Amazon Managed Grafana users can now upgrade from version 12.4 to 13.2 without rebuilding their workspace, bringing dashboard version control, responsive layouts and PromQL queries in the CloudWatch data source. It is a meaningful set of changes for teams that use Grafana to monitor systems, rather than an upgrade whose main feature is a new number.
AWS AI Watch analysis
What happened
AWS says the upgrade is available in every Region where Amazon Managed Grafana is generally available. Customers can start it through the AWS Console, SDK or CLI.
The update brings features from open-source Grafana versions 13.0 to 13.2. Git Sync lets teams connect a workspace to a Git repository and track, review or revert dashboard changes. Dynamic dashboards can adapt their layouts and panels to conditions in the data or variables in use. The CloudWatch data source plugin also gains PromQL support for metrics CloudWatch receives through its OpenTelemetry endpoint.
Why it matters
These changes give monitoring teams more ways to manage dashboards as code, shape views around changing data and query Prometheus-style metrics alongside existing CloudWatch query options. That can make dashboards easier to maintain and more useful across different workloads, without moving to a separate monitoring service just to get those features.
The upgrade is in place, but it is still an upgrade: teams should check the version differences and plan the change around their own workspace needs. The good news is that the choice of button, command line or SDK is theirs. The dashboard, ideally, will remain less dramatic.
Our read
This is a practical update with a clear payoff for operators already using Managed Grafana. Git-backed dashboards and responsive layouts are useful on their own; PromQL support adds another route into metrics held in CloudWatch. Teams should review the version differences before upgrading, then pick the features that solve an actual monitoring or workflow problem. No need to upgrade for the sheer romance of a higher version number.
What to watch
- Whether teams adopt Git Sync for reviewable, reversible dashboard changes.
- How dynamic dashboards work across real monitoring workflows.
- Which PromQL queries teams can use with CloudWatch metrics received through OpenTelemetry.
Discussion spark: For teams managing dashboards, which would make the biggest practical difference: Git-based review, layouts that adapt to the data, or PromQL support in CloudWatch?
Sources and evidence
- Amazon Managed Grafana now supports in-place upgrade to Grafana version 13.2 (29 October 2026, 08:00 UTC)
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