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Grafana vs InfraCanvas
Short answer: Pick Grafana if you want open-standard full-stack observability; pick InfraCanvas if you want live topology view of mixed infrastructure. Both have a free plan.
Which to pick
Pick Grafana if you want…
- Open-standard full-stack observability
- Dashboard visualizations
- Integrations with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus or Slack (on Grafana's list, not InfraCanvas')
Pick InfraCanvas if you want…
- Live topology view of mixed infrastructure
- Integrations with AWS, GCP or DigitalOcean (on InfraCanvas' list, not Grafana's)
Side by side
- What it is
- Grafana:Grafana Cloud is an open-source-based observability platform that unifies metrics, logs, traces, profiles and business data.
- InfraCanvas:InfraCanvas provides a live, interactive map of VMs, Docker containers, and Kubernetes clusters with built-in logs and actions.
- Best for
- Grafana:Open-standard full-stack observability
- InfraCanvas:Live topology view of mixed infrastructure
- Who it’s for
- Grafana:Developers, SREs and teams needing full-stack observability and cost-optimized telemetry.
- InfraCanvas:Engineers and ops teams managing hybrid VM, container, and Kubernetes environments.
- Pricing
- Grafana:Freemium
- InfraCanvas:Paid
- Free plan or trial
- Grafana:Free plan (Free)
- InfraCanvas:Free plan (Free) · Free trial
- Plans
- Grafana:Free $0 · Pro $19 per month + usage · Enterprise $25,000 per year spend commit
- InfraCanvas:Free $0
- Open source
- Grafana:Yes, 77,033 GitHub stars
- InfraCanvas:Yes, 82 GitHub stars
- Works with
- Grafana:OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Kubernetes, Slack
- InfraCanvas:AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean, Docker, Kubernetes, systemd, LXC/LXD
Grafana features
- AI Assistant. Ask natural-language questions, build dashboards and run investigations directly from Grafana, Slack or the terminal.
- Adaptive Telemetry. Automatically identifies low-value data and aggregates it, cutting telemetry spend by up to 80%.
- Full-stack observability. Unified view of metrics, logs, traces, profiles and synthetic monitoring on a single map.
- OpenTelemetry-native. Native support for OpenTelemetry and Prometheus with hundreds of plugins and integrations.
- Cost Management. Pay-as-you-go pricing with volume-based discounts and a free tier that includes all services.
- Compliance & Security. FedRAMP, NIST-100, PCI-DSS, GDPR and SOC-2 certifications for enterprise use.
InfraCanvas features
- Instant live canvas. Shows all VMs, containers, and K8s resources on a single map within seconds.
- Zero-agent Kubernetes. Connect clusters by dropping a kubeconfig, no install required.
- In-page debugging. Click a red pod to view logs, env vars, terminal and restart it without leaving the page.
- Outbound-only agent. Agent makes only outbound connections, requiring no inbound ports or firewall changes.
- Multi-cloud view. Aggregates resources from AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean, and bare-metal into one canvas.
- RBAC & audit logs. Role-based access control with change history and audit logging.
Grafana vs InfraCanvas FAQ
What is the difference between Grafana and InfraCanvas?+
Grafana offers dashboards and visualizations, but InfraCanvas visualizes live infrastructure topology with built-in debugging.
Should I use Grafana or InfraCanvas?+
Pick Grafana if you want open-standard full-stack observability, dashboard visualizations or integrations with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus or Slack (on Grafana's list, not InfraCanvas'). Pick InfraCanvas if you want live topology view of mixed infrastructure or integrations with AWS, GCP or DigitalOcean (on InfraCanvas' list, not Grafana's).
Is Grafana or InfraCanvas free?+
Grafana has a free plan and paid plans. InfraCanvas has a free plan and paid plans.
Is Grafana or InfraCanvas open source?+
Yes, both are open source: Grafana (grafana/grafana on GitHub, AGPL-3.0 license) and InfraCanvas (bytestrix/InfraCanvas on GitHub, AGPL-3.0 license).
Do Grafana and InfraCanvas integrate with the same tools?+
Partly. Both list Kubernetes. Grafana also lists OpenTelemetry, Prometheus and Slack; InfraCanvas also lists AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean, Docker and 2 more.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.