Senior Associate at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
A good starting point for SRE but managing defects is difficult without granular details
Pros and Cons
  • "Compatibility with Prometheus databases and the Spring Boot application make it the first choice when moving toward an SRE model."
  • "Writing queries can be a bit difficult because the syntax must be maintained."

What is our primary use case?

Our company uses the solution as a monitoring tool that provides alerts and behavior information. We have many Spring Boot applications and the solution works well with them. 

What is most valuable?

The solution is adaptable, easy to use, and works well for microservices development. 

Compatibility with Prometheus databases and the Spring Boot application make it the first choice when moving toward an SRE model.

What needs improvement?

It is difficult to manage defects because the solution does not provide granular details about the internal system for tracing. 

Writing queries can be a bit difficult because the syntax must be maintained. The dependency on syntax should be removed so that it does not matter for queries. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for two years. 

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has some stability issues because I don't always see proper results. In comparison to other tools, it is not the most stable when using extensive SRE techniques. 

Dynatrace and ELK are more stable but are more costly. An organization that needs strong stability and has a bigger budget could consider these tools.  

Stability, features, or quality should not be based on cost. It is important to compare SRE models to find the best for your environment. 

How are customer service and support?

I have never needed technical support. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy for on-premises. You install, integrate, and immediately see the visualization. 

I am not sure about the ease of cloud or enterprise-level setups. 

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution in-house. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I use the open source model so it is free. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

In the SRE model, there are many tools evolving but the solution is a good starting point for SRE with Spring Boot. Once you become familiar with SRE and are clear about the terminology, you can explore other products. Other users will say ELK or Dynatrace are good, but the best solution depends on your requirements. 

SRE is a journey that is uncovered as you progress. The solution is adaptable, easy to configure, works for microservices development, and integrates with Spring Boot so it is the best product for starting points. 

What other advice do I have?

The solution is a visualization tool that is pretty easy to use. Writing queries can be difficult so it is important to learn how to integrate with data sources before you write queries to visualize those metrics. 

I rate the solution a six out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Johnson Adekunle - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer | AWS Certified Solutions Architect at Venture Garden Group
Real User
Top 5
Helps us with data monitoring but lacks detailed error messages
Pros and Cons
  • "We can write queries in different languages, which is beneficial for visualization."
  • "The product's configuration for saving files could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution primarily for data monitoring, specifically payment transaction monitoring. For example, we use it to monitor payments passing through our systems, integrate with different parties, and track the metrics of payments. The support team can view all these items on a dashboard to gauge the threshold of payments.

What is most valuable?

The query patch is the most valuable feature. We can write queries in different languages, which is beneficial for visualization.

What needs improvement?

The product could be improved with a feature that provides detailed error messages when we encounter issues. For example, we had a case where there was an error message and we could not decipher what went wrong. Additionally, the product's configuration for saving files could be improved, and more plugins could be provided when using the dashboards.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for approximately two years as customers. We deploy this solution on-premises.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has been stable for us. We can integrate our single internal sign-on into the solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable and we can add people on without any issues. Additionally, we can integrate our single internal sign-on into the solution. About 40% percent of the engineers in the company are using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

We have not had any experience with customer service and support yet.

How was the initial setup?

Unfortunately, I would not be able to comment on the initial setup as I wasn't involved in the setup process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Unfortunately, I cannot comment on licensing and pricing costs as I am unaware of the pricing details.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We chose this solution because it met the requirements of visualizing and monitoring to make decisions. We found it had very good industrial usage from the reports we read when Space X launched.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a six out of ten. Nevertheless, we recommend using this solution and advise others to go through the tutorial videos before using it. The solution is good but it could be improved by including features that provide more detailed error messages as well as additional plugin options for the dashboard.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Grafana
September 2023
Learn what your peers think about Grafana. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2023.
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Prajwal Kabbinale - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to use, scalable, and stable
Pros and Cons
  • "Kubernetes could help us to better visualize the trend of our data by recording and displaying our history over a chosen duration, such as the last 30 days."
  • "It can take a considerable amount of time to learn the graphs if a long duration is selected."

What is our primary use case?

In order to understand trends, troubleshoot any issues, and gain observability of our hundred-server retail market cluster, we started using Grafana. This allows us to detect causes and better understand what is happening in the cluster.

What is most valuable?

