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Cloud · head to head

Grafana Cloud vs Lambda

Grafana Cloud logo

Grafana Cloud

Cloud

Composable observability platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lambda logo

Lambda

Cloud

GPU supercomputers for AI training and inference at enterprise scale

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; Lambda no free tier or trial, requiring immediate commitment for testing
  • They diverge on capability: Grafana Cloud covers Grafana Dashboards, Lambda covers Superclusters.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Grafana Cloud and Lambda actually diverge.

Attributes where Grafana Cloud and Lambda differ
AttributeGrafana CloudLambda
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelUnknownPay-as-you-go hourly pricing with volume discounts for reserved capacity
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), APICloud
Founded20142012

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

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 Lambda

  • Superclusters
  • 1-Click Clusters
  • On-demand instances
  • Liquid cooling
  • InfiniBand networking
  • Managed orchestration
  • Co-engineering support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Grafana Cloud

  • Infrastructure monitoringnot Lambda
  • Application monitoringnot Lambda
  • Log aggregationnot Lambda
  • Distributed tracingnot Lambda

Lambda

  • Training foundation models at scale with dedicated GPU infrastructurenot Grafana Cloud
  • Large-scale inference serving on enterprise-grade hardwarenot Grafana Cloud
  • Multi-GPU distributed training with InfiniBand networkingnot Grafana Cloud
  • Single-tenant secure compute for regulated industriesnot Grafana Cloud
  • AI lab infrastructure for frontier model developmentnot 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

Lambda

  • No free tier or trial, requiring immediate commitment for testing
  • Single-tenant Superclusters require custom pricing discussions
  • Pricing complexity across multiple GPU types and cluster sizes
  • Less suitable for experimentation or small teams with tight budgets

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

Lambda

On request
  • 1-Click Clusters B200$undefined/hourly
    • 16 GPUs: $9.86/GPU/hour
    • 256+ GPUs: $8.87/GPU/hour
    • 1-year+ reserved discounts available
  • 1-Click Clusters H100$undefined/hourly
    • 16 GPUs: $6.16/GPU/hour
    • 256+ GPUs: $5.54/GPU/hour
  • On-Demand Instances B200$undefined/hourly
    • SXM6: $6.69/GPU/hour
  • On-Demand Instances H100$undefined/hourly
    • SXM: $3.99/GPU/hour

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.
Grafana Cloud review

Choose Lambda if

  • You need superclusters.
  • You work on Cloud.
  • You also want 1-click clusters.
Lambda review

Questions people ask

Is Grafana Cloud or Lambda better?
Neither clearly leads. Grafana Cloud starts at Free and Lambda at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Grafana Cloud or Lambda?
Grafana Cloud has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Grafana Cloud and On request for Lambda.
Does Grafana Cloud or Lambda run on more platforms?
Grafana Cloud runs on Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API. Lambda runs on Cloud.
Can I use Grafana Cloud for free?
Yes. Grafana Cloud has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Lambda starts at On request.
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 Lambda is typically brought in for.
What can Grafana Cloud do that Lambda cannot?
Grafana Cloud covers Grafana Dashboards, Prometheus Metrics, Loki Logs, Tempo Traces. Lambda covers Superclusters, 1-Click Clusters, On-demand instances, Liquid cooling.

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.

Source
Lambda: What makes Lambda's infrastructure different?

Lambda offers single-tenant Superclusters with exclusive GPU access, liquid cooling, and NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking. The company is 100% focused on AI infrastructure with co-engineering support from teams who built infrastructure for major AI labs.

Source
Grafana 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.

Source
Lambda: How does pricing work for large clusters?

1-Click Clusters pricing ranges from $5.54-$9.86 per GPU/hour depending on GPU type and cluster size, with volume discounts for 256+ GPUs. Reserved capacity is available at custom pricing for 1-year+ commitments.

Source
Grafana 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.

Source
Lambda: Which GPU types are available?

Lambda offers NVIDIA B200, H100, A100, and Tesla V100 GPUs. Individual instances range from V100 at $0.79/hour to B200 SXM6 at $6.69/hour. Newer models like Vera Rubin are available in Superclusters.

Source
Grafana 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.

Source
Grafana 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
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