Cloud & Infrastructure · head to head
Grafana Cloud vs Heroku
Grafana Cloud
Cloud & Infrastructure
Composable observability platform
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Grafana Cloud has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Grafana Cloud active Series (AS) billing model is difficult to predict and control; misconfiguration can cause sudden spikes and unexpected bills; Heroku there is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month
- They diverge on capability: Grafana Cloud covers Grafana Dashboards, Heroku covers Git-based deployment.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Grafana Cloud and Heroku actually diverge.
| Attribute | Grafana Cloud | Heroku |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | $7/month |
| Pricing model | Unknown | subscription |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API | Web, Api, Workers |
| Founded | 2014 | 2007 |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud & Infrastructure).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Grafana Cloud
- Grafana Dashboards
- Prometheus Metrics
- Loki Logs
- Tempo Traces
- Alerting
- OnCall
- Synthetic Monitoring
- Incident Management
Only in Heroku
- Git-based deployment
- Buildpacks
- Dynos (containers)
- Add-ons marketplace
- Postgres database
- Environment variables
- Logging
- API
Both cover
- Datadog
- Cloud deployment
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Grafana Cloud
- Infrastructure monitoringnot Heroku
- Application monitoringnot Heroku
- Log aggregationnot Heroku
- Distributed tracingnot Heroku
Heroku
- Deploying and scaling web applications with git push and no server administrationnot Grafana Cloud
- Running managed Postgres, Redis and Kafka as attached data servicesnot Grafana Cloud
- Isolated production environments in a Private Space for regulated workloadsnot Grafana Cloud
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Grafana Cloud
- Active Series (AS) billing model is difficult to predict and control; misconfiguration can cause sudden spikes and unexpected bills
- Reduced control and customization compared to self-hosted Grafana instances
- Data sovereignty concerns for organizations requiring on-premises data retention
- Limited reporting types compared to traditional BI tools for compliance and audit requirements
Heroku
- There is no free dyno tier; the cheapest Eco dyno is $5 per month
- Eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, are restricted to personal accounts and allow only 2 process types
- Free SSL and 10 process types start at the Basic dyno at $7 per month
- Private and Shield dyno types require a Private Space, which is billed on top of the dynos
- Private Space dynos start at $250 per month for Private-M and $500 per month for Private-L
- Dyno prices are per dyno per month, so an app with several process types multiplies the bill
Pricing, plan by plan
Grafana Cloud
Free- FreeFree
- 10k active series (metrics)
- 50GB logs/traces per month
- 3 active users
- Pro$19/month
- Usage-based pricing beyond free tier
- 8 USD per active visualization user
- Included Grafana Alerting
- Enterprise$25000/year
- Minimum annual commitment
- Full-service deployment options
- Premium support
Heroku
$7/month- Hobby$7/month
- 512MB RAM
- Shared CPU
- 1 web dyno
- Standard$50/month
- 512MB RAM
- Dedicated CPU
- Automatic scaling
Which should you pick?
Choose Grafana Cloud if
- You need grafana dashboards.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API.
- You also want prometheus metrics.
Choose Heroku if
- You need git-based deployment.
- You work on Web, Api, Workers.
- You also want buildpacks.
Questions people ask
- Is Grafana Cloud or Heroku better?
- Neither clearly leads. Grafana Cloud starts at Free and Heroku at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Grafana Cloud or Heroku?
- Grafana Cloud has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Grafana Cloud and $7/month for Heroku.
- Does Grafana Cloud or Heroku run on more platforms?
- Grafana Cloud runs on Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API. Heroku runs on Web, Api, Workers.
- Can I use Grafana Cloud for free?
- Yes. Grafana Cloud has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heroku starts at $7/month.
- What is Grafana Cloud best used for?
- Grafana Cloud is most often used for infrastructure monitoring, application monitoring, log aggregation, distributed tracing. Of those, infrastructure monitoring and application monitoring are not what Heroku is typically brought in for.
- What can Grafana Cloud do that Heroku cannot?
- Grafana Cloud covers Grafana Dashboards, Prometheus Metrics, Loki Logs, Tempo Traces. Heroku covers Git-based deployment, Buildpacks, Dynos (containers), Add-ons marketplace. Both handle Datadog, Cloud deployment, Web support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Grafana Cloud: What are the exact limits of Grafana Cloud's free tier?
Grafana Cloud free tier includes 10,000 active series for metrics, 50GB logs and traces per month, 3 active visualization users, and 14-day retention with community support. No credit card required.
SourceGrafana Cloud: How is Grafana Cloud billed, and what are the per-unit costs?
Grafana Cloud Pro tier starts at $19/month platform fee plus usage-based charges. Metrics cost $6.50 per 1,000 active series above free limits, logs and traces are charged per GB ingested, and visualization users are $8 per active user.
SourceGrafana Cloud: Can I use Grafana Cloud for open-source Grafana deployments?
Grafana Cloud is the managed cloud service version. Open-source Grafana is free and can be self-hosted indefinitely on your own infrastructure.
SourceGrafana Cloud: What observability signals does Grafana Cloud include?
Grafana Cloud includes metrics (via Mimir), logs (via Loki), traces (via Tempo), profiles, and synthetics, with unified querying and visualization across all signals.
SourceGrafana Cloud: Does Grafana Cloud include alerting and how is it priced?
Yes, Grafana Alerting is included at no additional charge across all tiers. Rule storage, evaluation, and notification delivery are covered by the platform fee with no per-alert or per-notification fees.
Source