Kubernetes could help us to better visualize the trend of our data by recording and displaying our history over a chosen duration, such as the last 30 days. This allows us to better understand our data and the trends associated with it.

What needs improvement?

It can take a considerable amount of time to learn the graphs if a long duration is selected. Additionally, other aspects such as networking may also come into play. Thus, the loading of graphs for long durations may require additional optimization to improve performance.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for a couple of years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability of the system a seven out of ten. There are some conditions that can affect this rating, however, we have already addressed a few issues that were causing problems in the backend.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I give the scalability of the solution an eight out of ten.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Zabbix and switched to Grafana because of its ease of use.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple. Depending on our needs initially. To plot graphs, there are many plugins and open-source dashboards available for use. 

What was our ROI?

All of us in the company have been utilizing Grafana and appreciating its results. Grafana is cost-effective and has provided us with a clear, comprehensive view of our applications, infrastructure, and more.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We use the open-source version of Grafana.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution an eight out of ten.

The beginning is simple, so anyone interested can quickly deploy and begin using Grafana without any difficulty.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Senior Consultant at Tata Consultancy
Real User
Top 20
Great visualization tool, but could have better UI
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable thing was that it had a good visualization tool."
  • "Its UI features to create charts can also be improved. Some features could have a link to the documentation."

What is most valuable?

I was using a restricted version of Grafana where I didn't have the option to create alerts and didn't have direct options to build dashboards. We used the already built-in dashboards there. Therefore, the most valuable thing was that it had a good visualization tool where we got better clarity on the issues to select the timeline and see the data or charts. So, the visualization tool is the most valuable feature I found.

What needs improvement?

It could be more user-friendly. For example, if I need to build a chart, I first need to sit and learn something on Grafana to write a query to create a chart, it is not user-friendly. 

Its UI features to create charts can also be improved. Some features could have a link to the documentation. 

Another thing I would like is the alerting feature because it was not there in the version I was using.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Grafana is a stable product because with whatever frequency I have used this tool, I have never faced any downtime. Grafana's dashboard is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable product because we used Grafana on-prem, with only one server. If we need to add more Grafana servers, it is possible.

How are customer service and support?

I did not use Grafana that much as it was a built-in application of the company I worked at.

What other advice do I have?

Grafana does not have straightforward documentation or direct answers on help pages. I would suggest Grafana users get support from another user or someone who already has used Grafana. While using Grafana, we need to understand how the queries are written to build a new chart. A new user would need to explore it, how it works, how to install it, etc. It would make it easier to use Grafana.

I give Grafana a rating of six out of ten because it is not very user-friendly. It also needs clear documentation and requires time to get started.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Backend Dev with 11-50 employees
Real User
Gives the visibility we need, and increases productivity and observability
Pros and Cons
  • "It gives us the visibility we need. I like that when we add deployment markers or release markers, we know exactly when an issue arises. For instance, if there is an increased usage of CPU, we can link it directly to the deployment that might have caused the issue. It increases productivity and observability. We can now easily tell when a certain issue arises. It's way easier to debug because it can point you to certain things based on these markers, and we can debug easier."
  • "It's difficult to see the trends on the graph when the range is too long."

What is our primary use case?

We have a few use cases. We have charts for infrastructure, CPU usage, etc. We have included a lot of metrics for WAFs. We also have some customer metrics and business metrics, such as any number of transactions for a specific action happening on the site. 

What is most valuable?

It gives us the visibility we need. I like that when we add deployment markers or release markers, we know exactly when an issue arises. For instance, if there is an increased usage of CPU, we can link it directly to the deployment that might have caused the issue. It increases productivity and observability. We can now easily tell when a certain issue arises. It's way easier to debug because it can point you to certain things based on these markers, and we can debug easier.

What needs improvement?

It's difficult to see the trends on the graph when the range is too long. 

For how long have I used the solution?

At the company, they'd been using Grafana since I joined. It has been about three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been working fine for us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With our workload, it's working fine. Going by that, I'd rate it a 10 out of 10, but I don't know about the other cases.

How are customer service and support?

I've not contacted them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I don't know if it's the same, but we were using CloudWatch in AWS.

Honeycomb is also similar to this. With all the metrics and performances, you can build dashboards, but I'm new to it.

How was the initial setup?

Our team has two people who are in charge of that, but I'm not aware of its implementation.  

What other advice do I have?

