Annotations in Grafana Cloud retained for 13 months starting January 4, 2027
Annotations in Grafana Cloud retained for 13 months starting January 4, 2027
Starting January 4, 2027, Grafana Cloud keeps dashboard and API annotations for 13 months. Annotations older than that are deleted automatically, and requests to create new annotations older than 13 months, based on timeEnd, will be rejected. The change applies to all Grafana Cloud plans and rolls out gradually, so older annotations on your stack might not be removed on January 4 exactly.
Retention is based on an annotation’s timeEnd field, not when the annotation was created. For point annotations, timeEnd is the same as time.
The existing count limit still applies. Annotations are removed when they reach either the count limit or 13 months of age, whichever comes first.
Why we’re changing it
A fixed retention period keeps annotation storage bounded and predictable for every stack, so dashboards that query annotations stay fast as history accumulates.
What is not changing
- Annotations from the last 13 months are kept and work exactly as before.
- Alert state history isn’t affected. Only annotations created on dashboards or through the API are subject to retention.
- Self-managed Grafana isn’t affected.
What to check before this rolls out
- If you need annotations older than 13 months, export them with the Annotations HTTP API (
/apis/annotation.grafana.app/v0alpha1/namespaces/{namespace}/annotations) before January 4, 2027. Deleted annotations can’t be recovered. - If you have scripts or integrations that create annotations with a
timeEndmore than 13 months in the past, update them before January 4, 2027. After the change, these requests return a validation error. - If neither applies to you, no action is needed.
