# Coroot vs Grafana

Comprehensive comparison of observability platforms: architecture, features, costs, and deployment models

### Platform Model

Complete platform vs Visualization stack

### Data Storage

On-premises vs Cloud-managed platforms

### Pricing Model

Simple per-CPU vs Multi-tier usage billing

## Architecture & Technology

Fundamentally different approaches to observability

### Coroot

🔒 On-Premises Complete Platform

**Full observability stack on your infrastructure.** Store ALL data without compromise, enterprise-grade guarantees, complete control over your observability pipeline.

Hybrid Data Collection

eBPF auto-instrumentation + OpenTelemetry compatibility - best of both worlds

Store Everything

No data sampling compromises - 10x compression means unlimited retention without cost fears

Full AI Root Cause Analysis

Complete intelligent incident analysis - not just chat assistance but actual RCA automation.

[Learn more about AI features →](https://coroot.com/ai)

Zero Configuration Setup

Pre-built dashboards, alerts, and inspections - insights within minutes, not months of setup

Enterprise Control & Support

Commercial support with SLAs, professional services, air-gapped deployments, unlimited customization.

[Explore enterprise features →](https://coroot.com/enterprise)

### Grafana

☁️ Cloud Visualization Platform

**Composable observability stack.** Powerful visualization and alerting with multiple data sources but requires assembly of complete monitoring solution.

Multi-Source Data Integration

100+ data source integrations with flexible dashboard creation and visualization options

Composable Architecture

Mix and match Grafana, Mimir, Loki, Tempo components with usage-based billing

Manual Investigation Workflows

Powerful dashboards and alerting but requires manual analysis for incident resolution

Complex Setup & Configuration

Requires assembling and configuring multiple tools for complete observability

Enterprise Support Available

Multiple support tiers, professional services, and flexible deployment options

## Feature Comparison

How the platforms compare across key observability capabilities

| Feature | Coroot | Grafana |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Metrics & Infrastructure Monitoring | Comprehensive telemetry via eBPF including network monitoring | Prometheus-based metrics with 100+ data source integrations and flexible dashboards |
| Distributed Tracing | eBPF auto-tracing + OpenTelemetry compatibility | Grafana Tempo for distributed tracing with OpenTelemetry, Zipkin, and Jaeger support |
| Log Management | Automated discovery & shipping, pattern extraction, ClickHouse 10x compression | Grafana Loki for log aggregation, indexing, and querying with LogQL |
| AI-Powered Root Cause Analysis | Integrated RCA across metrics, logs, traces automatically | No automated root cause analysis - relies on manual dashboard investigation and alerting |
| SLO Tracking & Alerting | Built-in SLO monitoring with integrated RCA | SLO tracking with Grafana SLO plugin and flexible alerting rules |
| Database Monitoring | Major OSS databases: Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis - integrated with RCA | Database monitoring through various data sources and pre-built dashboards |
| Continuous Profiling | Always-on profiling with <1% overhead - pinpoint performance bottlenecks down to exact line of code | Grafana Pyroscope for continuous profiling with flame graphs and performance analysis |
| Cloud Cost Monitoring | Automatic cloud cost tracking without account access - calculates cross-AZ and egress costs per application | Cloud cost monitoring through integrations with cloud provider APIs and cost dashboards |
| Real User Monitoring (RUM) | Not available - backend/infrastructure focused | Frontend Observability with real user monitoring, web vitals, and session tracking |
| Synthetic Monitoring | Not available - focuses on internal observability | Grafana Cloud Synthetic Monitoring with global probe network for uptime and performance checks |

## Cost Analysis

Understanding the total cost of ownership for each platform

### Coroot

Community Edition:

Free

Complete observability platform

Enterprise:

$1/CPU core

Monthly subscription per CPU core

#### What's included:

- • Unlimited data retention
- • No per-GB storage charges
- • All features included
- • On-premises infrastructure

### Grafana

Free Tier:

Free

10k series, 50GB logs/traces, 14-day retention

Pro Plan:

$19/month base

\+ usage fees: $6.50/1k series, $0.50/GB logs/traces

#### Additional costs:

- • Kubernetes Monitoring: $0.015/host hour
- • Application Observability: $0.04/host hour
- • Frontend Observability: $0.90/1k sessions
- • Grafana Visualization: $8/active user

### Example: 50-Host Environment

#### Coroot Enterprise

Coroot licenses (200 cores × $1)$200

Infrastructure (4 vCPU, 16GB RAM)$120

Storage (1TB SSD - 2x replication)$80

Total monthly cost$400

\* 1TB = 5TB compressed 10x with 2x replication for HA

#### Grafana Cloud Pro

Platform base fee$19

Metrics (20k series × $6.50/1k)$130

Logs (3TB × $0.50)$1,500

Traces (2TB × $0.50)$1,000

Kubernetes Monitoring (36k host hours × $0.015)$540

Application Observability (1.8k host hours × $0.04)$72

Total monthly cost$3,261

Monthly savings with Coroot: $2,861 (8.2x less expensive)

\* Coroot includes infrastructure costs for ClickHouse, Prometheus, and storage. ClickHouse provides 10x compression reducing storage costs significantly. Grafana based on 5TB monthly dataset: 20k metric series, 3TB logs, 2TB traces, plus Kubernetes and Application Observability. At higher data volumes, Grafana costs increase significantly while Coroot remains flat. Actual costs vary significantly based on usage patterns, data volume, and feature usage.

## When to Choose Each Platform

Choose the right observability platform based on your needs

### Choose Coroot If:

You want predictable pricing

8.2x cost savings with simple per-CPU pricing model

You need air-gapped deployment

Banking, defense, healthcare, regulated industries requiring complete data control

You want zero-code instrumentation

eBPF monitoring without touching application code or deployment pipelines

You need automated incident response

AI-powered root cause analysis to reduce MTTR significantly

You want a complete platform

All-in-one solution without assembling multiple tools

### Choose Grafana If:

You prefer composable architecture

Mix and match tools with flexible data source integrations

You need powerful visualization

Industry-leading dashboards and custom visualization capabilities

You have existing Prometheus/monitoring setup

Integrate with current monitoring infrastructure and data sources

You need frontend/synthetic monitoring

RUM, synthetic monitoring, and frontend observability features

You want managed cloud service

Fully managed observability stack without infrastructure overhead.