Telegraf
Telegraf is an open source agent for collecting metrics from infrastructure, applications, and devices.
What Telegraf is
Telegraf is an open source agent for collecting metrics from infrastructure, applications, and devices. Its plugin ecosystem connects sources to destinations, with more than 400 community-tested plugins and 5K+ integrations listed for the free open source plan. It gathers real-time IoT and edge signals through MQTT, Modbus, and OPC-UA, and can monitor Kubernetes, Docker, and Prometheus using sidecar or DaemonSet deployments. For network telemetry, built-in buffering and backpressure are described as helping prevent data loss when collecting metrics from NGINX, HAProxy, and iptables. Kafka, MQTT, AMQP, OPC UA, and InfluxDB are examples of sources or outputs. The open source edition is described as suited to personal, small, and simple data pipelines. Telegraf Enterprise adds centralized configuration management, fleet visibility, a visual configuration builder, role-based access control, and Enterprise Support. The free Controller version supports up to 20 configurations and 100 reporting agents.
Good
- Open source plan is free.
- More than 400 community-tested plugins are noted.
- Collects IoT and edge signals over several protocols.
- Supports Kubernetes, Docker, and Prometheus monitoring.
- Controller can run on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
Watch out
- Open source Telegraf has no native access control.
- Free Controller is limited to 20 configurations.
- Free Controller is limited to 100 reporting agents.
Who it suits
The open source edition suits personal, small, and simple data pipelines that need infrastructure, application, or device metrics. Teams needing centralized configuration, fleet visibility, or role-based access control can consider Enterprise.
Verdict
Telegraf offers a free agent with broad source and destination connectivity, while Enterprise adds centralized controls and support. The free Controller limits and Enterprise starting price are important to weigh when considering larger deployments.
Plans and prices
From Telegraf's own pricing page, checked 10 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Telegraf (open source) | Free | Free open source agent · personal, small, and simple data pipelines · 5K+ integrations |
| Telegraf OSS | Free | MIT-licensed agent · self-managed deployment · 400+ plugins |
| Telegraf Enterprise | $18,000 a year | Entry packages from $18,000/yr · pricing scales with agents managed · enterprise support · annually |
The facts
Each one read from Telegraf's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Cloud and containers
- Telegraf monitors Kubernetes, Docker and Prometheus without external dependencies and can run as a sidecar or DaemonSet.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Community contributions
- An ODBMS interview states that community members regularly request and contribute plugins, with external programs supported through Execd.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Configuration
- Telegraf uses TOML configuration files, supports multiple plugin instances, filtering selectors and environment-variable substitution.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Controller web and API
- Telegraf Controller is installed as a web application and exposes its web interface and API on port 8888 by default.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Data collection
- Telegraf collects real-time IoT and edge signals through MQTT, Modbus, and OPC-UA.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- Telegraf Controller is self-hosted as a single binary and runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- The project documentation includes installation, configuration, tutorials, reference material and per-plugin README files with configuration and troubleshooting details.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Enterprise features
- Telegraf Enterprise adds centralized configuration management, real-time fleet visibility, a visual configuration builder, and role-based access control.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Enterprise limits
- The free Telegraf Controller version supports up to 20 configurations and 100 reporting agents.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Enterprise management
- Enterprise adds centralized configuration, agent health monitoring, a visual configuration builder, RBAC, API tokens and enterprise support.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Enterprise security features
- Enterprise Controller licensing unlocks audit logging, high availability, LDAP authentication and OIDC authentication.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Example integrations
- The maker lists Kafka, MQTT, AMQP, OPC UA, and InfluxDB as example sources or outputs.checked 10 Oct 2026
- External extensibility
- External programs written in any language can run through the execd plugin interface.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Funding record
- Crunchbase lists seven funding rounds for InfluxData, with detailed amounts obscured on its public page.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Installation security
- InfluxData recommends SHA-256 checksum and GPG signature verification for downloaded binaries and packages.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The open source edition is described as optimal for personal, small, and simple data pipelines.checked 10 Oct 2026
- IoT and edge
- The agent runs as a standalone binary and collects MQTT, Modbus and OPC-UA signals in resource-constrained edge environments.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Language
- The Hysenlabs review reports that Telegraf is mainly written in Go based on GitHub language statistics.checked 14 Oct 2026
- License
- The Telegraf repository and license file identify the software as MIT licensed.checked 14 Oct 2026
The company
- Company founding and headquarters
- LinkedIn lists InfluxData as founded in 2012 with headquarters in San Francisco, California.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Company legal name
- Crunchbase identifies the maker's legal name as InfluxData, Inc.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Company size
- LinkedIn lists InfluxData's company size as 201-500 employees.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United Stateschecked 28 Sep 2026
Money
- Controller free limits
- The free Controller version stores up to 20 configurations and manages up to 100 reporting agents.checked 14 Oct 2026
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