Editorial take
Why it stands out
Grafana Beyla should be framed as an instrumentation and telemetry-generation layer, not as a direct backend competitor to Loki, Tempo, or Mimir.
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Tool profile
Open-source eBPF-based auto-instrumentation tool for RED metrics and trace spans without modifying application code.
eBPF auto-instrumentation
Grafana Beyla deserves to be in the catalog because it solves a very specific and increasingly important part of observability infrastructure: getting application telemetry without language-agent sprawl or code changes. The official Grafana page positions Beyla as an open-source eBPF-based auto-instrumentation tool for RED metrics and basic trace spans across Linux HTTP/S and gRPC services. That gives it a different role from a backend like Tempo or Mimir. Beyla sits closer to the instrumentation layer, especially for teams that want fast application observability coverage without deeply reworking service code.
Its pricing needs careful editorial framing because the software itself is open source, but the most obvious commercial path is Grafana Cloud Application Observability rather than a Beyla-specific SKU. Grafana's Application Observability billing documentation currently shows new-customer pricing at $0.025 per host hour, plus $0.50 per 1,000 active series, $0.50 per GB traces, $0.50 per GB logs, and $0.50 per GB profiles. That makes Beyla strongest as an OSS auto-instrumentation layer with a clear managed landing zone, not as a separately sold product.
Quick fit
Editorial take
Grafana Beyla should be framed as an instrumentation and telemetry-generation layer, not as a direct backend competitor to Loki, Tempo, or Mimir.
What it does well
Primary use cases
Fit notes
Compare with
Pressure-test this pick against nearby alternatives.
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Pricing snapshot
Grafana Beyla is free open-source software. The clearest commercial path is Grafana Cloud Application Observability, whose official billing docs currently show new-customer pricing at $0.025 per host hour plus $0.50 per 1,000 active series, $0.50/GB traces, $0.50/GB logs, and $0.50/GB profiles.
Arcjet
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Closer to application-runtime security and abuse-prevention tooling than to classic perimeter appliances.
