Grafana’s composability comes with separate backends, query languages, scaling plans, retention rules, upgrades, and cross-signal wiring. MoleSignal consolidates logs, metrics, traces, and profiles into one product and investigation model.
Compare · Grafana Stack
Both paths can be self-hosted and object-storage based. MoleSignal removes the component and language boundaries that the Grafana Stack asks your team to maintain.
| Decision point | MoleSignal | Grafana Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Backend layout | One application with standalone and multi-role modes; logs, metrics, and traces share the columnar data plane. | Grafana for visualization with Loki for logs, Mimir for metrics, Tempo for traces, and Pyroscope for profiles. |
| Query model | SQL across columnar telemetry plus a documented PromQL subset for metrics. | Specialized query languages and APIs, including LogQL, PromQL, TraceQL, and profile queries. |
| Cross-signal path | Investigation frames preserve tenant, time, service, trace, and profile context across drill-downs. | Grafana links backends through data sources, derived fields, exemplars, and native integrations. |
| Profiles | Profiles are a first-class product route with pprof, Pyroscope-compatible, and OTLP Profiles intake. | Grafana Pyroscope is a dedicated continuous-profiling database integrated with Grafana and the other stack components. |
| Operations | A smaller role set with Postgres, object storage, and local WAL state on intake nodes. | Each selected backend has its own deployment, scaling, retention, upgrade, and availability model. |
| Change management | One product version, one role model, and one primary operational runbook. | Grafana, Loki, Mimir, Tempo, Pyroscope, data sources, and plugins evolve on independent release paths. |
Migration
Open standards make this a routing test, not an instrumentation rewrite.
Mirror OTLP and Prometheus traffic for one service into MoleSignal.
Keep Grafana as the reference UI while reproducing the same dashboard and alert.
Compare component count, upgrade paths, retention behavior, and the cross-signal incident workflow.
Move the workloads where one data plane removes the most component, query-language, and incident-response overhead.
Official sources
Product capabilities, editions, and prices change. Re-check the linked first-party sources before making a procurement or production decision.
MoleSignal is pre-1.0; validate it with your workload before production use. MoleSignal is not affiliated with Datadog, Grafana Labs, Elastic, SigNoz, or OpenObserve. Product names are the property of their respective owners.
Keep telemetry on your infrastructure and replace layered SaaS meters with infrastructure-led cost.
Run an Apache 2.0 observability data plane without adopting Elasticsearch, Kibana, and their broader operational footprint.
Keep OpenTelemetry data on object storage and add first-class profiles without making ClickHouse a core dependency.
Keep Apache 2.0 and first-class profiles without an AGPL/commercial-license split or NATS in the HA path.
Start the self-hosted sandbox, send a representative OTLP workload, and test the investigation path your team uses during a real incident.