Grafana Cloud vs Openobserve
Self-hosted for $4/mo on hetzner CAX11, versus $8-$299/user/mo on Grafana Cloud.
Side-by-side
| Grafana Cloud | Openobserve (self-hosted) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $8-$299/user/mo | $4.13/mo flat (any team size) |
| Hosting | Grafana Cloud's servers | Your VPS (hetzner CAX11) |
| Data ownership | Grafana Cloud controls the data | Your disk, your encryption |
| Source code | Closed | Open (AGPL-3.0) |
| Customization | API + integrations only | Full source access; modify freely |
| Maintenance burden | Zero | Backups + updates (Docker available) |
| Health score (ossreplace) | — | 72 / 100 |
Why teams leave Grafana Cloud
- Per-active-user pricing on top of metric/log volume
- Free tier caps trigger forced upgrades
- Long-term data retention costs scale fast
- Egress fees on data export
Openobserve answers this by: Self-host the open-source Grafana stack and pay only for the VPS hosting it.
The cost math
Assumes 5-person team using Grafana Cloud at the midpoint price ($153.5/user/mo).
| Period | Grafana Cloud | Openobserve on hetzner | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $767.5 | $4.13 | $763.37 |
| Yearly | $9210 | $49.56 | $9160.44 |
| 3 years | $27,630 | $149 | $27,481 |
Deploy Openobserve now
One-click deploys at the cheapest provider for this workload:
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Common questions
Is Openobserve a good alternative to Grafana Cloud?
Openobserve is an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Grafana Cloud with an ossreplace health score of 72/100 — a composite of project activity, maturity, community, security, and adoption. It runs on your own hetzner VPS from $4.13/mo with full source access under the AGPL-3.0 license, versus Grafana Cloud's $8–299/user/mo hosted plans.
How much cheaper is Openobserve than Grafana Cloud?
A 5-person team pays about $767.5/mo on Grafana Cloud. Self-hosting Openobserve on hetzner CAX11 costs a flat $4.13/mo regardless of team size — roughly $27,481 less over three years (99% lower).
Is Openobserve hard to self-host?
Openobserve ships a Docker setup, so deployment is usually a single docker-compose command on a $4.13/mo VPS. You own the backups and updates, and there are no per-seat fees.
Do you keep control of your data with Openobserve vs Grafana Cloud?
Yes. Because Openobserve runs on your own server, the data lives on your disk under your encryption. With Grafana Cloud, Grafana Cloud controls the hosting, storage, and access.