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Comparison · DevOps

Grafana vs Rivet

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Grafana and Rivet — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Grafana vs Rivet: at a glance

FeatureGrafanaRivet
SectorDevOps, Infra & APIsDevOps
Velocity score5.06.3
Sparks · 30d01
Top themessecurity-patches, cve-disclosure, lts-backports, dashboardsedge-compute, actors, ai-agent-infra, rust-rewrite
Last editorial update16d ago3d ago
WebsiteVisit →

What is Grafana?

Grafana ships a coordinated multi-branch security wave on top of the v13 release.

The recent timeline is dominated by security work: a synchronized May 12 release of patched builds across five supported lines (11.6, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.0) covering the same ten CVEs, plus a June 2 follow-on patch for 13.0.2 addressing a fresh batch including a Loki path-traversal and a Geomap URL sanitization fix. Underneath that, v13.0 itself shipped in April with bundled-datasource dashboards, the redesigned logs panel from v12.3, and the dynamic-dashboard automation from v12.4.

Read the full Grafana trajectory →

What is Rivet?

Rivet hardened its actor runtime into a stateful platform and is chasing AI-agent infra.

Rivet is an actor-based edge-compute platform that shipped its core primitives in a fast burst: durable Workflows, per-actor Queues, and per-actor SQLite all landed in late February, followed by agentOS—a WASM/V8-isolate VM for AI agents—in April and a dashboard redesign in May. The June 2.3 release rewrites the RivetKit SDK core in native Rust and adds fine-grained control over actor lifecycle.

Read the full Rivet trajectory →

Grafana vs Rivet: editorial side-by-side

Grafana logo
Grafana
DEVOPSINFRA · APIS
5.0

Grafana ships a coordinated multi-branch security wave on top of the v13 release.

◆ Current state

The recent timeline is dominated by security work: a synchronized May 12 release of patched builds across five supported lines (11.6, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.0) covering the same ten CVEs, plus a June 2 follow-on patch for 13.0.2 addressing a fresh batch including a Loki path-traversal and a Geomap URL sanitization fix. Underneath that, v13.0 itself shipped in April with bundled-datasource dashboards, the redesigned logs panel from v12.3, and the dynamic-dashboard automation from v12.4.

◆ Where it's heading

Grafana is operating a mature CNA-style disclosure pipeline — vendor-acknowledgement timestamps in patch notes suggest a private partner channel and synchronized backports. The product direction itself is consolidating around dashboard automation, logs UX, and easier onboarding. The two streams (feature shipping and security cadence) run in parallel without slowing each other.

◆ Prediction

Expect 13.0.x patch releases at roughly monthly cadence as more partner-acknowledged vulns land, alongside continued investment in dashboard templating and the logs/traces explorers that v12.3 and v12.4 set up.

R
Rivet
DEVOPS
6.3

Rivet hardened its actor runtime into a stateful platform and is chasing AI-agent infra.

◆ Current state

Rivet is an actor-based edge-compute platform that shipped its core primitives in a fast burst: durable Workflows, per-actor Queues, and per-actor SQLite all landed in late February, followed by agentOS—a WASM/V8-isolate VM for AI agents—in April and a dashboard redesign in May. The June 2.3 release rewrites the RivetKit SDK core in native Rust and adds fine-grained control over actor lifecycle.

◆ Where it's heading

Two arcs are running together. The actor runtime is being hardened into a complete stateful platform—storage (SQLite), messaging (queues), orchestration (workflows)—now sitting on a native-Rust core for performance and control. In parallel, Rivet is pushing into AI-agent infrastructure with agentOS and (from the broader log) a universal Sandbox Agent SDK, positioning itself as the execution layer beneath agents and undercutting sandbox providers on cold-start and cost.

◆ Prediction

Expect the Rust 2.3 core to anchor further performance and lifecycle features, and agentOS to gain managed or hosted options as Rivet leans harder into the agent-sandbox market.

Alternatives to Grafana and Rivet

Other DevOps products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Grafana or Rivet.

See all Grafana alternatives → · See all Rivet alternatives →

Recent activity from Grafana and Rivet

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 3d agoRivetIntroducing the Effect SDK for Rivet Actors
  2. 4d agoRivetRivet 2.3: native Rust RivetKit rewrite and new dashboard
  3. 16d agoGrafana13.0.2 security patch: Geomap URL, body-size cap, Loki path traversal
  4. 1mo agoRivetDashboard Redesign
  5. 1mo agoGrafana12.3.6 security patch (10 CVEs + Alertmanager fix)
  6. 1mo agoGrafana12.4.3 security patch (10 CVE backports)
  7. 1mo agoGrafana12.2.8 security patch (10 CVE backports to 12.2 LTS)
  8. 1mo agoGrafana11.6.14 security patch (10 CVE backports to 11.6 LTS)
  9. 1mo agoGrafana13.0.1 security patch (10 CVEs on current major)
  10. 2mo agoRivetIntroducing agentOS
  11. 3mo agoRivetIntroducing SQLite for Rivet Actors
  12. 3mo agoRivetIntroducing Queues for Rivet Actors

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Grafana and Rivet?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Rivet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Grafana better than Rivet?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Rivet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other DevOps products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Grafana?

Top Grafana alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Grafana alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/grafana for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Rivet?

Top Rivet alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Rivet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rivet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.