SHSelfHostIndex

Grafana Image Renderer vs Sampler Dashboard

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted dashboards & startpages options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
GR Grafana Image Renderer Render Grafana panels and dashboards as images and PDFs VS SA Sampler Dashboard Terminal dashboard for visualizing shell command output
FeatureGrafana Image RendererSampler Dashboard
CategoryDashboards & StartpagesDashboards & Startpages
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM512 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, kubernetesbare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 520★ 14,727
First released20192019
ReplacesGrafana Enterprise ReportingGrafana

Why pick each one

Choose Grafana Image Renderer if…

  • Enables image alerts and reports
  • Simple Docker deployment
Grafana Image Renderer details

Choose Sampler Dashboard if…

  • Runs in a terminal
  • No web stack needed
Sampler Dashboard details

Frequently asked questions

Is Grafana Image Renderer or Sampler Dashboard better?

Neither is universally better. Sampler Dashboard has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Grafana Image Renderer and Sampler Dashboard free and open-source?

Yes. Grafana Image Renderer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Sampler Dashboard under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Grafana Image Renderer and Sampler Dashboard with Docker?

Grafana Image Renderer: yes. Sampler Dashboard: check the project docs for container support.

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