cloud through a cloud marketplace is a billing choice, not a different product.

Then you’ll compare the options across features, pricing, team requirements, and data residency, work through a decision framework, and leave with a clear next step.

Estimated time

12-15 minutes

Script

Every Grafana option comes down to one question: how much you run yourself versus how much someone else runs for you. You’ll place each option on that spectrum, clear up the marketplace-versus-managed mix-up, compare them on features, pricing, team needs, and data residency, then work through a decision framework and leave with a clear next step.
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