How much does the Grafana Labs Startup Program give?
Up to $100,000 in Grafana Cloud credits, for 12 months or until the startup's next round of funding. The credits work on any Grafana Cloud service, so there is no product list to pick from.
The announcement names managed backends for logs, traces and metrics, plus performance testing, profiling, incident response and management, frontend and application observability, and synthetic monitoring. Grafana decides who is admitted “at its sole discretion”, and the announcement does not say how the amount for a given startup is set.
Source: Grafana Labs Startup Program announcement (grafana.com/blog/grafana-labs-startup-program)
Who qualifies for the Grafana Labs Startup Program?
All new Grafana Cloud customers can apply, including those on the Free plan, and so can teams running Grafana OSS who want a fully managed service. Ideally you have raised less than $10 million and have under 25 employees, but Grafana says to apply even if you do not meet those guidelines.
If you are accepted, Grafana asks you to agree to be a reference customer. It may also ask you to agree to marketing activities such as guest blogs and speaking at events.
Source: Grafana Labs Startup Program announcement (grafana.com/blog/grafana-labs-startup-program)
What does the Grafana startup program include besides credits?
Access to all Grafana Enterprise data source plugins and 24x7 Grafana support, plus access to Grafana's integrations team if you want to build a plugin or solution that integrates with Grafana Cloud.
What accepted startups receive, per Grafana's announcement
- $100,000 in credits for any Grafana Cloud service for 12 months
- All Enterprise data source plugins and 24x7 Grafana support
- A guaranteed 20% discount from list prices once the credits or the 12 months are used up
- Access to the integrations team to plan a plugin or solution
Source: Grafana Labs Startup Program announcement (grafana.com/blog/grafana-labs-startup-program)
What happens after the Grafana Cloud credits run out?
You get a guaranteed 20% discount from list prices after you deplete the credits or your 12 months are completed. Grafana adds that further discounts are available based on consumption.
The announcement does not say whether credits left at the end of the 12 months carry over, so plan to use them within the year.
Source: Grafana Labs Startup Program announcement (grafana.com/blog/grafana-labs-startup-program)
How do I apply for the Grafana Labs Startup Program?
Fill in the Grafana Labs Startup Program form, which the announcement links to and which is still live. The announcement called it a four-question form that takes under two minutes, while the form itself now says 5 questions and about 5 minutes.
The program was announced as part of ObservabilityCON 2024, and that announcement is Grafana's description of the terms.
Source: Grafana Labs Startup Program announcement (grafana.com/blog/grafana-labs-startup-program), Grafana Labs Startup Program application form (grafana-labs.typeform.com/to/cSI7ohks)
Is Grafana Cloud free for startups?
Yes, there is an always-free tier for anyone, which Grafana describes as “Perfect for personal projects, exploring new ideas, and early-stage startups”. It includes all Grafana Cloud services with usage limits and 14 days of retention. The paid Pro plan starts at $19 a month plus usage.
The free tier is a separate offer from the startup program and needs no application.
Source: Grafana Cloud free tier page (grafana.com/products/cloud/free-tier)
