Grafana Learn
Sign in Sign up
Path

Learn the advantages of using the Google Sheets data source to visualize spreadsheet data in Grafana.

Estimated time: 1 min

Advantages of the Google Sheets data source

The Google Sheets data source plugin brings spreadsheet data directly into your Grafana environment. This integration eliminates the need to export, copy, or re-key data to visualize what your team already maintains in a spreadsheet.

Because the plugin reads through the Google Sheets API, each time your panels refresh they read the latest spreadsheet data or a cached response. It operates in read-only mode, so Grafana never writes to or modifies your data.

With the Google Sheets data source, you can:

  • Query spreadsheets by ID and range, and cache responses to stay within API quotas
  • Build dashboards that combine spreadsheet data with metrics, logs, and traces
  • Use template variables in the spreadsheet ID or range for dynamic dashboards
  • Add annotations from a sheet to overlay events on your panels
  • Create alert rules from Google Sheets queries
  • Explore spreadsheet data ad hoc without building a dashboard first

The plugin supports both public spreadsheets (using an API key) and private spreadsheets (using a Google service account). This learning path uses API key authentication with a publicly shared spreadsheet, which is the fastest way to get started in Grafana Cloud.

In the next milestone, you’ll install and add the Google Sheets data source in your Grafana Cloud instance.