I don't have much experience with other tools, but for my specific case, it has been working great. I'd rate it a 10 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Information Technology Operations Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Good dashboard and user forums but needs more plugins
Pros and Cons
  • "The dashboards are very easy to work with."
  • "There are not a lot of plugins for financial market monitoring."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution in a financial institution to monitor applications and infrastructure. 

What is most valuable?

We really only started. 

So far, the management is very good.

The dashboards are very easy to work with. 

It's a fantastic tool.

Support is helpful. There are many useful forums users can turn to as well.

It can scale.

The stability is good.

What needs improvement?

There are not a lot of plugins for financial market monitoring. Our old tool had more plugin capabilities. 

We need more AI features. We need more data analytics and monitoring done by AI.

For how long have I used the solution?

We just started using the solution. We haven't used it for that long. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. There are no issues with reliability. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'd rate the scalability nine out of ten. It can extend well. 

How are customer service and support?

The team that is implementing the solution has relied quite a bit on the support and forums, and so far, it has been helpful. So far, we are satisfied with the level of support on offer. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to use a different solution. It had very specific tools for fixed message monitoring, among other features, that were useful for finance companies. Grafana doesn't have much that tailors to our sector. 

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the implementation. I work with the team that has implemented it. 

What other advice do I have?

We're a customer and end-user. 

We are likely using the latest version of the solution. I'm not sure of the version number. 

I'd rate the solution six out of ten. So far, I can't say it's doing more than our older monitoring was doing. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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N/A at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Helps to monitor the performance of serverless core, like, doctors and containers
Pros and Cons
  • "The most important feature of Grafana is its alarm formatting capability."
  • "The documentation or training provided by Grafana is limited compared to its competitors, like Splunk."

What is our primary use case?

We use Grafana as an APM solution to monitor the performance of our serverless core, like, doctors and containers.

How has it helped my organization?

Grafana is a very important tool or product that helps us receive information like alarms, performance, KPIs, and metrics. So Grafana is an important part of our business that helps us to make decisions and plan for business improvement.

What is most valuable?

The most important feature of Grafana is its alarm formatting capability. Currently, we use the CEMA format to classify alarms according to the callers. For instance, critical alarms are displayed in red, warnings in yellow, and announcement alarms in green. We use Grafana for the formatting of alarms.

What needs improvement?

The documentation or training provided by Grafana is limited compared to its competitors, like Splunk. Some functionalities are unavailable for us since we use the AWS-managed version of Grafana

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Grafana for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've never had an outage with Grafana, and its stability is very nice.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Around 25 to 30 people are using Grafana in our organization.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before using Grafana, we previously used different solutions like PRTG and OpenNMS.

How was the initial setup?

I tried installing Grafana long ago, but it was very hard. Beginners will find that installing Grafana is not as simple as other solutions. You need to have the intermediate or medium-level experience to install Grafana.

What other advice do I have?

Grafana's usability depends on your perspective and function. In my current job, Grafan helps us with serverless solutions. However, Grafana cannot be helpful in monitoring, networking, and interfacing for routers.

My advice to new users of Grafana is to have nice documentation and a good knowledge base before performing tasks like installation or configuration.

Overall, I rate Grafana an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Varaprasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Lead
Real User
Top 5
Great heat maps and dashboards with decent reliability
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution can scale well."
  • "The formatting could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for site visibility.

How has it helped my organization?

It helps us monitor our applications and their performance, including CPU.

What is most valuable?

The heat maps are great.

We like the dashboards on offer. 

It's a stable product.

The solution can scale well.

Pricing isn't overly expensive.

Technical support is good. 

What needs improvement?

I cannot think of any specific issues we've had.

We'd like an enhancement of legends and labels in the UI. The formatting could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for two years. I haven't used it for too long just yet. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I'd rate the stability eight out of ten. There aren't bugs or glitches that I have noticed. It doesn't crash or freeze. I find it to be reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'd rate the scalability eight out of ten. It can extend well. 

We had 50 or more people using it in my previous organization. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is fine. They have been helpful and responsive. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

I'm not sure if it is easy to set up the solution. I did not handle the deployment. 

What was our ROI?

I have not looked into the ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is moderate. It is neither too expensive nor overly cheap. 

What other advice do I have?

I am using the latest version of the solution. 

As a cloud solution, it is very good. Many organizations are going to the cloud, and Grafana is the best way to monitor those cloud environments.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. It is a good solution. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Grafana Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: September 2023
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Grafana Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.