Uptrace vs Grafana

Grafana alternative forintegrated observability

Grafana offers a flexible ecosystem of specialized tools. Uptrace brings traces, metrics, logs, dashboards, and alerts into one OpenTelemetry-native backend.

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No credit card. Cloud or self-hosted. Native OTLP ingestion.

Integrated workflow

Choose Uptrace when

You want one product for backend observability, fewer services to operate, and correlation based on OpenTelemetry attributes out of the box.

Composable ecosystem

Choose Grafana when

You need maximum datasource flexibility, already operate Prometheus, Loki, Tempo, or Mimir, and want Grafana as the visualization layer.

At a glance

Two approaches to the observability stack

The main difference is operational shape: an integrated product versus a toolkit assembled from specialized components.

Uptrace

Integrated observability

versus

Grafana

Composable observability

Uptrace

Start with one product workflow for traces, metrics, logs, dashboards, and alerts.

Time to value

Grafana

Choose a managed solution or assemble the required projects and datasources.

Uptrace

Move between signals through shared OpenTelemetry attributes.

Daily workflow

Grafana

Move between specialized datasources and their exploration tools.

Uptrace

One exploration model with PromQL-compatible metrics.

Query model

Grafana

PromQL, LogQL, TraceQL, and datasource-specific query languages.

Uptrace

Keep PromQL knowledge and connect Grafana to compatible Uptrace endpoints.

Existing work

Grafana

Keep the dashboards, plugins, and datasource workflows already in place.

Uptrace

An opinionated workflow with fewer pieces to assemble.

Customization

Grafana

A large plugin ecosystem and broad datasource choice.

Architecture

One workflow instead of four moving parts

Grafana Cloud manages the components for you. Self-hosted Grafana stacks require you to connect, scale, secure, and upgrade the pieces yourself.

Uptrace

TracesMetricsLogsAlertsUptrace + ClickHouse

One UI and one attribute vocabulary across the supported signals, with Uptrace Cloud or a self-hosted Uptrace and ClickHouse deployment.

Grafana stack

TempoMimirLokiAlertmanager

Excellent specialized projects, connected through datasources, configuration, storage, and cross-signal conventions.

Use them together

Keep Grafana. Use Uptrace as the backend.

Uptrace exposes Prometheus-compatible and Tempo-compatible endpoints. Existing Grafana dashboards can query metrics and browse traces stored in Uptrace while your team evaluates the built-in UI.

Open integration guide

Pricing

Put the same workload on both invoices

A modeled monthly bill makes the difference visible while keeping every workload assumption explicit.

Example monthly estimate

Example: a small production application

Save about $1,884/month

Same example, public list prices

20 application hosts1 TB traces2.5 TB logs75K timeseries

Uptrace Cloud

$269/mo

One usage tier covers the data and metric volume in this example.

Grafana Cloud

$2,153/mo

Application hosts, telemetry volume, and active metric series are billed separately.

Why Uptrace costs less in this example

No application host-hour charge.
The example metric volume is included in the Uptrace tier.
Lower effective storage cost for this telemetry volume.

Show calculation and assumptions

$199 tier + 931 GB data overage: $269
75K timeseries: Included
20 application hosts: No charge

20 hosts × 730h × $0.025: $365
3.5 TB telemetry × $0.50/GB: $1,750
75K series × $0.50/1K: $38

Illustrative vendor-invoice estimate for Grafana Application Observability pricing introduced February 2026. Cloud network transfer, taxes, free allowances, contracts, and serverless billing are excluded. Pricing source

Daily workflow

What becomes simpler with Uptrace

The benefit is not another checklist. It is fewer context switches during setup, investigation, and maintenance.

Investigate

Follow one incident workflow

Move across telemetry without switching query languages or rebuilding context between datasources.

Built-in correlationShared OTel attributes connect traces, metrics, and logs.
One query experienceFilter high-cardinality telemetry through one exploration model.
Context before dashboardsStart from a service or error and retain the incident context.

Explore distributed tracing

Preserve the work

Keep proven dashboards and queries

Avoid a dashboard rewrite project while teams validate the built-in Uptrace workflow at their own pace.

Preserve PromQLKeep familiar metric queries and recording-rule knowledge.
Retain useful panelsContinue using dashboards that already support production workflows.
Move team by teamLet each owner validate Uptrace before changing their default UI.

Open the Grafana integration

Operate less

Maintain one product workflow

Reduce the integrations and independent components required to keep signals connected.

Coordinated releasesUpgrade schemas, UI, and workflows as one product.
ClickHouse foundationStore high-cardinality signals in one open analytical database.
Cloud or self-hostedChoose who operates the backend without changing OTel data.

Compare deployment options

Capabilities

Compare what changes day to day

Both options support serious observability. Expand a category to compare the workflow and operational trade-offs.

AvailableNot availablePartialDepends on setup

FeatureUptraceGrafana

Integrated observability product

Managed cloud

Self-hosted open source

Single telemetry storage backend

Broad datasource ecosystem

FeatureUptraceGrafana

Native OTLP ingestion

Shared attributes across signals

Correlation without datasource wiring

Partial

Collector-based pipeline

FeatureUptraceGrafana

PromQL-compatible metrics

Unified query builder across signals

Specialized signal query languages

Large visualization plugin ecosystem

Pre-built dashboards

Migration

Move without replacing OpenTelemetry

Run both backends during evaluation and migrate signal by signal.

1Connect

Fan out real telemetry

Add an Uptrace exporter to the OpenTelemetry Collector while Tempo, Mimir, Loki, or Grafana Cloud continue receiving production data.

Ready when: the same services and environments are visible in both systems.

2Validate

Preserve useful Grafana work

Connect Grafana to the Uptrace Prometheus and Tempo endpoints, then validate critical PromQL panels, trace links, dashboards, and alerts.

Ready when: owners can complete their normal incident workflow with equivalent context.

3Simplify

Retire components selectively

Move one signal or team at a time. Keep Grafana where its plugins and dashboards remain valuable; remove only the backends Uptrace replaces.

Ready when: the old component has no unique queries, alerts, or retention obligations.

FAQ

Questions before you consolidate

Does Uptrace replace Grafana?

Uptrace can replace Grafana plus its telemetry backends when you want an integrated observability product. You can also keep Grafana for visualization and query Uptrace metrics through its Prometheus-compatible endpoint.

Is the Grafana stack really four separate services?

The common OSS stack combines Grafana with Tempo, Mimir or Prometheus, Loki, and Alertmanager. Grafana Cloud manages these capabilities for you, while self-hosted teams operate and connect the components themselves.

Can I migrate existing PromQL queries?

Yes. Uptrace supports PromQL-compatible metric queries. Dashboard layout and datasource configuration still need validation because the products use different dashboard models.

Which option is more flexible?

Flexibility takes different forms. Grafana is designed for composing datasources and visualization components, while Uptrace keeps deployment flexible through OpenTelemetry, managed Cloud, and self-hosting while providing a more integrated investigation workflow.

Simplify your observability stack

Send OpenTelemetry traces, metrics, and logs to Uptrace. Evaluate it alongside Grafana before you decide.

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