Grafana vs Kibana: Which Should You Use in 2026?

TL;DR - They aren’t true rivals. Kibana is the visualization front-end for the Elastic Stack, bound to Elasticsearch and strongest for logs and search. Grafana is a data-source-agnostic dashboard layer, strongest for time-series metrics (Prometheus, Loki, InfluxDB, and more). - Many teams run both — Grafana for the metrics dashboard, Kibana for log search and investigation. - Both are free to self-host: Grafana is AGPLv3 (since 2021); Kibana ships in Elastic’s free Basic tier and, since August 2024, also offers an AGPL source option. - Verdict: Metrics-first or multi-source? Grafana. Already on Elasticsearch for logs and search? Kibana. Both jobs at once? Run both.

Searching “grafana vs kibana” assumes one wins. It’s the wrong frame. Grafana is a data-source-agnostic visualization layer that connects to 18 built-in sources plus a plugin catalog; it is best at time-series metrics. Kibana is the front-end for the Elastic Stack, tied to Elasticsearch and best at logs and search. They overlap, but most teams use them for different jobs — often together.

What is the difference between Grafana and Kibana?

The split is architectural, not feature-by-feature.

Kibana only talks to Elasticsearch. It’s the UI for the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch + Kibana + ingest tooling), and it inherits Elasticsearch’s strengths: full-text search, log exploration, and ad-hoc querying over large document indices.

Grafana is deliberately source-agnostic. Its docs list 18 built-in core data sources — including Prometheus, Loki, Elasticsearch, Graphite, InfluxDB, and the cloud-provider monitors — with many more available through its plugin catalog. It renders dashboards on top of whatever you point it at.

So Kibana is deep but narrow; Grafana is broad but owns no storage of its own. That single difference drives almost every decision below.

Can Grafana replace Kibana?

Partly. Grafana has an Elasticsearch data source, so it can chart data living in Elasticsearch and build metric dashboards on it. For many dashboards, that’s enough to drop Kibana.

Where it falls short is log exploration and search. Kibana’s Discover view, field-level drill-down, and search-first workflow are built around Elasticsearch’s query engine. Grafana’s log experience is strongest with Loki, its own log backend — not with deep Elasticsearch search. If your team lives in ad-hoc log queries, Grafana is a downgrade there.

Can you use Grafana and Kibana together?

Yes, and it’s common. Point Grafana at Prometheus for your metrics dashboards and SLOs, and keep Kibana on Elasticsearch for log search and investigation. Grafana’s Elasticsearch data source even lets you surface Elastic data inside a Grafana dashboard, so one screen can span both systems. Running both isn’t redundant — it plays each tool to its strength.

What does each cost?

Both are free to self-host. The money is in the managed and enterprise tiers.

Grafana Cloud’s free tier is generous for small teams: 10,000 active metric series, 50 GB of logs, 14-day retention, and 3 active users. Paid Grafana Cloud Pro starts at a $19/month platform fee plus usage.

Kibana itself carries no separate price — it’s bundled with Elasticsearch. The cost sits in Elastic’s tiers: a free, self-managed Basic tier (“free and open”), then paid Platinum and Enterprise tiers for features like advanced alerting and machine-learning-based anomaly detection.

Is Grafana or Kibana free? The licensing picture

This is the fact most ranking pages get stale, so get it current.

Grafana relicensed its core (along with Loki and Tempo) from Apache 2.0 to AGPLv3, announced in April 2021. The open-source build is free; Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud are the paid products.

Elastic moved Elasticsearch and Kibana off Apache 2.0 to a dual Elastic License v2 / SSPL model in 2021. Then, on August 29, 2024, Elastic announced it was adding AGPL as another license option alongside ELv2 and SSPL — “adding another option, and not removing anything.” So Kibana is again available under an OSI-approved open-source license, and its free Basic tier remains free to self-host.

Bottom line: both are free to run yourself today. Neither licensing move should block adoption for typical users.

Is Grafana better than Kibana? Which should you use?

Neither is “better” in the abstract — they’re better at different things. Pick by your primary telemetry.

What this means for you

If you already run the Elastic Stack: Stay on Kibana. It’s built for Elasticsearch, and its log-search and Discover workflows are the reason you chose Elastic. If you later weigh Elastic against a dedicated log platform, that is the Splunk vs Elastic decision, not a Kibana one.

If you’re metrics-first on Prometheus: Use Grafana. It’s the de facto dashboard for Prometheus, Loki, and InfluxDB, and you avoid standing up an entire Elasticsearch cluster just to draw graphs.

If you need both logs-and-search and metrics: Run both. Grafana for metric dashboards and alerting, Kibana for log investigation over Elasticsearch — and let Grafana’s Elasticsearch data source bridge the two when you want one pane.

If you’re starting fresh and unsure: Default to Grafana. Its source-agnostic design keeps your options open, and it slots into most modern observability stacks without committing your whole stack to one vendor. If you later compare it against a commercial APM, that’s the separate Grafana vs Datadog question.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Grafana and Kibana?

Kibana is the visualization front-end for the Elastic Stack and only connects to Elasticsearch, making it strongest for logs and full-text search. Grafana is data-source-agnostic, with 18 built-in sources plus plugins, and is strongest for time-series metrics from Prometheus, Loki, and similar backends.

Can Grafana replace Kibana?

For dashboards, often yes — Grafana has an Elasticsearch data source and can chart Elastic data directly. For deep log exploration and ad-hoc search, no. Kibana’s Discover view and Elasticsearch-native querying outperform Grafana there, where Grafana leans on its own Loki backend instead.

Is Grafana better than Kibana?

Neither is universally better; they excel at different jobs. Grafana wins for time-series metrics and multi-source dashboards. Kibana wins for logs, search, and analytics on data already in Elasticsearch. Choose by your primary telemetry and existing stack, not by a head-to-head score.

Can you use Grafana and Kibana together?

Yes, and many teams do. Run Grafana for metric dashboards over Prometheus and Loki, and keep Kibana for log search and investigation on Elasticsearch. Grafana’s Elasticsearch data source can also pull Elastic data into a Grafana dashboard, so a single view spans both systems.

Is Grafana or Kibana free?

Both are free to self-host. Grafana’s core is open source under AGPLv3 (since 2021). Kibana ships in Elastic’s free Basic tier and, since August 2024, also offers an AGPL source option. Paid tiers (Grafana Cloud/Enterprise, Elastic Platinum/Enterprise) add managed hosting and advanced features.

Editor’s note — sources: Grafana, Loki & Tempo relicensing to AGPLv3 (grafana.com, Apr 2021); “Elasticsearch is Open Source, Again” (elastic.co, Aug 29 2024); Grafana data sources documentation (grafana.com); Grafana pricing (grafana.com); Elastic subscriptions (elastic.co). Versions and figures verified 2026-10-22; Grafana Cloud free tier (10k active series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention, 3 users) and Pro ($19/mo + usage) confirmed on the live pricing page.