Grafana is the standard for monitoring: metrics, logs and traces from servers and applications, with alerting. Many teams also try it for business reporting and find it awkward for sales, finance or KPI dashboards. Dashboard Builder is made for business dashboards from SQL databases and files, with no time-series setup.
Short answer: for infrastructure monitoring and alerting, use Grafana. For business dashboards (sales, finance, operations KPIs) from MySQL, SQL Server, Excel or PDF, built by non-engineers and embedded in PHP apps, use Dashboard Builder. Many companies use both.
Dashboard Builder vs Grafana at a glance
| Grafana | Dashboard Builder | |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Metrics, logs, traces and alerting | Business dashboards and KPIs |
| Hosting | Self-hosted Grafana OSS or Grafana Cloud | Self-hosted (Windows, Linux, macOS; PHP 7.4+), cloud, or Windows desktop |
| Pricing model | Free OSS; Cloud Pro has a platform fee plus usage | One-time: Essential $119, Professional $399, Enterprise $1,499. Cloud from $9/month |
| Data sources | Prometheus, Loki, time-series and SQL databases, many plugins | 25+, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Google Sheets, JSON, Excel, CSV and PDF |
| Who builds dashboards | Mostly engineers (queries per panel) | Analysts and developers; drag-and-drop and AI generator |
| Files (Excel, PDF) | Through plugins | Built in: Excel, CSV and PDF |
| Embedding | Panels and dashboards can be embedded | Generated PHP/HTML5 code; WordPress, Joomla and Laravel exports; share links |
Price comparison
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Grafana Cloud Free | $0 | 3 active visualization users |
| Grafana Cloud Pro | $19/month platform fee | 3 active users included, then from $8 per active user; usage-based |
| Grafana Cloud Enterprise | From $25,000/year commit | Custom |
| Dashboard Builder Professional (self-hosted) | $399 once | 3 users |
| Dashboard Builder Enterprise (self-hosted) | $1,499 once | Unlimited users |
Grafana OSS (self-hosted) is free under the AGPLv3 licence.
Competitor prices checked on 17 October 2026 on the vendors’ own pages: Grafana pricing. Prices are list prices in US dollars and can change; check the vendor’s page before you buy.
Which one to choose
Choose Grafana if…
- You monitor servers, containers or applications.
- You need alerting on metrics and logs.
- Your team is comfortable writing queries for each panel.
Choose Dashboard Builder if…
- Your dashboards are about sales, finance, operations or KPIs.
- Non-engineers need to build and change charts.
- Your data is in SQL databases, spreadsheets or PDF reports.
- You want to embed dashboards in a PHP application.
Moving from Grafana to Dashboard Builder
List the dashboards people actually use. Start with the 3 to 5 most-viewed ones.
Connect the same sources. Point Dashboard Builder at the same databases, or upload the Excel, CSV or PDF files behind the reports.
Rebuild the key charts. Use the drag-and-drop designer, or let the AI Dashboard Generator draft them from a file.
Share or embed. Send links, or embed the dashboards in your intranet or PHP app.
Other comparisons: Power BI, Tableau, Metabase, Data Studio (Looker Studio).
Frequently asked questions
Build your first dashboard in minutes
Upload Excel, CSV or PDF to the free AI Dashboard Generator, or download the self-hosted free trial and connect your database.
Build with AI, free Download the free trial Start a 5-day cloud trial