Zabbix vs Grafana Cloud
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Zabbix and Grafana Cloud.
Quick Verdict
4.2/5
Zabbix
0 reviews
3.9/5
Grafana Cloud
0 reviews
Zabbix is rated higher (4.2 vs 3.9). Zabbix is a free, open source enterprise monitoring solution for networks, servers, cloud, and applications (AGPLv3 since v7.0). Developed by Zabbix SIA in Riga since 2005, with paid support subscriptions and an optional managed Zabbix Cloud service. Grafana Cloud provides managed Grafana, Prometheus, Loki (logs), Tempo (traces), and k6 (load testing). Free tier includes 10,000 metrics series. Open source self-hosting also available.
Zabbix Enterprise-grade infrastructure monitoring with predictive alerting | Grafana Cloud Open source observability platform — cloud and self-hosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ | 3.9 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Ops teams and MSPs monitoring heterogeneous infrastructure at scale who can own the platform and want costs that do not scale with host count | Teams wanting a managed, self-hostable observability stack with a genuinely useful free tier and metrics, logs, and traces under one pane |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | — |
| RAM | — | — |
| Storage | 10 GB | — |
| Bandwidth | — | — |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.5% |
| Data-center count | 5 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostable | free tieropen sourceself hostableapi accessteam features |
| Visit Zabbix → | Visit Grafana Cloud → | |
Zabbix
Pros
- + Free, no per-host or per-seat licensing — cost stays flat as monitored infrastructure grows
- + Deep protocol coverage: agent2, SNMP, IPMI, JMX, HTTP, synthetic checks, Kubernetes
- + 25 years of field-hardened releases with a disciplined LTS support schedule (7.0 LTS to June 2029)
- + Zabbix Cloud removes the ops burden without changing the tool; 5-day trial without a credit card
- + Open source under AGPLv3 with a documented API, Terraform provider and large template ecosystem
Cons
- - Steep learning curve — configuration UI, trigger syntax and template design need real investment
- - Zabbix Cloud drops values at random above the NVPS cap and disk only grows (once per 24h, never shrinks)
- - No published numeric uptime SLA or public region list for Zabbix Cloud; compliance certifications still in progress
- - Weaker on logs and distributed tracing than modern observability suites; self-hosting means you own the upkeep
Grafana Cloud
Pros
- + Open source core (AGPLv3) across Grafana/Mimir/Loki/Tempo/Pyroscope — a real self-host exit
- + Permanent free tier: 10k metric series, 50 GB logs/traces/profiles, 500 k6 VUh, no credit card
- + Public Pro pricing ($19/mo platform fee, from $6.50/1k series) with automatic volume discounts
- + 42 stack regions on AWS, Azure, and GCP including a Federal Cloud option
Cons
- - Usage-based billing punishes metric cardinality and log verbosity — bills can spike on app-side mistakes
- - PromQL/LogQL and label design have a real learning curve
- - SLA is 99.5% (paid plans only) — below hyperscaler commitments
- - Some enterprise RBAC/audit/reporting features require a quote-based Enterprise plan
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