Is Grafana Cloud free?

Grafana Cloud has a generous free tier: 100k API test executions/month, 10k metrics, 50GB logs. PingZen is free with unlimited monitors and 22 protocols. Both have strong free offerings for different use cases.

Can Grafana Cloud monitor WebSocket and gRPC?

Not with built-in check types. Grafana supports HTTP, Ping, TCP, DNS, traceroute, and k6 scripted checks. WebSocket and gRPC would require custom k6 scripts. PingZen supports both natively.

Does Grafana Cloud have status pages?

No. Grafana Cloud provides dashboards but not public-facing status pages. PingZen includes free public status pages with custom branding. For customer-facing uptime communication, PingZen is the better choice.

PingZen vs Grafana Cloud: Uptime Monitoring vs Observability

Q: Is PingZen better than Grafana Cloud for uptime monitoring?

For pure uptime monitoring, PingZen is simpler with 22 protocols and a dedicated UI. Grafana Cloud is a full observability platform where synthetic monitoring requires dashboard setup. PingZen is better for uptime; Grafana is better for full-stack observability.

Grafana Cloud is a full observability platform (metrics, logs, traces, dashboards) with built-in synthetic monitoring powered by k6. Generous free tier: 100k API test executions/month. Enterprise from $25,000/year.

Start Free

Free forever · No credit card · 5-min setup

Quick Comparison

Best Value

PingZen

Price: Free forever
Intervals: 30 seconds
Protocols: 22 protocols
Alerts: 12+ channels

Grafana Cloud

Price: Free tier + Pro pay-as-you-go
Intervals: 1 minute
Protocols: 7 check types + k6 scripted
Alerts: 10+ channels

Feature Comparison

Feature Comparison
Feature	PingZen	Grafana Cloud
HTTP/HTTPS monitoring
DNS monitoring
TCP monitoring
Ping (ICMP)
Traceroute
k6 scripted checks JavaScript-based load testing
Browser checks (headless) Simulated browser sessions
Private probes Monitor internal infrastructure
WebSocket monitoring
gRPC monitoring
SSL certificate monitoring
WHOIS domain expiry
SMTP/IMAP/POP3
FTP/FTPS monitoring
Full observability stack Metrics + logs + traces + dashboards
Telegram alerts
Slack integration
Public status pages
Dedicated uptime UI Grafana requires dashboard configuration

Why Choose PingZen

Dedicated uptime monitoring interface
22 protocols vs 7 check types
SSL, WHOIS, SMTP, FTP monitoring built-in
Public status pages included
Simpler setup (no dashboard configuration)
Incident management and workspaces

When Grafana Cloud is Better

Full observability (metrics, logs, traces)
k6-powered scripted load testing
Browser checks (headless sessions)
Private probes for internal infrastructure
Custom dashboards and visualizations
Massive open-source community

Not sure about PingZen vs Grafana Cloud?

Try it free in 30 seconds

No credit card · No commitment · 5-min setup

Migration Tip

Grafana Cloud is a full observability platform where synthetic monitoring is one component. PingZen is a dedicated uptime monitoring SaaS. Use Grafana for full-stack observability; PingZen for simple, protocol-rich uptime monitoring.