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In this lesson we cover Prometheus visualization: how to turn raw metrics into meaningful graphs, tables, and dashboards so you can quickly spot trends, anomalies, and correlations in your systems. Visualizations make it far easier to understand system behavior at a glance and to communicate that state across teams. Prometheus provides several built-in visualization options:
  • The expression browser — a lightweight web UI for running PromQL queries and viewing instant or range vectors as simple graphs or tables.
  • Console templates — small custom web pages (HTML + Go templates) that embed pre-defined graphs and queries for status pages or operator dashboards.
A presentation slide titled "visualization" listing ways to visualize Prometheus metrics, including built-in tools (Expression browser, Console Templates) and a third-party tool (Grafana).
For production-grade dashboards you’ll usually choose a third-party tool such as Grafana. These tools are designed for visualization: they offer advanced panel types, templating, annotations, alerting integrations, and flexible sharing/collaboration capabilities so teams can build consolidated dashboards that surface service and infrastructure health indicators.
Use the expression browser for quick ad-hoc exploration and PromQL testing. Use console templates for small, static status pages. For collaborative, feature-rich dashboards and long-term visibility, choose a dedicated visualization tool like Grafana.

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Built-in visualization options (quick reference)

  • Expression browser
    • Use case: ad-hoc queries, quick PromQL experimentation, debugging.
    • Output: instant or range vectors shown as simple line graphs or tables.
    • Where: available on the Prometheus web UI (usually http://<prometheus-host>:9090/graph).
  • Console templates
    • Use case: small, static HTML status pages or internal operator dashboards.
    • Output: custom HTML pages that include canned queries and graphs rendered from Prometheus data.
    • Where: configured via Prometheus’ consoles and console_libraries settings.

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When to use each option

  • Use the expression browser when you need to:
    • Validate PromQL expressions rapidly.
    • Inspect raw metric behavior over a short time window.
    • Debug alerting rules and check series labels.
  • Use console templates when you want to:
    • Publish a simple, static operational page with a few important graphs.
    • Bundle queries and visualization for a specific service without deploying an external tool.
  • Use Grafana (or similar) when you need:
    • Rich, reusable dashboards with templating and variables.
    • Team collaboration, sharing, and role-based access.
    • Long-term UX, alerting, and cross-data-source correlation.

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Quick PromQL example

Try this simple query in the expression browser to see a rate over 5 minutes for an HTTP server:
To view this as a time series over a range, open the Prometheus web UI graph page and run the query in range mode.

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Comparison: built-in vs dedicated dashboards

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