---
title: "Two approaches to database monitoring | Grafana Labs"
description: "Comparing Database Observability and integrations"
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

## Two approaches to database monitoring

Grafana Cloud offers two ways to monitor databases. Each serves a different purpose.

|                         | Database Observability                               | Integrations                                           |
|-------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| **What it does**        | Deep query-level monitoring                          | Database health metrics                                |
| **Depth**               | Individual queries, explain plans, wait events       | Aggregate metrics, dashboards, alerts                  |
| **How it works**        | Grafana Alloy with Database Observability components | Grafana Alloy with integration config                  |
| **Dashboards**          | Purpose-built query performance views                | Pre-built health dashboards                            |
| **Supported databases** | MySQL, PostgreSQL                                    | MongoDB, Redis, Memcached, Cassandra, Oracle, and more |

## When each approach shines

- **Database Observability** — You need to understand *why* queries are slow, not just *that* they’re slow. See individual query execution plans, wait events, and optimization suggestions.
- **Integrations** — Your database isn’t supported by Database Observability yet, or you need broad health metrics with pre-built dashboards and alerts.

> **The key insight:** These approaches complement each other. Many teams use Database Observability for their MySQL and PostgreSQL databases and integrations for other database technologies.