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Telegraf

Free plan Open source APILinuxMacSelf-hostedWebWindows

What Telegraf is

Telegraf is an open source agent from InfluxData for collecting metrics from infrastructure, applications, and devices. Its plugin ecosystem connects data sources to destinations, with 400+ community-tested plugins and a plan listing 5K+ integrations. It collects real-time IoT and edge signals through MQTT, Modbus, and OPC-UA, and can monitor Kubernetes, Docker, and Prometheus through sidecar or DaemonSet deployments.

For network telemetry, built-in buffering and backpressure are described as helping prevent data loss when gathering 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. Enterprise adds centralized configuration management, real-time fleet visibility, a visual configuration builder, and role-based access control. Its free Controller version supports up to 20 configurations and 100 reporting agents. Open source Telegraf has no native access control; Enterprise adds RBAC, API tokens, and TLS support. Telegraf runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD, with API and self-hosted platforms also listed. Enterprise plans start at $18,000 / year.

Who it suits

The open source edition suits individuals and teams with personal, small, or simple data pipelines that need to collect infrastructure, application, or device metrics. Enterprise is aimed at organizations seeking centralized configuration, fleet visibility, access controls, and support with guaranteed response times.

What it does well

Open source edition is free.
400+ community-tested plugins connect data sources and destinations.
Collects real-time IoT and edge signals via MQTT, Modbus, and OPC-UA.
Can monitor Kubernetes, Docker, and Prometheus.
Enterprise adds fleet visibility and role-based access control.
Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD.

What to know first

Open source Telegraf has no native access control.
Enterprise starts at $18,000 / year.
Free Controller is limited to 20 configurations and 100 reporting agents.

Limits

The free Telegraf Controller version supports up to 20 configurations and 100 reporting agents. Open source Telegraf has no native access control; Enterprise adds RBAC, API tokens, and TLS support.

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
Telegraf (open source)	Free open source agent · personal, small, and simple data pipelines · 5K+ integrations	Free
Telegraf OSS	MIT-licensed agent · self-managed deployment · 400+ plugins	Free
Telegraf Enterprise	annually · Entry packages from $18,000/yr · pricing scales with agents managed · enterprise support	$18,000 a year

As influxdata.com lists them, read 10 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

Visit the InfluxData Telegraf website.
Choose the free open source edition or Telegraf Enterprise.
Run the agent on a supported platform: Linux, macOS, Windows, or FreeBSD.
For Enterprise Controller, use its self-hosted single-binary deployment on macOS, Linux, or Windows.
Connect data sources and destinations using Telegraf plugins.

Verdict

Choose the free open source edition for personal, small, or simple metric pipelines across infrastructure, applications, and devices. Consider Enterprise if you need centralized management, fleet visibility, access controls, or Enterprise Support; its plans start at $18,000 / year.

Questions

Is Telegraf free?

Yes. Telegraf open source costs nothing. Telegraf Enterprise plans start at $18,000 / year.

What platforms does Telegraf support?

Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD are listed as supported platforms. API and self-hosted are also listed.

Is Telegraf open source?

Yes. The open source edition is described as suitable for personal, small, and simple data pipelines.

What does Enterprise add?

Enterprise adds centralized configuration management, real-time fleet visibility, a visual configuration builder, and role-based access control. It includes Telegraf Controller and Enterprise Support.

What are the limits of the free Controller version?

It supports up to 20 configurations and 100 reporting agents.

Who makes Telegraf?

Telegraf is built by InfluxData, which says it was founded in 2012.

Facts from Telegraf's own pages

Cloud and containers: Telegraf monitors Kubernetes, Docker and Prometheus without external dependencies and can run as a sidecar or DaemonSet. · influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Community contributions: An ODBMS interview states that community members regularly request and contribute plugins, with external programs supported through Execd. · odbms.org, 14 Oct 2026
Company founding and headquarters: LinkedIn lists InfluxData as founded in 2012 with headquarters in San Francisco, California. · linkedin.com, 14 Oct 2026
Company legal name: Crunchbase identifies the maker's legal name as InfluxData, Inc. · crunchbase.com, 14 Oct 2026
Company size: LinkedIn lists InfluxData's company size as 201-500 employees. · linkedin.com, 14 Oct 2026
Configuration: Telegraf uses TOML configuration files, supports multiple plugin instances, filtering selectors and environment-variable substitution. · docs.influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Controller free limits: The free Controller version stores up to 20 configurations and manages up to 100 reporting agents. · influxdata.com, 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. · docs.influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Data collection: Telegraf collects real-time IoT and edge signals through MQTT, Modbus, and OPC-UA. · influxdata.com, 10 Oct 2026
Deployment: Telegraf Controller is self-hosted as a single binary and runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows. · influxdata.com, 10 Oct 2026
Documentation depth: The project documentation includes installation, configuration, tutorials, reference material and per-plugin README files with configuration and troubleshooting details. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026
Enterprise features: Telegraf Enterprise adds centralized configuration management, real-time fleet visibility, a visual configuration builder, and role-based access control. · influxdata.com, 10 Oct 2026
Enterprise limits: The free Telegraf Controller version supports up to 20 configurations and 100 reporting agents. · influxdata.com, 10 Oct 2026
Enterprise management: Enterprise adds centralized configuration, agent health monitoring, a visual configuration builder, RBAC, API tokens and enterprise support. · influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Enterprise security features: Enterprise Controller licensing unlocks audit logging, high availability, LDAP authentication and OIDC authentication. · docs.influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Example integrations: The maker lists Kafka, MQTT, AMQP, OPC UA, and InfluxDB as example sources or outputs. · influxdata.com, 10 Oct 2026
External extensibility: External programs written in any language can run through the execd plugin interface. · docs.influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Funding record: Crunchbase lists seven funding rounds for InfluxData, with detailed amounts obscured on its public page. · crunchbase.com, 14 Oct 2026
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States · influxdata.com, 28 Sept 2026
Installation security: InfluxData recommends SHA-256 checksum and GPG signature verification for downloaded binaries and packages. · docs.influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Intended users: The open source edition is described as optimal for personal, small, and simple data pipelines. · influxdata.com, 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. · influxdata.com, 14 Oct 2026
Language: The Hysenlabs review reports that Telegraf is mainly written in Go based on GitHub language statistics. · hysenlabs.com, 14 Oct 2026
License: The Telegraf repository and license file identify the software as MIT licensed. · github.com, 14 Oct 2026