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It's a split decision.
Grafana and Graphite are not direct substitutes. Grafana is an observability platform for metrics, logs, traces and other telemetry, with Grafana Cloud plans and integrations built around standards such as OpenTelemetry and Prometheus. Graphite is a GitHub-synced code review tool with AI reviews, stacked pull requests and a merge queue. Choose Grafana to investigate production systems; choose Graphite to change how your team reviews and merges code.
01Side by side
| Grafana | Graphite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $19/month platform fee, then usage | Per-user annual plans; custom Enterprise |
| Free tier | 10k active series; 50 GB/month; 14-day retention | Personal repos; limited Chat and AI Reviews |
| Open source and licence | Open source; exact licence unspecified | Vendor does not publish open-source status |
| Integrations | OpenTelemetry, Prometheus and hundreds of plugins | GitHub sync and Slack notifications |
| Deployment model | Grafana Cloud; Enterprise includes BYOC | Web workflow synced with GitHub |
| Workflow tools | Dashboards and telemetry investigations | CLI, VS Code extension, stacked PRs |
| Limits and scaling | Usage-based telemetry charges above allowances | Unlimited AI Reviews on Team |
| Platforms | Web | Web, CLI and VS Code extension |
Grafana Choose Grafana if
- Choose Grafana if you need to query and visualize production telemetry.
- Choose Grafana if your stack uses OpenTelemetry or Prometheus.
- Choose Grafana if you want usage-based observability with a free tier.
Graphite Choose Graphite if
- Choose Graphite if your team reviews code in GitHub.
- Choose Graphite if you want to split large changes into stacked PRs.
- Choose Graphite if you need AI reviews and a merge queue.
02Pricing at real usage
Grafana Cloud has a free plan with 10k active metric series per month, 50 GB per month for logs, traces and profiles, and 14-day retention for metrics, logs, traces, profiles and k6. Pro starts with a $19 monthly platform fee, then charges for usage above included allowances. The pricing page lists Metrics Pro from $6.50 per 1k series and separate per-GB rates for logs and traces. Enterprise requires a $25,000 annual spend commit.
Graphite's free Hobby plan covers personal account repositories, with limited Chat and AI Reviews. Starter is $20 per user per month with annual billing; Team is $40 per user per month, also annually billed. The pricing page lists paid annual plans at 20% off, but does not publish monthly prices. Enterprise pricing is custom. Graphite also advertises a 30-day free trial.
03API, SDKs and integration
Grafana connects existing tools and data sources through open standards, including OpenTelemetry and Prometheus, and offers hundreds of plugins and integrations. Its web platform brings telemetry signals into dashboards and a shared Knowledge Graph. These integrations suit teams adding observability to an existing stack rather than replacing every data source.
Graphite syncs with GitHub and layers code review and pull-request workflows onto it. Its tools include a PR page, team inbox, CLI for stacked pull requests and VS Code extension; Slack notifications are available for teams. The vendors do not publish public API or SDK language details on their product pages, so confirm those requirements before building a custom integration. Graphite's documented workflow is centered on GitHub, while Grafana emphasizes protocol and plugin connections.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Grafana is identified as open source, but the exact licence is not specified here. Grafana Cloud is the hosted offering; its Enterprise plan lists deployment on public cloud, Federal Cloud or Bring Your Own Cloud. That is not the same as a stated self-hosting option. OpenTelemetry, Prometheus and the plugin ecosystem give teams ways to connect existing systems rather than replace them wholesale.
Graphite's open-source status and self-hosting options are not published by the vendor. Its workflow is synced with GitHub and includes Graphite-specific stacking, review and merge-queue features, so teams should account for workflow changes if they later move away. Neither vendor describes data-export or migration procedures in its product details. Ask both about telemetry or review-history export, retention after cancellation and supported migration formats before committing.
Questions people ask
What is Graphite in simple words?
Graphite is a code review platform that works with GitHub. It uses AI to review pull requests and suggest fixes, while tools such as stacked PRs and a merge queue organize how teams submit and merge changes. It is not the observability platform described by Grafana.
Are Grafana and Graphite alternatives?
No, they address different jobs. Grafana is for observability: it brings telemetry such as metrics, logs and traces into dashboards and investigations. Graphite is for code review and pull-request workflows in GitHub. A team might use both, but one does not replace the other's core function.
Which is better for monitoring production systems?
Grafana is the fit for production monitoring. Its platform brings telemetry signals together and supports dashboards, visualization and investigations. Graphite focuses on AI code review, stacked pull requests and merge queues, rather than querying and visualizing production telemetry.
Which is better for improving pull-request reviews?
Graphite is built for that workflow. It offers AI reviews, a PR page, team inbox, stacked pull requests and a merge queue synced with GitHub. Grafana's focus is observability and telemetry, so it is not a substitute for Graphite's code-review features.