Softwr

Software · head to head

Grafana Cloud vs Puppet

Grafana Cloud logo

Grafana Cloud

Software

Composable observability platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Puppet logo

Puppet

Software

Infrastructure automation for enterprises

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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; Puppet the pricing page publishes no rate and no minimum, and asks you to fill in a form to be sent pricing and plan information
  • They diverge on capability: Grafana Cloud covers Grafana Dashboards, Puppet covers Manifests.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Grafana Cloud and Puppet differ
AttributeGrafana CloudPuppet
Pricing modelUnknownopen-source
PlatformsWeb (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), APILinux, Windows, Mac, Api
Founded20142005

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Puppet

  • Manifests
  • Modules
  • Classes
  • Variables
  • Facts
  • Puppet Master
  • Hiera
  • Facter

Both cover

  • AWS
  • Azure
  • GCP
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
  • Cloud deployment

What people use each for

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

Grafana Cloud

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

Puppet

  • Declarative configuration management of servers at scalenot Grafana Cloud
  • Enforcing infrastructure compliance policy continuouslynot 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

Puppet

  • The pricing page publishes no rate and no minimum, and asks you to fill in a form to be sent pricing and plan information
  • Pricing is banded by number of managed nodes, with separate tiers for under 25 nodes and 25 or more nodes
  • The product is split into Puppet Enterprise and a higher Puppet Enterprise Advanced edition, so compliance oriented features sit behind the upper tier

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

Puppet

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Puppet Agent
    • Community support
    • Full DSL
  • Puppet Enterprise$100/month
    • Puppet Server
    • Console
    • RBAC

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 Puppet if

  • You need manifests.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
  • You also want modules.
Puppet review

Questions people ask

Is Grafana Cloud or Puppet better?
Neither clearly leads. Grafana Cloud starts at Free and Puppet at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Grafana Cloud or Puppet?
Grafana Cloud starts at Free and Puppet at Free.
Does Grafana Cloud or Puppet run on more platforms?
Grafana Cloud runs on Web (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), API. Puppet runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
Can I use Grafana Cloud for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 Puppet is typically brought in for.
What can Grafana Cloud do that Puppet cannot?
Grafana Cloud covers Grafana Dashboards, Prometheus Metrics, Loki Logs, Tempo Traces. Puppet covers Manifests, Modules, Classes, Variables. Both handle AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes.

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
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
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
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
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on Grafana Cloud

More on Puppet

Keep looking

Other head to heads