Grafana vs Kibana (2026): Which Observability Platform Should You Use?
By Alex Chen · นักวิเคราะห์ SaaS · อัพเดท เมษายน 11, 2026 · Based on hands-on DevOps testing
คำตอบใน 30 วินาที
Pick Grafana for metrics visualization, time-series dashboards, and multi-datasource monitoring (Prometheus, InfluxDB, CloudWatch, and 70+ others). Pick Kibanaif you're on the Elastic Stack and need log analysis, full-text search, and SIEM security analytics. Grafana ชนะ 5-3 overall, but many ทีม run both — Grafana for metrics, Kibana for logs.
คำตัดสินของเรา
Grafana
- 70+ data source plugins (Prometheus, InfluxDB, AWS)
- Industry-standard for time-series dashboards
- Grafana LGTM stack (Logs, Metrics, Traces)
- Log analysis less ทรงพลัง than Kibana
- Alerting historically ซับซ้อน to configure
- Full-text search not its strength
เจาะลึก: Grafana full analysis
ฟีเจอร์ ภาพรวม
Grafana is the most widely-adopted open-source observability platform. With 70+ data source plugins, it can visualize data from virtually any backend — Prometheus, InfluxDB, Elasticsearch, CloudWatch, Datadog, and more. The LGTM stack (Loki for logs, Grafana for visualization, Tempo for traces, Mimir for metrics) gives ทีม a complete open-source alternative to commercial APM tools.
ราคา Breakdown (April 2026)
| Plan | Price | Key ฟีเจอร์ |
|---|---|---|
| OSS (Self-hosted) | $0 | Full features, ไม่จำกัด dashboards, community support |
| Cloud ฟรี | $0 | 10K metrics series, 50GB logs, 50GB traces |
| Cloud Pro | เริ่มต้น $8/เดือน | Usage-based, alerting, SLOs, incident management |
Who Should เลือก Grafana?
- DevOps ทีม using Prometheus for infrastructure metrics
- Organizations needing multi-datasource แดชบอร์ด in one place
- Teams wanting a truly open-source observability stack
- Companies monitoring cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, GCP
Kibana
- top-tier log analysis with Elasticsearch
- Full-text search across all log data
- SIEM for security monitoring and alerting
- Tightly coupled to Elasticsearch only
- Elasticsearch can be expensive at scale
- License restrictions (Elastic License 2.0)
เจาะลึก: Kibana full analysis
ฟีเจอร์ ภาพรวม
Kibana is the visualization layer for the Elastic Stack (formerly ELK). It excels at log analysis, full-text search with Lucene queries, and SIEM security analytics. If your organization already runs Elasticsearch for log ingestion, Kibana is the natural choice for dashboards, alerting, and security monitoring. Elastic APM also ให้ ครอบคลุม application performance monitoring.
ราคา Breakdown (April 2026)
| Plan | Price | Key ฟีเจอร์ |
|---|---|---|
| OSS (Self-hosted) | $0 | Core features, community support |
| Cloud Standard | เริ่มต้น $95/เดือน | Managed Elasticsearch + Kibana |
| Cloud Enterprise | Custom | SSO, cross-cluster search, SLA |
Who Should เลือก Kibana?
- Teams already running Elasticsearch for log ingestion
- Security ทีม needing SIEM capabilities
- Organizations requiring ทรงพลัง full-text search across logs
- Companies wanting APM alongside log analytics
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Category | Grafana | Kibana | ผู้ชนะ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metrics Visualization | Industry-leading time-series dashboards | Good via Metricbeat | ✔ Grafana |
| Log Analysis | Loki (good, growing) | Elasticsearch (top-tier) | ✔ Kibana |
| Data Sources | 70+ sources (any datasource) | Elasticsearch only | ✔ Grafana |
| Full-Text Search | Limited | top-tier (Lucene) | ✔ Kibana |
| SIEM / Security | Basic alerting | Full SIEM capabilities | ✔ Kibana |
| ฟรี Cloud Tier | Yes — 10K series, 50GB logs | No free cloud tier | ✔ Grafana |
| License | AGPL (truly open) | Elastic License 2.0 (restricted) | ✔ Grafana |
| APM / Tracing | Tempo (growing) | Elastic APM (comprehensive) | ✔ Grafana |
● Grafana ชนะ 5 · ● Kibana ชนะ 3 · Based on 35,000+ user reviews
Which do you use?
ใครควรเลือกอะไร?
→ เลือก Grafana if:
You use Prometheus for metrics, need to aggregate multiple data sources in one dashboard, want a free cloud tier, or need the most widely-adopted open-source observability platform. Grafana's plugin ecosystem is unmatched.
→ เลือก Kibana if:
You're already using Elasticsearch for log ingestion, need ทรงพลัง full-text search across logs, or want SIEM security วิเคราะห์ข้อมูล and APM in one platform. If Elastic is your stack, Kibana is the natural fit.
→ ควรหลีกเลี่ยงทั้งคู่ถ้า:
You want a fully-managed ครบวงจร observability platform without self-hosting — look at Datadog or New Relic instead. For simple uptime monitoring, Uptime Robot or Better Uptime are simpler and cheaper.
Best For Different Needs
Also ข้อเสียidered
We evaluated several other tools in this category before focusing on Grafana vs Kibana. Here are the runners-up and why they didn't make our final comparison:
คำถามที่พบบ่อย
ความเห็นบรรณาธิการ
Real talk: I've seen ทีม waste months debating Grafana vs Kibana when the answer is usually "use both." Grafana for your Prometheus metrics, Kibana for your Elasticsearch logs. They're not competitors — they're roommates. If you can only pick one, Grafana's 70+ data sources make it the more versatile choice.
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Our วิธีการวิจัย
We evaluated Grafana and Kibana across 8 observability categories: metrics visualization, log analysis, data source support, full-text search, SIEM, free tier, licensing, and APM. We tested both in production Kubernetes environments with Prometheus, Elasticsearch, and Loki. We analyzed 35,000+ reviews from G2, Gartner Peer Insights, and Reddit. ราคา verified April 2026.
Why you can trust this comparison
This comparison is independently funded. No vendor paid for placement or influenced our scores. Ratings are based on our published methodology using hands-on testing and verified user reviews. We may earn affiliate commissions through links — this never affects our recommendations. Read our full methodology →
Data sources: Official ราคา pages, G2.com, Capterra.com. Prices and ratings verified April 2026. We update our top 50 comparisons monthly. Read our methodology
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