kitio.aiGrafana Cloud vs Middleware
A side-by-side look at pricing plans, free tiers, features, pros and cons, updated for 2026. Grafana Cloud starts at $19/mo and Middleware starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
At a glance
Best for
Pricing model
Starting price
Free plan
Made by
Based in
Rating
Key features
- Grafana Assistant
- Investigations for root cause
- Agent Observability
- Adaptive Telemetry
- Metrics, logs and traces
- Incident response
- OpsAI SRE agent
- Infrastructure monitoring
- APM and tracing
- Log monitoring
- Real user monitoring
- LLM observability
| Feature | Grafana Cloud | Middleware |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Observability cloud with an AI assistant and agent monitoring | Full-stack observability platform with an AI SRE agent that fixes issues |
| Category | Coding | Coding |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $19/mo | See pricing page |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Made by | Grafana Labs | Middleware |
| Based in | United States | United States |
| Rating | No ratings yet | No ratings yet |
| Key features |
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Pricing compared
Grafana Cloud starts at $19/mo and Middleware starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Free plan
Cheapest paid plan
Top plan
Free trial
3 plans
Free
Free
- All services with usage limits
- 10k active series
- 14-day retention
- Community support
Pro
$19/mo
- Platform fee plus usage
- Pay as you go above free tier
- 13-month metric retention
- 8x5 email support
Enterprise
From $25,000/yr
- Premium support
- Custom retention
- Federal or private cloud options
3 plans
Free Forever
Free
- Up to 100GB data
- 1k RUM sessions
- 20k synthetic checks
- 14-day retention
Pay As You Go
$0.3 / GB
- $1 per 1K RUM sessions
- OpsAI error solving
- 30-day retention
- SSO and security features
BYOC
Custom
- Bring your own cloud
- Custom data retention
- 24x7 support
Prices in USD, checked Oct 29, 2026 or later. Plans change often, so confirm on each tool's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
Grafana Cloud
- Free plan includes all services
- Built on open standards
- Tools to trim telemetry cost
- Usage-based fees are hard to predict
- Free plan retention is only 14 days
- Support is email only on Pro
Middleware
- Generous 100GB free tier
- Simple per-GB usage pricing
- AI agent suggests and applies fixes
- Usage costs can be hard to forecast
- Free tier keeps data only 14 days
- Smaller ecosystem than older APM vendors
Which one should you choose?
Choose Grafana Cloud if you want:
- Free plan includes all services
- Built on open standards
- Tools to trim telemetry cost
Watch out: usage-based fees are hard to predict.
Choose Middleware if you want:
- Generous 100GB free tier
- Simple per-GB usage pricing
- AI agent suggests and applies fixes
Watch out: usage costs can be hard to forecast.
Grafana Cloud vs Middleware FAQ
What is the difference between Grafana Cloud and Middleware?
Grafana Cloud: Observability cloud with an AI assistant and agent monitoring. Middleware: Full-stack observability platform with an AI SRE agent that fixes issues. Both are coding tools.
Is Grafana Cloud or Middleware cheaper?
Grafana Cloud starts at $19/mo and Middleware starts at See pricing page. Check both pricing pages for current plans.
Do Grafana Cloud and Middleware have free plans?
Grafana Cloud: Yes. Middleware: Yes.
Who makes Grafana Cloud?
Grafana Cloud is made by Grafana Labs, based in United States.
Who makes Middleware?
Middleware is made by Middleware, based in United States.
Which should I choose, Grafana Cloud or Middleware?
Choose Grafana Cloud if you value free plan includes all services and built on open standards. Choose Middleware if you value generous 100gb free tier and simple per-gb usage pricing.