Managed Service for Grafana is a fully managed observability visualization service built on open source Grafana. It eliminates the infrastructure overhead of self-hosting -- no servers to provision, no software to install, and no patches to apply.
The following sections compare Managed Service for Grafana with self-hosted open source Grafana across setup, daily operations, security, and enterprise capabilities.
Why use Managed Service for Grafana
Advantages over self-hosted Grafana:
No infrastructure to manage. Skip server provisioning, Grafana installation, and network configuration. Create a workspace in the console.
Built-in Alibaba Cloud integrations. Connect to Managed Service for Prometheus, Simple Log Service (SLS), and Cloud Monitor with pre-built plug-ins and dashboard templates.
Enterprise-grade reliability. Multi-replica high availability, a service level agreement (SLA) guarantee, and automatic version upgrades.
Stronger security posture. Automatic vulnerability patching, network access control through whitelists, and tenant data isolation through dedicated databases.
Single sign-on (SSO). Log on with your Alibaba Cloud account directly -- no separate Grafana credentials required.
Detailed comparison
Setup and environment
| Managed Service for Grafana | Self-hosted open source Grafana | |
|---|---|---|
| Provisioning | Create a workspace from the console. No servers, images, or network configuration needed. | Purchase an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, download the Grafana image, build the runtime environment, and deploy Grafana manually. |
| Infrastructure requirements | None. The service handles compute, storage, and networking. | At minimum: 64-bit CentOS 7.3, 1 vCPU, 2 GB memory, and 10 GB available disk space. Connect the ECS instance to Grafana over a virtual private cloud (VPC). |
| Network and domain | Internet access and independent public IP addresses are provided automatically. | Assign a public IP address to the ECS instance, add a security group rule, open port 3000, and complete Internet Content Provider (ICP) filing. |
Day-to-day operations
| Managed Service for Grafana | Self-hosted open source Grafana | |
|---|---|---|
| Plug-in management | Install plug-ins for reports, graphs, and data sources directly from the console. No restarts needed. | Run commands to install plug-ins, then restart the Grafana service. |
| Configuration changes | Modify parameters in the console. The service restarts automatically to apply changes. | Edit configuration files manually and restart the service. |
| Version upgrades | Automatic updates to the latest official Grafana version. | Download and apply updates manually. |
| Password recovery | Managed through Alibaba Cloud account SSO. | Modify database connection information to reset the Grafana password. |
| Data migration | Built-in migration from self-hosted Grafana and from Prometheus instances of Shared Edition. | Manually export and import data sources and dashboards. |
Alibaba Cloud service integration
Managed Service for Grafana includes pre-built plug-ins for Alibaba Cloud observability services. Self-hosted Grafana does not support native integration with these services.
| Service | Integration details |
|---|---|
| Managed Service for Prometheus | Import Prometheus dashboard templates from Application Real-Time Monitoring Service (ARMS) with a few clicks. |
| Simple Log Service (SLS) | Visualize log data directly in Grafana dashboards. |
| Cloud Monitor | Access cloud resource metrics without additional configuration. |
| ARMS alerting dashboards | View ARMS alerting data within your Grafana workspace. |
Security and access control
| Managed Service for Grafana | Self-hosted open source Grafana | |
|---|---|---|
| Vulnerability management | Automatic patching. No manual intervention required. | Monitor and apply patches manually. |
| Network access control | Configure whitelists to restrict access to your workspace. | No built-in network access control. |
| Data isolation | Dedicated databases isolate your data from other tenants. | You must configure isolation manually. |
| Authentication | SSO through your Alibaba Cloud account. No separate Grafana account needed. | Create and manage a separate Grafana account. |
| VPC data source access | Supported natively. | Manually add the ECS instance address in the VPC to the Grafana whitelist. |
High availability and SLA
Managed Service for Grafana provides an SLA guarantee backed by:
Multiple replicas for failover
Dedicated high-performance databases
Dedicated bandwidths
An independent domain for each workspace
Self-hosted Grafana does not include an SLA. High availability depends entirely on your own infrastructure design.
Enterprise features
| Feature | Managed Service for Grafana | Self-hosted open source Grafana |
|---|---|---|
| Automated reporting | Automatically generates dashboards with reports and audit results. | Not available. |
| Multi-account collaboration | Invite users and enable unified logon across Alibaba Cloud accounts. | Not available. |
| Custom domains | Map Grafana workspace URLs to your own domain name. | Not available. |
| Backup and restore | Back up, restore, and migrate workspace data from the console. | Not available. |
| Dedicated instances | Dedicated instances with isolated resources. | Manually configure instance specifications for resource isolation. |
| Environment-specific portals | Separate access portals for different environments, such as staging and production. | Supported. |