Grafana
The open-source platform for dashboards, metrics and alerts. 200+ data source plugins, drag-and-drop editor, alerting with routing — a concrete alternative to Power BI and Tableau for SMBs with IoT, production or sensor data.
Project profile
Grafana
The open observability platform for everyone
As of: June 2, 2026
GitHub stars
74k
Forks
14k
Open issues
3.6k
License
AGPL-3.0
Latest version
v13.0.1
Language
TypeScript
Third-party source · Wikidata (CC0)
Wikidata profile
Grafana
License
Apache Software License 2.0
Developer
Carl Bergquist
What is Grafana?
is the established open-source platform for dashboards, visualisation and alerting, around for over ten years. At its core it reads data from over 200 sources (, InfluxDB, , MySQL, , Elasticsearch, MongoDB, REST APIs, CSV files) and renders them as configurable panels — time series, tables, statistics, heatmaps, maps.
is licensed under AGPL-3.0 — real OSI open source. Alongside it there is Cloud (SaaS) and Enterprise (commercial license with additional features like SAML, reporting, auditing). For SMB self-hosting the open-source variant is sufficient without restrictions — self-hosting for own use is unproblematic under AGPL.
Why a brewery uses Grafana
In a private brewery with 8–15 fermentation tanks every brew runs over several days. , pressure, sometimes pH and original gravity have to be captured continuously — historically in the head brewer's Excel book, painstakingly updated in the evening. Sensor data often already exists (modern tanks have it built in) but nobody looks at it.
turns sensor data into a living picture: real-time fermentation curves per tank, comparison against the ideal target profile, alerts on drift via Slack or SMS. Plus: brew protocols are generated automatically from the database — the handwritten brewery log becomes an audit-friendly, searchable data base.
Client case study
Brauhaus Werder
Medium-sized private brewery in Brandenburg, 18 staff — head brewer + 6 brewers + shifts + administration + sales. 12 fermentation tanks at 40 hl each with 2–3 sensors per tank (, pressure, optionally pH and gravity). 16 months ago migrated from an Excel brewery log to InfluxDB + . Today: every brew is searchable, drift is detected in real time, brew protocols are generated automatically.
Real-time overview of all 12 tanks
Historical comparison between brews
Alerts on temperature drift
Mobile access for the head brewer
Multi data source
Dashboards for shift leads
What the brewery actually does with it
Eight productive usage patterns from 16 months of practice at Brauhaus Werder. Each pattern replaces a handwritten brewery activity or a 'we'll hopefully notice' gap.
Master 'tank house' dashboard
Fermentation curve comparison
Real-time alerts via Slack
Brew protocols automatic
Electricity, water, CO2 statistics
Shift handover dashboard
PDF reports for the brewery supervisor
Mobile PWA for the head brewer
Core capabilities of Grafana
What offers as a platform — and which of these capabilities really carry the brewery setup.
200+ data source plugins
Drag-and-drop dashboard editor
Alerting with routing
Users/roles + multi-tenancy
REST API for custom embedding
Variables for dynamic dashboards
Honest alternatives
If Grafana is not a fit — what else?
Three alternatives with different strengths. is the broad standard for dashboards. The competition has its own focuses.
Microsoft stack
Power BI
Microsoft, proprietary
- + Deep MS-365 and Azure integration
- + Very strong Excel / SQL Server setup
- − €10/user/month (Pro)
- − MS cloud, self-hosting only via Report Server
Enterprise BI
Tableau
Salesforce, proprietary
- + Very mature BI platform
- + Strong data visualisation
- − $70/user/month creator licence
- − US cloud, self-hosting complicated
Open-source BI
Metabase
Metabase Inc., AGPL-3.0
- + Self-hosted, easy entry
- + Very good for SQL-centric data
- − Fewer data sources than Grafana
- − Weaker on time series and IoT
Rule of thumb: anyone wanting self-hosting, visualising IoT/sensor/server data and working with multi data sources is best placed on . Power BI is the right choice in Microsoft houses with MS-365 licensing. Tableau pays off in pure business-analytics with high licence tolerance. Metabase is a nice alternative for SQL-centric with fewer time series.
Pricing
AGPL-3.0. Self-hosted. No per-seat licence.
License
AGPL-3.0 — true OSI open-source license with strong copyleft. For SMB own use without redistribution no obligations. Alongside there is Grafana Enterprise (commercial, extra SAML/Reporting/Auditing features) and Grafana Cloud (SaaS) — not relevant for self-hosting.
Running costs
One container on an existing Docker host. RAM footprint around 256 MB for 5–20 dashboards. Plus the database, which runs anyway (InfluxDB/PostgreSQL). No per-seat licence, no cloud fees.
Effort
Installation: 30 minutes (start container, admin password). First dashboard with variables: 2–3 hours learning curve. Complete brewery setup (InfluxDB hookup, 12-tank dashboard, alerts, mobile PWA, brew-protocol workflow): 5–8 consulting days.
has a very active maintainer community and stable releases since 2014 (currently v13). The AGPL-3.0 license means: for own use no obligations whatsoever, for redistribution as a competing SaaS the own code must be published under AGPL. For 99 % of SMB setups irrelevant.
Alert rule: temperature drift in a fermentation tank
# Grafana Alert Rule (YAML, provisioning)
apiVersion: 1
groups:
- orgId: 1
name: head-brewer-alerts
folder: Brewery
interval: 30s
rules:
- uid: tank-temp-drift
title: Tank temperature drifts from target
condition: B
data:
- refId: A
datasourceUid: influxdb-tanks
model:
query: |
from(bucket: "tanks")
|> range(start: -15m)
|> filter(fn: (r) =>
r._measurement == "temperature" and
abs(r.actual - r.target) > 2.0)
|> mean()
- refId: B
type: threshold
settings:
expression: A > 0
for: 10m
labels:
severity: warning
team: head-brewer
annotations:
summary: "Tank {{ $labels.tank }} drifts by {{ $value }}°C"
# → Alertmanager → Slack #brewery-alertsGrafana stack with InfluxDB data source
services:
grafana:
image: grafana/grafana:13.0.1
container_name: grafana
restart: unless-stopped
ports: ["3000:3000"]
volumes:
- grafana_data:/var/lib/grafana
- ./provisioning:/etc/grafana/provisioning:ro
environment:
- GF_SERVER_ROOT_URL=https://dashboards.werder-brewery.com
- GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=${GRAFANA_ADMIN_PASS}
- GF_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_ENABLED=false
- GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=grafana-clock-panel,grafana-piechart-panel
networks: [observability, frontend]
influxdb:
image: influxdb:2.7
container_name: influxdb
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
- DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_MODE=setup
- DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAME=admin
- DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD=${INFLUX_ADMIN_PASS}
- DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_ORG=werder-brewery
- DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_BUCKET=tanks
- DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_RETENTION=90d
volumes:
- influxdb_data:/var/lib/influxdb2
networks: [observability]
volumes:
grafana_data:
influxdb_data:
networks:
observability:
frontend:
external: trueRelated topics
Grafana is the visualisation — what feeds it?
shows data from other systems. In the brewery setup: sensor data in InfluxDB, brew plan in , alarms via . In classic IT monitoring: + :
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