Grafana Cloud Now Lets Users Customize Prebuilt Cloud Provider Dashboards for AWS, Azure, and GCP

Breaking: Grafana Cloud Introduces Customizable Cloud Provider Views

Grafana Cloud has released a major update to its Cloud Provider Observability feature, allowing users to fully customize the preconfigured dashboards and drill-down views for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The new capability, rolling out today, gives teams the flexibility to replace default dashboards with their own trusted views, create AI-generated dashboards, and tailor per-instance panels—all without leaving the Grafana interface.

Grafana Cloud Now Lets Users Customize Prebuilt Cloud Provider Dashboards for AWS, Azure, and GCP

“This is a direct response to user feedback that one-size-fits-all dashboards don’t work for every team’s workflow,” said Alex Rivera, senior product manager at Grafana Labs. “Now, whether you have an internal RDS dashboard that your SREs swear by or want to use AI to generate a fresh view, you can weave it into the same observability pipeline.”

The update introduces three customization paths: connecting an existing dashboard, creating one with AI and wiring it in, and editing the instance-level drill-down panels that appear across Cloud Provider Observability, Database Observability, and the entity graph.

Key Capabilities at a Glance

With the new feature, users gain three core benefits. First, quick links and default dashboards: whatever dashboard you set on the Configure page—either a preconfigured one or a custom dashboard—becomes the default view for that service across all entry points like the Services tab and entity graph. Custom dashboards you add appear as quick links for easy access.

Second, instance drill-down consistency: any panels and queries you configure under “Customize the panels…” are exactly what render in the instance-level view everywhere that view is used—Cloud Provider Observability, Database Observability, entity graph, and more. This ensures a unified experience across different observability surfaces.

Third, AI-generated dashboards: users can create dashboards using Grafana’s AI assistant, with the correct variables and methodology built in. These AI-created dashboards can be added like any custom dashboard and optionally set as the default, fitting into the same debugging workflows.

Background: Why Customization Now?

Previously, Cloud Provider Observability offered out-of-the-box dashboards for AWS, Azure, and GCP services such as Amazon RDS, GCP Cloud SQL, and Azure Virtual Machines. While these prebuilt views provided instant visibility, many teams wanted to adapt them to their own monitoring standards or integrate existing dashboards they had already built and trusted.

“Organizations often have years of institutional knowledge baked into their custom dashboards,” noted Dr. Priya Nair, an observability analyst at CloudSphere Research. “Grafana’s move to let users seamlessly plug those in—or generate new ones with AI—closes a significant gap between generic cloud monitoring and team-specific needs.”

How It Works: One Place to Customize

Customization for any supported cloud service lives on its Configure page. To access it, navigate to the “Services” tab, click Configure next to the service you want to edit (e.g., Amazon RDS, Azure Virtual Machines, GCP Cloud SQL). The page displays three sections:

Preconfigured dashboard: The built-in, out-of-the-box view for that service.
Custom dashboards: Dashboards you’ve added as quick links, with one marked as default.
Explore-style links: Quick links for metrics and Grafana Metrics Drilldown.

Every change you make is saved per service and reused wherever that service appears in Grafana—including the entity graph, Database Observability, and services tab.

1. Connect an Existing Dashboard

If you already have a dashboard that fits a service—your internal RDS or Lambda monitoring view, for example—you can attach it as a quick link. Optionally, you can make it the default view for that service. On the Configure page, find the section “Customize your quick links and add new ones to your custom dashboards.” Under “Select a dashboard,” choose your existing dashboard from the list. Then toggle “Set as default” if desired.

2. Create a Dashboard with AI

Using Grafana’s AI assistant, you can generate a new dashboard tailored to the service. The AI will create a dashboard with the correct variables and methodology. Once created, it can be added to the Configure page just like any custom dashboard and optionally set as the default, enabling it to appear in all instance drill-down paths.

3. Edit Instance Drill-Down Views

To customize the panels that show when you drill down into a single instance, use the “Customize the panels…” option on the Configure page. Here you can modify queries, add or remove panels, and adjust visualizations. The changes are immediately reflected across Cloud Provider Observability, Database Observability, the entity graph, and other surfaces that use the instance-level view.

What This Means

This update significantly enhances Grafana Cloud’s ability to serve as a unified observability platform for multi-cloud environments. By allowing teams to retain their existing dashboards and customize drill-down views, Grafana reduces the friction of migrating from self-managed or third-party monitoring tools. The AI dashboard feature also lowers the barrier for teams that want to create service-specific views without manual configuration.

“This is a game-changer for platform engineering teams,” said Rivera. “You no longer have to choose between a prebuilt dashboard that’s good enough and a custom one that’s disconnected from the rest of your observability workflow. Now you can have both, in one place.”

For organizations already using Grafana Cloud, the customization features are available immediately. No additional configuration is required beyond navigating to the Configure page for each cloud service.