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Grafana Cloud vs Proxmox VE

Grafana Cloud logo

Grafana Cloud

Software

Composable observability platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Proxmox VE logo

Proxmox VE

Software

Open-source hypervisor combining KVM and LXC virtualisation

From
€120/year
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; Proxmox VE per-socket licensing model: cost scales with CPU socket count, not vCore count, resulting in high costs for multi-socket servers

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Grafana Cloud and Proxmox VE actually diverge.

Attributes where Grafana Cloud and Proxmox VE differ
AttributeGrafana CloudProxmox VE
Starting priceFree€120/year
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), APILinux, Web, API, Self-hosted
Founded2014Unknown

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

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 Proxmox VE

Nothing recorded that Grafana Cloud does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Grafana Cloud

  • Infrastructure monitoringnot Proxmox VE
  • Application monitoringnot Proxmox VE
  • Log aggregationnot Proxmox VE
  • Distributed tracingnot Proxmox VE

Proxmox VE

  • Open-source datacenter virtualisation for hosting providers and cloud platformsnot Grafana Cloud
  • Cost-sensitive enterprise virtualisation replacing commercial hypervisorsnot Grafana Cloud
  • High-availability clustering for disaster recovery and business continuitynot Grafana Cloud
  • Container deployments using LXC as lighter-weight alternative to Dockernot Grafana Cloud
  • Hybrid VM and container workloads in a single management interfacenot Grafana Cloud
  • Backup and archival infrastructure alongside primary virtualisationnot 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

Proxmox VE

  • Per-socket licensing model: cost scales with CPU socket count, not vCore count, resulting in high costs for multi-socket servers
  • Linux-based host only; Windows hypervisors not supported, limiting adoption in Windows-focused organisations
  • Clustering and high-availability setup requires operational expertise and careful network configuration
  • Commercial support tiers limit advanced features (just-in-time access, network flow logs) to paid subscriptions
  • Smaller ecosystem of third-party plugins and integrations compared to VMware vSphere

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

Proxmox VE

€120/year
  • Community$120/year
    • Enterprise Repository access
    • Community forum support only
    • Per-socket subscription model
  • Basic$370/year
    • 3 support tickets per year
    • 1 business day response time
    • Stable updates and Enterprise Repository
  • Standard$550/year
    • 10 support tickets per year
    • 4-hour response time for critical issues
    • Remote SSH support and offline updates
  • Premium$1100/year
    • Unlimited support tickets
    • 2-hour response time for critical issues
    • Remote SSH support and offline updates

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 Proxmox VE if

  • You work on Linux, Web, API, Self-hosted.
Proxmox VE review

Questions people ask

Is Grafana Cloud or Proxmox VE better?
Neither clearly leads. Grafana Cloud starts at Free and Proxmox VE at €120/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Grafana Cloud or Proxmox VE?
Grafana Cloud has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Grafana Cloud and €120/year for Proxmox VE.
Does Grafana Cloud or Proxmox VE run on more platforms?
Grafana Cloud runs on Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API. Proxmox VE runs on Linux, Web, API, Self-hosted.
Can I use Grafana Cloud for free?
Yes. Grafana Cloud has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Proxmox VE starts at €120/year.
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 Proxmox VE is typically brought in for.
What can Grafana Cloud do that Proxmox VE cannot?
Grafana Cloud covers Grafana Dashboards, Prometheus Metrics, Loki Logs, Tempo Traces.

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
Proxmox VE: What is the licensing model for Proxmox VE?

Proxmox VE is open-source and free to deploy. Optional subscription tiers provide technical support, priority response times, and access to the Enterprise Repository for stable update channels. All tiers include identical virtualisation features.

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
Proxmox VE: Can I run Proxmox VE without a support subscription?

Yes. Community Edition (€120/year per socket) provides Enterprise Repository access with community-based support through forums. The core Proxmox VE platform is fully functional without any subscription.

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
Proxmox VE: What hypervisors does Proxmox VE support?

Proxmox VE includes both KVM for full virtualisation and LXC for Linux containers. It does not support Xen or Hyper-V. Workloads on those platforms must be migrated or reimplemented.

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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